Oil Cans
March 2008
Various sizes / 7 - 9 inches tall
Thrown and hand built
Porcelain, Glaze and Stain
Cone 10 electric
I have spent most of my work time as a studio artists except for the past six months which has been spent on teaching and developing new assignments to teach K-4 grades. I have mostly taught in conjunction with working in the studio but the studio time has always been a bigger part of the work time except for the past few months. I am however ready to get back in the studio. The last time I made a small body of clay work was for a show titled Echoes From the Rustbelt.
This show was a concurrent exhibition in conjunction with the NCECA 2008 conference.
The following was the proposal premise:
Echoes From the Rust Belt
An exchange of ideas and clay between Cleveland Pittsburgh and Beyond.
NOC (Northern Ohio Clay) Invitational
“The rhythmic cycles of growth for the earth and humans are driven by the pulsations of invisible fields of force, which Aboriginal tribal people call the ancestral beings or the Gods.”1 When European settlements blocked the Aboriginal people from iron and red ochre deposits in the earth, the Aborigines would scrape rust from farm machinery and industrial equipment in order to continue their sacred rituals. To the Aboriginal red ochre or iron was the life blood of the earth.2
Steel and iron has over the years been the life blood of many civilizations. Cleveland and Pittsburgh also had their turn as the steel industry fueled their economy for many years. The different shapes and forms that steel becomes to create and build buildings to toasters are ever evolving. So is the clay object. This show represents the artist work and their interpretation of a clay and steel theme in the physical aspect of their work and the physical aspect of their environment. Whether simply using a clay body with a high iron content or iron oxide in surface decoration, to actually incorporating steel in the construction, this show represents the artists interpretation of ECHOES FROM THE RUST BELT.
1 Robert Lawler, Voices Of The First Day, awaking in the aboriginal dreamtime. Inner Traditions International, Ltd, 1991 pg. 100.
2 Ibid, pgs, 100-105.e for the show
NOC (Northern Ohio Clay) Invitational
“The rhythmic cycles of growth for the earth and humans are driven by the pulsations of invisible fields of force, which Aboriginal tribal people call the ancestral beings or the Gods.”1 When European settlements blocked the Aboriginal people from iron and red ochre deposits in the earth, the Aborigines would scrape rust from farm machinery and industrial equipment in order to continue their sacred rituals. To the Aboriginal red ochre or iron was the life blood of the earth.2
Steel and iron has over the years been the life blood of many civilizations. Cleveland and Pittsburgh also had their turn as the steel industry fueled their economy for many years. The different shapes and forms that steel becomes to create and build buildings to toasters are ever evolving. So is the clay object. This show represents the artist work and their interpretation of a clay and steel theme in the physical aspect of their work and the physical aspect of their environment. Whether simply using a clay body with a high iron content or iron oxide in surface decoration, to actually incorporating steel in the construction, this show represents the artists interpretation of ECHOES FROM THE RUST BELT.
1 Robert Lawler, Voices Of The First Day, awaking in the aboriginal dreamtime. Inner Traditions International, Ltd, 1991 pg. 100.
2 Ibid, pgs, 100-105.e for the show
The image entered in this blog is work which was shown at the March exhibition at Planet Art Gallery in Mt. Lebanon, PA.
Theresa Yondo
Concept to Creation
