sculpture Archivi ~ Page 2 of 92 ~ art-news.space - All about the world of art and culture!

More stories

138 Shares90 Views
in Art
Joan Clare Brown Juxtaposes Anatomy and Memories in Poignant Porcelain Sculptures
by Aurelia Butler 11 February 2025, 18:48
“Ed #13” (2023), porcelain and mason stain, 7 x 6 x 8 inches. Photos edited by Nash Quinn. All images courtesy of Joan Clare Brown, shared with permission
Joan Clare Brown Juxtaposes Anatomy and Memories in Poignant Porcelain Sculptures
February 11, 2025
ArtCraft
Kate Mothes
Share
Pin
Email
Bookmark
Depending on how you look at them, the tendrils seemingly growing from Joan Clare Brown’s porcelain bases could be perceived as soft and delicate or spiny, defensive, and slightly unsettling. Dualities lie at the heart of the artist’s approach to ceramics, especially in her ongoing series Ed, which takes personal experience and human anatomy as starting points for a poignant study of grief.
“I started this series as a response to my father’s sudden passing,” Brown tells Colossal. “He was diagnosed with widespread pancreatic cancer and passed away the same day, ultimately of sepsis from complications of a perforated bowel.” In the Ed works, the cinched base, which mimics a frilly-edged textile cushion or pouch, represents a perforated organ, and the long, growing blades or tendrils emblematize infection.
“Ed #5” (2023), porcelain and mason stain, 6 x 4 x 5 inches
The inherent hardness and brittleness of porcelain juxtapose with the softness of textile-like surfaces and organic, plant-like fronds. Each color reflects specific childhood memories of Brown’s father, like the blue and green hues drawn from his favorite flannel shirt or light pinks and purples redolent of a tablecloth used at her family dinners.
“Through the permanence of the ceramic form, my hope was to turn something menacing and insidious into a nostalgic and meaningful reminder,” Brown says. “And by making these pieces, in a way, I feel that he is still present.”
Explore more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
“Ed #16” (2023), porcelain, mason stain, glaze, and luster, 7 x 6 x 4 inches
Detail of “Ed #13”
“Ed #10” (2023), porcelain and mason stain, 7 x 5 x 5 inches
“Ed #11” (2023), porcelain and mason stain, 7 x 8 x 7 inches
“Ed #12” (2023), porcelain and mason stain, 7 x 5 x 4 inches
Detail of “Ed #11”
“Ed #4” (2022), porcelain and mason stain, 7 x 4 x 4 inches
“Ed #3” (2022), porcelain, mason stain, glaze, and luster, 8 x 6 x 4 inches
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.
Hide advertising
Save your favorite articles
Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop
Receive members-only newsletter
Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms
Join us today!
$7/month
$75/year
Explore membership options
Next article More
125 Shares95 Views
in Art
‘Imagining the Future’ Honors Aleksandra Kasuba’s Trailblazing Installations and Environments
by Aurelia Butler 10 February 2025, 21:07
“Spectrum. An Afterthought” (1975–2014), synthetic fabric, neon lamps, colored filters, steel, aluminum, plywood, and plastic,
40 x 105.6 x 53.9 meters. Photo by Antanas Lukšėnas. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba
‘Imagining the Future’ Honors Aleksandra Kasuba’s Trailblazing Installations and Environments
February 10, 2025
ArtDesign
Kate Mothes
Share
Pin
Email
Bookmark
From immersive fabric installations and sculptures to photography, landscape design, and architecture, the work of Aleksandra Kasuba (1923-2019) merges myriad ideas about how we experience the world around us. The intersection of technology and nature enchanted the late Lithuanian artist, and she often experimented with a variety of materials and the effects of light, hue, and tension to explore relationships between ourselves and notions of shelter and place.
The first major exhibition of her work in Europe, Imagining the Future at Carré d’Art—Musée d’Art Contemporain, explores the incredible breadth of Kasuba’s artistry.
“Shell Dwellers III” (1989), paper and collage, 35 × 43.5 centimeters. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba
Born to an aristocratic family, Kasuba enrolled in art school in 1941, focusing primarily on sculpture and textiles. She married artist Vytautas Kašuba, with whom she fled Lithuania in 1944 in the wake of the Nazi occupation of the country. They landed in a displaced-persons camp in Germany where they stayed until making their way to New York in 1947, and her experience as a refugee and an immigrant significantly affected her work.
In the U.S., Kasuba found employment in crafts and design and began laying the foundations for her future artistic practice, which merged applied and functional arts with abstraction. Her interdisciplinary practice took shape in earnest the 1950s and 1960s and was deeply influenced by tenets of modernism and the era of space exploration, which cast humanity’s existence on Earth in a new light.
Mid-20th century scholarship on vernacular architecture also inspired Kasuba, and she was moved by a visit to Bernard Rudofsky’s 1964 exhibition Architecture Without Architects at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He took a broader view of global architecture than the field typically covered and emphasized the ingenuity and beauty of structures built by Indigenous cultures.
Rudofsky suggested that modernism—particularly modern architecture—had lost touch with the real needs of society, and he urged viewers to pay attention to artistic, idiosyncratic, culturally rich local styles free from elitist design rules.
“Rock Hill House” (2002). Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba
Kasuba’s artistic practice blended with daily life in her own living spaces, too, from her New York City home in the 1970s to Rock Hill House, a sculptural dwelling in the New Mexico desert she completed between 2001 and 2005.
The convergence of sculpture and environmental design also fascinated the artist, spurring unique material combinations in large-scale public interventions and spatial installations. Concerned with how we move through places and are affected by our surroundings, she was also commissioned to create numerous public wall installations using materials like brick, marble, and granite.
Kasuba explored the relationships between transparency, color, and light in works like “Spectrum,” privileging organic shapes and an immersive passageway made from stretched nylon. Her Space Shelters series, composed of fabric in curving forms without ninety-degree angles, exemplifies her desire to harmonize nature, people, and technology.
Imagining the Future continues through March 23 in Nîmes, France. Learn more on the museum’s website.
“Dreaming III” (1963), white marble, 103 x 91 centimeters. Photo Antanas Luksenas. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba
Installation view of ‘Imagining the Future’ at Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France. Photo by Cédrick Eymenier
“Live-In Environment, 43W90, NYC” (1971–1972). From the digital archive of Aleksandra Kasuba. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba
Installation view of ‘Imagining the Future’ at Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France. Photo by Cédrick Eymenier
Installation view of ‘Imagining the Future’ at Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France. Photo by Cédrick Eymenier
“Rock Hill House” (2005). Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba
Installation view of ‘Imagining the Future’ at Carré d’Art, Nîmes, France. Photo by Cédrick Eymenier
“Shell Dwellers VI” (1989), paper and collage, 35 × 43.5 centimeters. Image courtesy of The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estate of Aleksandra Kasuba
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.
Hide advertising
Save your favorite articles
Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop
Receive members-only newsletter
Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms
Join us today!
$7/month
$75/year
Explore membership options
Next article More
113 Shares99 Views
in Art
Announcing Joy Machine, a New Art Gallery in Chicago
by Aurelia Butler 10 February 2025, 10:00
Abi Castillo, “Blooming” and “Blue Caterpillar” (2025), ceramic
Announcing Joy Machine, a New Art Gallery in Chicago
February 10, 2025
Art
Grace Ebert and Christopher Jobson
Share
Pin
Email
Bookmark
As Colossal prepares to turn 15 this year, we’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be part of a creative community. During the last decade and a half, we’ve spoken with thousands of artists, designers, and makers and cultivated a vast network of friends and colleagues around the globe. Publishing has been one of the greatest joys of our lives and demonstrated again and again how art can connect us all.
We’re incredibly excited to share that we’re expanding our footprint right here in our home of Chicago. Our new art gallery, Joy Machine, opens on February 21.
Michael McGrath, “Night Ride, Spring Gods” (2025), colored pencil on wood panel, 10 x 8 inches
A year in the making, Joy Machine is built around the belief that amid deep uncertainty and upheaval, joy becomes an indispensable gateway to hope. As we navigate this incredibly difficult time, we’re interested in coming together to expand our power to feel and process experiences good and bad.
Our first exhibition, Light Preserver, features nine artists who cultivate and ritualize joy through humor, nostalgia, vibrancy, and excitement for new possibilities. Whether reflecting on childhood fun or invoking art’s ability to rescue us from depression, each artist taps into our shared humanity—not to evade difficult realities but to find meaning and purpose amid chaos. In this way, joy becomes an essential antidote to despair and a fundamental lifeline to keep us all afloat.
Light Preserver features work by many artists you’re probably familiar with, including Moises Salazar Tlatenchi, David Heo, Liz Flores, Peter Frederiksen, Danym Kwon, Lisa Congdon, Michael McGrath, Jeff Rubio, and Abi Castillo.
Colossal will continue publishing independently as it always has, and when Joy Machine’s projects fit Colossal’s mission, we’ll be sure to share them with you all here.
If you’re in Chicago, please join us to celebrate Joy Machine’s opening on February 21. You can follow the gallery on Instagram, and sign up for the newsletter on the website.
Danym Kwon, “When Small Happiness Found Us” (2025), acrylic and acrylic gouache on canvas, 18 x 18 inches
David Heo, “Mamihlapinatapai” (2024), mixed media on paper mounted on panel, 11 x 28 inches
“Red Boots” (2025), acrylic on wood, framed in hemlock, 18 x 24 inches
Peter Frederiksen, “Sharing Secrets” (2022), freehand machine embroidery on linen, 6 x 8 inches
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.
Hide advertising
Save your favorite articles
Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop
Receive members-only newsletter
Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms
Join us today!
$7/month
$75/year
Explore membership options
Previous articleNext article More
150 Shares161 Views
in Art
Visit Dozens of Incredible Artist-Built Environments, Homes, and Studios Around the U.S.
by Aurelia Butler 6 February 2025, 19:15
Prophet Isaiah Robertson’s Second Coming House, Niagara Falls, New York. All images courtesy of the artists, foundations, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, shared with permission
Visit Dozens of Incredible Artist-Built Environments, Homes, and Studios Around the U.S.
February 6, 2025
ArtDesignHistory
Kate Mothes
Share
Pin
Email
Bookmark
Whether a self-taught artisan or a contemporary art titan, one can make artwork just about anywhere. As the saying goes, the only limit is your imagination. And when art and life intersect, sometimes the distinction between the two disappears.
As the National Trust for Historic Preservation can tell you, homes and studios from rural Kansas to the hubbub of Manhattan have been the locus of eclectic, quirky, and innovative ideas that illustrate how creativity and daily existence are one and the same.
Grandma Prisbrey’s Bottle Village, Simi Valley, California
Last month, the NTHP announced the addition of 19 new property members to its Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios program. Comprising locations that range from houses and workspaces to quarries and hand-assembled fantasylands, the new spaces bring the total number of network participants to 61 across the U.S.
Colossal readers might be familiar with one of last month’s additions, the Kosciusko, Mississippi, home of L.V. Hull (1942–2008), which was included in the National Register of Historic Places last summer. The designation was the first to honor the residence of an African American woman visual artist, and it was also the first time a home art environment by any African American was on the list.
Women feature prominently in this year’s announcement, including Pope’s Museum in Ochlocknee, Georgia, which is distinguished as the oldest surviving artist-built environment by a woman in the U.S. A self-taught maker, Laura Pope Forester (1873–1953) created elaborate exterior installations, including murals and other works that pay tribute to women’s achievements, military veterans, and literary figures. The crochet-like white facade is composed of sewing machine parts.
Additional places include the homes of groundbreaking women artists Louise Bourgeois and Carolee Schneemann, along with remarkable creations like Grandma Prisbey’s Bottle Village in Simi Valley, California, and Mary Nohl’s unique environment in Fox Point, Wisconsin.
Plan your visits on the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios website.
Pope’s Museum, Ochlocknee, Georgia
Shigeko Kubota Video Art Foundation, New York City
Spiral House Park, Saugerties, New York
“Enchanted Garden” and entrance to the “Troglodyte Cavern” at Valley of the Moon, Tucson, Arizona
Mary Nohl Art Environment, Fox Point, Wisconsin
Interior of the Mary Nohl Art Environment, Fox Point, Wisconsin
Dog Mountain, Home of Stephen Huneck Gallery, St. Johnsbury, Vermont
Interior of Reuben Hale House, West Palm Beach, Florida
Interior of Prophet Isaiah Robertson’s Second Coming House, Niagara Falls, New York
Interior view of Grandma Prisbrey’s Bottle Village, Simi Valley, California
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.
Hide advertising
Save your favorite articles
Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop
Receive members-only newsletter
Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms
Join us today!
$7/month
$75/year
Explore membership options
Next article More
150 Shares175 Views
in Art
Whimsical Ceramic Sculptures by En Iwamura Evoke Ancient Traditions and Childlike Curiosity
by Aurelia Butler 6 February 2025, 16:07
“Neo Jomon: Green Mask” (2024), glazed ceramic, 35 3/8 x 30 1/4 x 28 3/4 inches. Photos by Grace Dodds. All images courtesy of the artist and Ross + Kramer, Gallery, New York, shared with permission
Whimsical Ceramic Sculptures by En Iwamura Evoke Ancient Traditions and Childlike Curiosity
February 6, 2025
Art
Kate Mothes
Share
Pin
Email
Bookmark
In Japanese philosophy, the concept of Ma emphasizes the relationships between time and space and how moments, intervals, and distance provide the basis for how we experience the world around us. Derived from the word Ma, or “間,” which translates to “pause” or “gap,” the idea of negative space is viewed as a fundamental element of art and architecture.
For En Iwamura, who lives and works near Kyoto, working from the perspective of Ma forms a significant tenet of his sculpture practice (previously). He examines scale, the sense of one’s surroundings, and comfort in proximity to others. “People constantly read and measure different Ma between themselves, and finding the proper or comfortable Ma between people or places can provide a specific relationship at a given moment,” the artist says in a statement.
