The Northern Clay Center is a fantastic place that also houses artists' studios, teaching studios, and a retail space, in addition to the galleries.
We came to the Northern Clay Center to see two exhibitions: Regis Masters 2008/09 featuring the work of Ron Meyers and Patti Warashina, and College Bowl 11/09, featuring the work of a variety of students from colleges and universities in Minnesota. We were able to see many styles of artistry that were quite different, and many separate artistic visions represented in such a wonderful medium.
The work of Ron Meyers and Patti Warashina is all amazing, but quite different, both in the imagery and the impressions you find in the pieces.
Both of these artists have immense expressionist elements in their work, that is, their pieces both come from and evoke certain emotional elements. However, they do this in very different ways.
The work of Ron Meyers feels very raw and chaotic to me, evoking more of a crude underbelly of the world, a dark twist on innocent and benign creatures of the world, a bit menacing at times.
In a way, his work does feel very raw, the result of an image brought to life by scratching and hacking with the medium.
At times, the wide-eyes of the animals of the world that are usually prey appear somewhat filled with malice and dripping with sadism, an interesting twist on turning those usually preyed upon to those you might ought to fear.
On the other hand, the work of Patti Warashina is in sharp contrast, impeccably smooth and purposefully posed, yet cold and detached while delicate.
The figures themselves appear to be very emotionless, but the impressions they give off come more from how they are posed and the objects they pose with, in a very removed and deliberate way, in addition to the facial expressions, which can be soft and pointed at the same time, expressing wonder, worry, anguish, but all in a sort of ethereal rapture.
They are two very different ways of expression, to be sure.
A good amount of the pieces from Meyers are platters, jars, vases, or containers that have figures or images applied onto them. I believe this type of representation works very well for his work.
For the platters, the size and shape are perfectly matched with the image, and work to frame it in a very strong way.
The other types of pieces work well in a similar way, the ceramic vessel cupping the image, curving and undulating with it, making it pop with more dimension that a flat drawing.
Warashina's exhibit also incorporated two-dimensional drawings in addition to the ceramic pieces, both complementing and influencing each other.
Though her drawings were in the same line of imagery, they expressed emotion differently, using background scenarios, facial expressions, and body language in a way the other work does not.
They are two complementary methods, as they express different thoughts or emotions in different ways, the different types of representation covering the whole scope in conjunction. Where the drawings can include a more intricate concept, the ceramics can express the essence of a thought. Where the drawings can seem more emotional, the three-dimensional aspect of the ceramics brings the image into life and reality in a way that two-dimensional pieces cannot - they seem to have a living presence of their own.
Delving a bit deeper, we examine a Smithsonian Oral Interview with Patti Warashina. She discusses her personal history that has led her to this point: ancestors who peddled ceramics, difficulty in her childhood from having a Japanese immigrant parent during WWII, her mother's appreciation of aesthetic beauty, and how being surrounded by beautiful imagery instilled in her an artistic sense of the world. Her work echoes these impressions with the use of porcelain, images of a small girl surrounded by a cacophony of war, and the carefully beautiful way her images are brought to being.
She also discusses Surrealism in her art forms, and the differences inherent in expressing such images in drawings or three-dimensional clay pieces. She talks about one method being to isolate the essential forms in surrealist drawings, to translate them into clay representations. I can see such influences strong at work in her pieces.
Not to be forgotten, in the other galley we found "College Bowl 11/09", filled with a multitude of brilliance.
I was astounded by a number of pieces here, some soft, some harsh, some realistic, and some fantastical. However, the main theme that I was impressed by was the amazing levels of intricate detail that is possible when working with a three-dimensional medium such as clay. Layers upon layers of fascinating detail reveal themselves with every angle. It is a way to express an idea, an emotion, an image, in a way that brings it into living, breathing reality so much more than any other material.
"Accumulation" by Jennifer Anable
"Untitled" by Sara Scroggins
"NCS, Proof Cylinders" by Tom Meyers
"Gauged Spyhole" by Colin Klimesh
"Flower Brick #1" by Jasmine Wallace
"Vascular Bundle" by Todd Shanafelt
I would be horribly remiss if I did not give a special place to "Humphrey" by Rhonda Chan, a favorite piece of the day for my wonderful Grandmother, who I was quite pleased to have come along with me on this particular excursion.
Thanks again, Grandma! You may be my only reader, but quality beats quantity every time!-Catherine
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