Search

Patrick Dougherty is a fine artist, who has built a steady artistic career out of weaving and snagging sticks, saplings, vines and other skinny parts into gargantuan nests, cocoons and woodland architecture. Unlike other artists who draw materials and inspiration from the landscape by turning to earthworks and temporary sculptures, he made his surroundings the habitat for his art.

Most of the ceramics made by renowned village potter Mark Hewitt, an Englishman from North Carolina, are wood-fired and salt-glazed stoneware. Hewitt's work links him with the great traditions and pots of Japan, China and Southeast Asia.

Isamu Noguchi a Japanese-American sculptor and designer was a clay artist who molded forms from slurry and built them by hand with slabs and coils, and altered the roundness of the vessels. Isamu Noguchi and Modern Japanese Ceramics exhibition was exercised in cultural comparisons in which he displayed more than 300 ceramics from pots and plates to freestanding sculptures and forms lashed with rope to poles.

'Clearly Thinking,' an exhibition of glass sculpture at the Phoenix Art Museum, features the works of Michael Scheiner and Peter Ivy. Both are graduates of the Rhode Island School of Design, but each has his own individual approach to glass sculpture. Specific works are discussed.

Computer technology is used to translate and replicate historical typefaces for use in electronic publishing. Traditional letter designs, such as Roman letters and metal types, are transformed into digital fonts compatible with modern printing processes.

The works displayed in the '!Calido!: Contemporary Warm Glass' exhibit are geared towards expressing meaning than simply projecting pretty and fragile images. Karen LaMonte's 'Colored Clothesline,' 1995, for instance, is made up of glass bottles resembling clothes in a line.

The 550-year old Gutenberg metal printing craft is nearing obsolescence with the advent of modern letterpress and typesetting machines. However, artist and collectors are still drawn to the aesthetic wonders of the metal type. The collection of Dr. Edward Petko is discussed.

An exhibit of Constantin Brancusi's sculptures at the Philadelphia Museum of Art illustrates his leanings towards artisanship. The works show Brancusi's obsession with function and form and his preoccupation with visual details.

The works of ceramic artist Harry Voulkos have been characterized as 'The New Ceramic Presence'. His modernist conviction and the striking identity of his pottery and bronze works have been influenced by Japanese folk pottery.

Tom Joyce earned the title 'architectural blacksmith' after more than 20 years of forging ironwork by hand. Joyce is considered as one of the best modern day American smiths due to the large-scale public acceptance of his experimental works and public commissions.

An obituary for the potter and teacher Val Murat Cushing is presented.

The article focuses on the serene and timeless potteries which are made by Robert Archambeau that are associated with Asian affinities and are inspired from the beauty that he sees. The potteries are simple but adorned with more than a few strokes of the hand and the melted ashes of the kiln. Archambeau has preferred basic forms for his pottery which can attract the attentions of the people and has chosen to avoid putting handles or other appendages. The effort of Archambeau has derived from his desire to possess Asian wares in which the vases and ewers are inspired by Korean while the lidded containers and teapots are exhorted in Japanese.

The article discusses the sculpture of Ken Price. The author traces his training from Santa Monica City College in Santa Monica, California, and the University of Southern California, in California, to the Otis Art Institute and the New York State College of Ceramics in Alfred, New York. Price has had two main phases in his career to date, the phase where most of his sculptures resembled eggs, followed by the phase where his sculptures resembled cups. In both phases Price used the sculptures as vehicles for exploring color and texture. Price continues to explore the interplay between color and form.

The article reviews the work of clay sculptor Rudy Autio, which is said to closely resemble the born-again ceramic. The article discusses the evolution and inspiration of his work, including his use of color to define form. The author also explores the development of his muses, which were used to decorate some of his art and are reminiscent of his later signature style. Autio, whose emotions are reflected in his work, has exhibited at the American Craft Museum and at Garth Clark Gallery, both in New York City.

The article describes the work of artist Henry Varnum Poor. Poor primarily painted and worked with ceramics, but he also sculpted and designed fountains, studios, and houses. Despite his awareness of abstract art, impressionism and cubism he remained a realist. Early in his career, Poor designed ceramic tableware which was sold at a special gallery at Wanamaker in New York City. Later he limited his production and sold his art through galleries. Poor was a cofounder of the American Designer’s Gallery.

A biography of William Parry, a sculptor and renowned teacher at the New York State College of Ceramics in Alfred, is presented. Parry was born in Lehighton, Pennsylvania in 1918. He and his siblings became orphans at a young age and they were left under the care of their grandparents. Before her mother died, she arranged to have him and his brother enrolled at Girard College, a school for orphans and poor white children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The author discusses different perspectives about how criticism is written and then understood by its readers. The author states that art criticism is often presented either as very analytical, or rhetorical, with the author expressing opinions bluntly or implicitly. References to contributing writers to the "American Ceramics" journal are cited, including Roger Fry, Clive Bell, Clement Greenberg, Phillip Rawson, and Jeff Perrone. The author concludes that good art criticism includes the perspective of the critic as well as the perspectives of the artist and the viewers.

An obituary for ceramic scuptor Ted Randall is presented.