C eramic E xc ellenc e - Fellowships at the Archie B ray Foundation 2006-2007 - Archie Bray Foundation
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C eramic E xc ellenc e Fellowships at the Archie B ray Foundation 2006–2007 J ennifer Allen Taunt Fellow J os eph P intz Lincoln Fellow C hris tina Wes t Lilian Fellow
Jennifer for example, on a petite sugar jar
or a chunky spout on a slender soy
It is these types of surprising visual
contradictions that deepen the
Allen cruet. All of this gives the work an
appealingly quirky, human character.
complexity of Allen’s work. The warm
exuberance of the patterned areas
Taunt Fellow
abruptly interrupts the cool reserve
Whereas Allen’s generous forms of the glazes. The whimsy of the
Unexpected assertively inhabit the space they embellishments is checked by the
occupy like a gregarious house- orderliness of their application. The
Moments mother, the depth achieved in her dainty politeness of the scalloped
surfaces is more nuanced. The artist’s rims and arching handles contrasts
educational background included with the eccentricity of the
painting, and this is evident in the disproportionate volumes. “I
From tulip vases and teapots to pictorial sophistication of her work. constantly embrace the unexpected
plates, cups, and saucers, Jennifer The main bodies of the pieces are
glazed in single colors—icy blues are
and serendipitous,” Allen says when
describing her work, “and I strive
Allen’s utilitarian pieces drive home common—with subtle permutations to capture moments of awe that
the fact that a little embellishment in hue and value. Inspired by natural I experience in nature. The wonder
phenomena such as the aurora I felt when first witnessing the
doesn’t compromise functionality. borealis and glacial recession, the northern lights in Alaska’s Knik
glassy surfaces have the diffused, River Valley. A cluster of violets
Her voluptuous forms swell and atmospheric quality of a Mark camouflaged by the moist spring
contract, making them comfortable Rothko painting. Encroaching on grass. A male cardinal darting
in the hand. Elegantly scalloped rims these areas are matte, burnt-orange past a placid winter landscape.
move seamlessly into handy pouring shapes resembling clouds or flowers. The birth of a baby. The intensity
lips, and bases are pinched like Within these shapes, Allen layers a of an earthquake. The vulnerability
piecrusts. Finials are seized as variety of floral forms derived from of human nature.” Moments that,
opportunities for Art Nouveau-style postwar textile patterns and Edo- in her words, “startle and open
decorative flourishes, as are the period kimono fabric designs, both of your heart.”
seams where handles and spouts which historically celebrated everyday
meet the body of the pot. Like a life. The flowers differ drastically in A 2003 recipient of the Archie Bray’s
skilled tailor, Allen alters the clay after style and application: Allen uses Eric Myhre scholarship, Jennifer Allen
it comes off the wheel, adding folds, slip-trailing bottles for those that are received her BFA from the University
seams, and darts that produce graphic and abstract, commercial of Alaska, Anchorage, and her
slightly asymmetrical contours. decals for those with a more realistic MFA from Indiana University in
She manipulates classical proportions appearance, and a brush for the Bloomington. Her work has been
as well, placing an oversized knob, soft silhouettes. These differences in shown nationally and she is currently
form, along with the layering of the represented by galleries including
imagery and carefully calibrated the Clay Studio in Philadelphia, the
variations in hue and value, collapse Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago,
the illusion of space in some places and the Red Lodge Clay Center
and articulate it in others, recalling in Red Lodge, Montana.
the paintings of Robert Kushner.
A filigreed white rose placed over –Casey Ruble
a bold, dark blue chrysanthemum,
Cups, salt fired for example, produces an engaging Teapot, salt fired
porcelain, decals, confusion in the figure-ground porcelain, decals,
4" x 4" x 3.5", 2007 relationship. 6" x 6" x 4.5", 2007
Joseph them on a wheel—a process that,
by virtue of the scrape marks and
Pintz subtle inconsistencies of the hand,
accentuates the negative spaces,
Lincoln Fellow lending them a physical presence
and emotional charge they wouldn’t
otherwise have. Pintz’s treatment of
Down the surfaces, which range in color
to Earth from neutrals to earthy pinks, greens,
yellows, and blues, contributes to
the handcrafted feel. The artist uses
brushed-on glazes for some pieces
When talking about his work, Joseph and terra sigillata for others; in both
cases, the rough texture of the clay
Pintz often begins by describing causes the glaze or slip to go on
unevenly, producing a patinated effect
his childhood in Chicago—a place in which the red of the clay peeks
most people associate with urban through in places. The overall aesthetic concrete castings of negative spaces
sensibility seems guided by an come to mind as an apt comparison.
life. But Pintz’s story differs from appreciation of the materials’ raw Like many of the Postminimalists,
most Chicago natives. form and its possibilities; when Pintz utilizes an economy of formal
looking at Pintz’s “pots,” one doesn’t means to achieve depth of content.
