Nine Chateau Gift Gallery artists’ work at Visitor Center
From our weekly issue dated November 12, 2008
In celebration of the success of the recently completed tourist season, Oregon Caves Outfitters will host a special reception at I.V. Visitor Center during Second Friday Art Walk on Friday, Nov. 14 from 5 to 8 p.m.
ClayFolk of the Oregon Caves Chateau will feature nine artists represented at the Chateau’s Gift Gallery. Themes of Nature, Earth and her creatures are prevalent in this work.
Connie Blakely creates cream-colored porcelain flower sconces and other decorative pieces, which evoke images of frills and lace in their delicate detailing.
Andrea Brinkman’s pieces suggest Middle Eastern influence with lidded bowls and “squash pots” resplendent with golden tinged glazes, decorative bits of mirror and turban-like finials. She also creates “landscape boxes” and platters embellished with images of dragonflies and pressed ferns.
Glazed Birds will be among art on display at I.V. Visitor Center. (Photo provided)
Gwen Childs recently was featured in the Grants Pass Museum of Art Studio Tour. She fashions a variety of stoneware plates, cups, vases and pitchers and favors earth tones in her high-fire glazes. Favorite recipes accompany some serving pieces. She also sculpts “Imaginary Friend” fantasy creatures and birds.
Rhonda Hampton’s functional stoneware mugs and bowls are on exhibit at galleries in and around Oregon. She draws inspiration from the natural world. “Daily interaction with handmade objects can enhance one’s life as they call attention to the beauty and creativity surrounding us,” she states.
Steven Kirkland’s current focus is on burnished candlesticks, mugs and vases. These porcelain and stoneware pieces are sensitively thrown on a non-electric kick-wheel, then high-fired in a propane gas kiln at his mountain valley home.
Marilyn Moore’s stoneware wall sculptures resemble masks composed of artfully arranged leaves. Her smaller ceramic magnets are shaped like individual leaves in rich autumn hues. Her pottery is hand-sculpted, then fired to stoneware (vitrified clay). She finishes each piece with lead-free glaze.
Kris Schumacher’s displayed work offers unique pieces created by combining clay and pine needle basketry into one media. Most begin as pottery designed to integrate with the intricately swirled and dimensional basketry. Pine needles and other natural elements are then woven into the ceramic to complete the piece. Her horsehair-fired glazes are at once ancient and au courant.
Many of Irene Stephens’s Raku and Oriental-inspired bowls and plates feature deep blue glazes. Her decorative plates with impressed white and cobalt-patterned surfaces suggest the shadows of tiny leaves. “I have no choice when it comes to working with clay,” she confesses. “It fulfills a deep creative need in my soul.”
Advertisement:
Johnnie Walker creates stoneware pyramids and boxes with intriguing decorative finishes including a sandpaper-like effect. Each container is hand-built from slabs of clay rolled out and assembled piece-by-piece, then bisque-fired. The final high-gloss finish glaze is fired at a high “cone ten” temperature.
The reception will feature refreshments and a free raffle for a ceramic piece donated by Kris Schumacher. Also of note, there will be a 10 percent discount on select purchases from the Visitor Center Gallery throughout the month. For further information, phone 592-4440.
Advertisement:
