Starbrick Clay National 2006
A National Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Ceramic ArtFebruary 24-March 31, 2006
That which is underfoot is often from above. Clay artists and patrons discovered some heaven in the earth on February 27, when in Nelsonville, Ohio Appalachia ? Smaller than in Hollywood Brad Schwieger
Schwieger, one of the few of a new generation of Midwestern Clay Daddies, is a tenured Professor of Art at Ohio University in Athens and internationally shown and known ceramic artist, whose work is collected and shown in museums in Germany, Seto, Japan, Atlanta, and Charlotte, North Carolina to name a few. With the energy of a manic 20 year-old, he is constantly throwing, demonstrating, traveling, teaching, and organizing, and through events like the Clay National, is fostering new growth in craft and concept; championing the quiet underdog of ceramic art in unexpected places.
Challenging curatorial notions of "theme" shows, Schwieger put together an eclectic and honest sampling of fifty-five works from across the country -- participants ranged from San Francisco to Baltimore Tara Wilson or humble bucket named "Sherman" in the same viewing context as a temporal wall installation of clay ball slingshots, "What My Dad Gave Me: A Good Shot," byJim Tisinado; the sickly sweet complexity of Teresa Shannon's "Corseted Pair" of bottles and the refined, traditional porcelain "Pegasus Sandtoy Teapot" (Tricia McGuigan ) next to a landscape-inspired tile painting "Under the Arch" by Jonathan Silbert , and slick, enigmatic non-objective forms like Eileen Cohen 's "Untitled II." This postmodern approach is an equalizer, a refreshing disregard for the hierarchies of purpose, style, subject, process, and status. Spanning the diversity of Schwieger's selections, however, was a strong sense of personal integrity -- each piece was inherently reverent to its material and immaterial sources in clay and the individual.
Energy in a variety of vessel forms was embodied in the "Clay National's" prize-winning works, and each piece explores an aesthetic of history and memory uniquely. Meredith Brickell, in regard to the nearly three foot long double boat/plant form, "Hull," said, "Layers of information, as found in the worn surface of a wood handle, are a record of human touch and experience. Objects are capable of connecting the past and the present -- a hand now lies in the place where another had previously been." Brickell's sensitivity to connectivity is most poignantly demonstrated in the tiny, nearly touching wire loops between the two lobes of her vessel. Rather than potentiality, Kevin Turner represents energy as archaeology. He used words like "tectonic," "topological" and "fingerprint" to describe his perforated porcelain sculpture "Sole nopsis Form V." 
Whereas Brickell gave electricity a space through which to travel, a solenoid is "a current" carrying coil of wire that acts like a magnet when a current passes through it," (a definition which might also apply to the word "artist.") Jill Lawley , with "Industry Vase" built housing for technology in a nostalgic homage to "ominous and quirky" architecture, and the energy of time is compressed into distorted human form by Tom Bartel . In regard to his witty, adult-headed, richly surfaced baby "Shoes for Tits," he explained "I see our clothing and/or appearance as being capable of summing up who or what we are, yet it is only a fa�§ade." Shifting from what skin reveals about experience to what possessions can narrate, Suzanne Kane 's densely carved and colored story house box "Sliced Apples" was one of a "current series of hinged containers inspired from a letter I recently received from a long lost friend. There is a depth of feeling and human substance in these handwritten pages that I find so compelling I carried the folded packet with me for several months like a talisman." Finally, momentum in its fecund, subtle state was conveyed by Karen Swyler
This dynamic show surveyed current clay thought, and was just a beginning step in bringing fresh intellectual and financial resources to this new gallery and local art scene. It ran through March 31,2004, and can be viewed online at www.starbrick.net. For further information on Starbrick Clay National 2006, contact Starbrick Clay, at 21 W. Columbus St. , Nelsonville , OH 45764
-- Stephanie Lanter
Stephanie Lanter is currently a Visiting Ceramics Faculty atWichita State University , in Kansas Ohio University in 2002, completed artist residencies at the Mendocino and Anderson Ranch Art Centers in 2003, and recently has shown at the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburg , PA. Jentel Arts Center in Wyoming
Starbrick Clay will once again host a national exhibition of contemorary ceramic artwork. Starbrick Clay National 2006 will be juried by Chris Staley.
Following is an article written by Stephanie Lanter about the 2004 exhibition.
That which is underfoot is often from above. Clay artists and patrons discovered some heaven in the earth on February 27, when in Nelsonville, Schwieger, one of the few of a new generation of Midwestern Clay Daddies, is a tenured Professor of Art at Ohio University in Athens and internationally shown and known ceramic artist, whose work is collected and shown in museums in Germany, Seto, Japan, Atlanta, and Charlotte, North Carolina to name a few. With the energy of a manic 20 year-old, he is constantly throwing, demonstrating, traveling, teaching, and organizing, and through events like the Clay National, is fostering new growth in craft and concept; championing the quiet underdog of ceramic art in unexpected places.
Challenging curatorial notions of "theme" shows, Schwieger put together an eclectic and honest sampling of fifty-five works from across the country -- participants ranged from Energy in a variety of vessel forms was embodied in the "Clay National's" prize-winning works, and each piece explores an aesthetic of history and memory uniquely. Meredith Brickell, in regard to the nearly three foot long double boat/plant form, "Hull," said, "Layers of information, as found in the worn surface of a wood handle, are a record of human touch and experience. Objects are capable of connecting the past and the present -- a hand now lies in the place where another had previously been." Brickell's sensitivity to connectivity is most poignantly demonstrated in the tiny, nearly touching wire loops between the two lobes of her vessel. Rather than potentiality, Kevin Turner represents energy as archaeology. He used words like "tectonic," "topological" and "fingerprint" to describe his perforated porcelain sculpture "Whereas Brickell gave electricity a space through which to travel, a solenoid is "a current" carrying coil of wire that acts like a magnet when a current passes through it," (a definition which might also apply to the word "artist.") This dynamic show surveyed current clay thought, and was just a beginning step in bringing fresh intellectual and financial resources to this new gallery and local art scene. It ran through March 31,2004, and can be viewed online at www.starbrick.net. For further information on Starbrick Clay National 2006, contact Starbrick Clay, at -- Stephanie Lanter
Stephanie Lanter is currently a Visiting Ceramics Faculty at