The third of four children of immigrants forget that they, like the food they In his work, seriality and uniformity
from rural Germany, Pintz was raised hold, originate from the earth itself. have metaphoric potential, with con-
to value a close connection to the notations of community, abundance,
land: He grew up harvesting crops Pintz’s forms are mostly inspired and prosperity, and the symbiotic
from the family’s backyard garden, by nonceramic objects—the afore- relationship he establishes between
picking cherries for homemade jelly, mentioned kitchen utensils are a volume and negative space reflects
and baking loaves of sourdough case in point—and they range from the basic nature of sustenance. As
in the drywall mud pans his father functional to nonfunctional. But the English poet Philip James Bailey
brought home from his job as a union even the nonfunctional objects (his once wrote, “Simplicity is nature’s
painter. This groundedness comes ceramic egg beaters, for example) first step, and the last of art.” Pintz’s
through in Pintz’s personality, as well speak of utility, and the weight of the work embodies this idea with a down-
as in his technically masterful yet functional objects renders them to-earth directness, reminding us that
deceptively simple work. unwieldy. Pintz utilizes the installation the container is just as essential as
of his work to further challenge the what we put in it.
Made from a coarse Nebraska brick supposed fault line between sculpture
clay that, in Pintz’s words, “most and “mere” pottery: A series of Joseph Pintz earned his BA at
potters wouldn’t touch,” the artist’s grayish-brown muffin tins hung on Northwestern University in Evanston,
works—plates, cups, and bowls; the wall read something like Agnes Illinois, completed postbaccalaureate
bakeware and kitchen utensils; Martin’s spare grid paintings, and studies at Southern Illinois University,
feeding troughs for barnyard animals— a group of troughs installed directly Edwardsville, and received his MFA
look like three-dimensional realizations on the floor nod to Minimalist from the University of Nebraska-
of painter Giorgio Morandi’s still-life sculptor Carl Andre’s floor pieces. Lincoln. His work has been exhibited
objects. Solid to the point of some- The reductive form, seriality, grid- nationwide at museums and
times being too thick to actually use, based architecture, and restrained galleries including the Museum of
the works are devoid of decorative palette of Pintz’s objects recall Contemporary Craft in Portland,
Thick Bowls, embellishment and craftiness; their Minimalist sculpture and painting, but Oregon, the Society of Arts and
earthenware, 2007 character is humble, almost crude. their handmade quality and embracing Crafts in Boston, and the Holter
Pintz achieves this rough-hewn of simple, everyday materials and Museum of Art in Helena, Montana.
Muffin Tins, quality by carving the objects out themes pushes them closer to
earthenware, 2006 of solid clay rather than throwing Postminimalism—Rachel Whiteread’s –Casey Ruble
Christina human skin. And they are often,
though not always, slightly smaller
rather because they used to be
familiar but somehow have become
West in scale than the average human
body. The net effect is similar to that
strange1—like the subject of West’s
All in Fun and Games, an ordinary-
Lilian Fellow
achieved by Eric Fischl’s sexually looking man wearing a little girl’s
charged, voyeuristic paintings: pink sock on one hand and raising
One feels compelled to stare but his arms in an “it wasn’t me” type
The Strangely has the uneasy sense that doing of gesture.
Familiar so might be taboo.
This merging of the familiar and
In the roughly two-foot-tall piece unfamiliar runs throughout West’s
Entry, for example, a naked middle- work. Like sculptor Katharina Fritsch,
The best way to describe the impact aged man painted dark olive green the artist uses incongruous colors
of Christina West’s psychologically sits on a lime-green pedestal. His to prevent us from fully relating
spindly legs dangle off the side, with to the figures, but the realism of
invasive sculptures is to relate one his ankles comfortably crossed, and their details—the double chins,
of my own personal experiences— his body throws a painted green the beady eyes—draws us into
a disturbing dream I had in which a shadow on the top of the pedestal, their odd narratives. As we look at
incorporating it into the narrative of these figures, they look back at us,
stranger stood immobile in a corner of the piece. In his lap is a woman’s implicating us as participants in a
my bedroom, watching me as I slept. purse, which he slides his hand into. world where normal and strange
His gaze is directed not at the purse are strangely interchangeable.
The dream was so vivid that when but rather sideways, as if looking to
I awoke I immediately called a see whether anyone is watching him. A recipient of a 2007 fellowship
locksmith to add a deadbolt to my The precision with which the man’s from the New York Foundation for
front door. West’s hand-built, lifelike body is rendered makes him seem the Arts, Christina West received
figures have a similar power: You instantly familiar—his belly has a her BFA from Siena Heights
know they aren’t real, but on a typical paunch; his receding hairline University in Adrian, Michigan,
gut level you can’t help but relate is one we’ve seen countless times. and her MFA from Alfred University
to them as if they are. But his miniature size, sinister in Alfred, New York. Her work
color, and odd pose prompt more has been shown nationally and is
The use of hyperrealism in sculpture questions than they answer. included in collections including the
may be a gimmick, but it’s an San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts
effective one—employed perhaps In colloquial parlance, the term in San Angelo, Texas, Wright State
most notably in the work of uncanny is used to describe things University in Dayton, Ohio, and
Duane Hanson and Ron Mueck, that seem odd or abnormal, but in the Schein-Joseph International
to which West’s pieces can easily the context of West’s work, psychol- Museum of Art in Alfred, New York.
be compared. But the eeriness of ogist Sigmund Freud’s definition is
West’s figures stems from more than more applicable. Freud notes that –Casey Ruble
their extreme anatomical veracity. the term derives from a German
1
They are caught in ambiguous, word with two contradictory mean- Anneleen Masschelein, A Homeless Concept:
Shapes of the Uncanny in Twentieth-Century
sometimes vaguely devious acts. ings— the first being “familiar” or Theory and Culture. Image and Narrative: Online
They are mostly unclothed, even in “intimate”; the second, “clandestine” Magazine of the Visual Narrative, January 2003,
Issue 5. Retrieved from www.imageandnarrative.
situations where one should be or “furtive.” Thus, Freud’s uncanny be/uncanny/anneleenmasschelein.htm>
dressed, such as sitting at a school involves a certain ambivalence,
desk. The color of their acrylic-painted signifying things that are frightening No Way, 38" tall x 24" wide x 43.5"
surfaces has little resemblance to not because they are unfamiliar but long, painted ceramic and desk, 2007
Nurturing C reative E xcellence
The Archie B ray Foundation for the 1999 and 2000, the Lilian Fellowship
C eramic Arts has always been an since 2001, and most recently the
ongoing experiment, a place and Lincoln Fellowship, inaugurated in
experience with no artistic bound- 2004. C urrently the Taunt, Lilian, and
aries. The extensive facilities, the Lincoln fellowships each provide
freedom to explore, and the creative $5,000 and a one-year residency to Arc hie B ray F oundation
exchange that occurs within the a ceramic artist who demonstrates for the C eramic Arts
community of res ident artis ts exceptional merit and promise, 2915 C ountry C lub Avenue
provides a profound opportunity for allowing them to focus more com- Helena, MT 59602
artistic growth, both for individual pletely on producing and exhibiting 406-443-3502
artists and for the field of ceramics. a significant body of work during archiebray@archiebray.org
their fellowship year. www.archiebray.org
To further encourage the B ray
“experiment,” R obert and S uzanne Individuals wishing to establish
Taunt es tablis hed the Taunt a fellowship at the Archie B ray B oard of Direc tors
Fellowship in 1998. Inspired by Foundation are encouraged to Dan Anderson
the Taunts’ vision and generosity, contact R esident Artist Director R ichard B aiter
others established additional awards, S teven Y. Lee. J ohn B alistreri
including the Myhre Fellowship in Wally B ivins
Toni B roadbent
S ally B rogden
Annually, the Archie B ray Foundation artist and writer. R uble works as a Lin M. Deola
invites a critic to spend time at freelance critic for Art in America. J ohn Green
the B ray to meet with the artists, Her paintings have been included in Ayumi Horie
experience the B ray’s unique exhibitions in New York and abroad, H. J ames K olva
environment, and develop essays for and she is represented by Foley B eth Lo
the fellowship exhibition catalogue. Gallery in New York C ity. S he also Alan Nicholson
This year the residency was awarded currently holds an artist-in residence J ess Parker
to C as ey R uble, a New York-based position at Fordham University. J on S atre
Linda S chlenger
Ann S haner
P as t F ellows hip R ec ipients B obby S ilverman
R ebecca S ive
1999 2003 Norma Tirrell
Marc Digeros , Taunt Fellowship J eremy K ane, Taunt Fellowship Margaret Woo
S haron B rus h, Myhre Fellowship K aren S wyler, Lilian Fellowship
R es ident Artis t Direc tor
2000 2004
E ric E ley, Taunt Fellowship Trey Hill, Taunt Fellowship S teven Young Lee
J ohn B yrd, Myhre Fellowship Miranda Howe, Lilian Fellowship
K owkie Durs t, Lincoln Fellowship
2001
J iman C hoi, Taunt Fellowship 2005
J ohn Utgaard, Lilian Fellowship K oi Neng L iew, Taunt Fellowship
Deborah S c hwartzkopf,
2002 Lilian Fellowship This publication is
J as on Walker, Taunt Fellowship Melis s a Menc ini, generously funded by
S andra Trujillo, Lilian Fellowship Lincoln Fellowship the J oliet Foundation.
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