“Neo Jomon: Black/White Mask” (2024), glazed ceramic, 38 1/4 x 34 5/8 x 29 1/2 inches
In Mask, Iwamura’s solo exhibition at Ross+Kramer Gallery, he delves into the cultural, conceptual, and symbolic significance of the titular objects. Drawing on childhood memories of visiting the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, where he saw masks from around the world, the artist evokes the sense of mystery he felt upon viewing the works and curiosity about their origins.
Masks have been used for centuries in cultures all around the globe, predominantly associated with religious ceremonies, funerary customs, festivals, dramatic performances, and other rituals of social importance. We don masks to protect us from inclement weather or to provide a layer of safety in certain sports or recreational activities. In 2020, the mask took on a new significance in the global effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Iwamura’s playful, gentle, sometimes wistful ceramic sculptures reference the historical nature of masks while reflecting their role in our contemporary world. “A driving force behind this collection of work is a reconnection to child-like senses of curiosity, wonderment, and creativity,” says an exhibition statement.
In this exhibition, Iwamura presents numerous sculptures from his ongoing Neo Jomon series, drawing on details characterizing earthenware of the ancient Jōmon culture, which existed in what is modern-day Japan from around 14,000 to 300 B.C.E. The name literally means “cord-marking” after a style of pottery scholars attribute to the period.
“Neo Jomon: Mask and Eyes” (2024), glazed ceramic, 31 7/8 x 31 7/8 x 28 inches
Soft forms complement vibrant hues and a variety of textures in Iwamura’s sculptures, which range in size from a little over a foot tall to more than five feet. “To achieve these intricate surfaces, the artist allows his hand-built forms to air dry slightly before drawing various tools across the surface of the clay,” the gallery says. The textures recall rake-like patterns of Buddhist Zen gardens and cord-marking, a technique of pressing a twisted cord into wet clay.
“While serving as a meditation on parenthood, this series is also an encouragement to reunite with one’s inner child,” the gallery says. Mask continues through March 26 in New York City. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
“Neo Jomon: Red Mask” (2024), glazed ceramic, 46 x 46 1/2 x 31 1/8 inches
“Neo Jomon: Stacking Neighbor” (2024), glazed ceramic, 20 1/8 x 7 7/8 x 7 7/8 inches
“Neo Jomon: Pink Mask (Beret)” (2024), glazed ceramic, 36 x 40 x 7 1/4 inches
“Neo Jomon: Stacking Neighbor” (2024), glazed ceramic, 16 7/8 x 11 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches
“Neo Jomon: Black Mask (Crack)” (2024), glazed ceramic and gold, 31 x 31 x 9 inches
“Neo Jomon: Stacking Neighbor” (2024), glazed ceramic, 15 x 9 7/8 x 6 3/4 inches
“Neo Jomon: Blue Mask” (2024), glazed ceramic and gold, 23 x 36 x 14 5/8 inches
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.
Hide advertising
Save your favorite articles
Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop
Receive members-only newsletter
Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms
Join us today!
$7/month
$75/year
Explore membership options
Previous articleNext article More
113 Shares140 Views
in Art
Timo Fahler’s Stained-Glass Sculptures Question Symbols and Curtailed Freedoms
by Aurelia Butler 5 February 2025, 17:41
“give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door” (2023), chain-link fence, steel, stained glass, lead, and aluminum, 48 x 38 x 6 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and Sebastian Gladstone Gallery, shared with permission
Timo Fahler’s Stained-Glass Sculptures Question Symbols and Curtailed Freedoms
February 5, 2025
ArtSocial Issues
Kate Mothes
Share
Pin
Email
Bookmark
The creation of stained glass can be traced back to ancient Egypt and Rome, but we most often associate it with its popularity in Western Christianity, as in the biblical narratives adorning chapels and cathedrals. For Timo Fahler, this tradition forms the foundation of a multimedia practice influenced by Mesoamerican codice imagery, national symbols, and motifs found in older European churches.
Stained glass is a “storytelling medium in which I get to draw from everything I experience, everything I study, read, believe in, and even distrust,” Fahler tells Colossal. “We are floating in a unique era of questioning reality, the last gasp of the living generation before automation integrates itself via AI, ChatGPT, and digital interface.” He views his practice as depicting this era and even, in a way, immortalizing it.
“topos haliaíetos for the bald eagle; topos chrysaetos for the gold eagle/Mexico” (2023), steel, cast iron, stained glass, lead, tin, and obsidian, 27 x 41 x 2 inches
Fahler first worked with lampworking glass while studying ceramics at the Kansas City Art Institute, which sparked an ongoing interest in the medium. Recently, he began incorporating it into what he calls “rebar drawings,” which form the foundation of much of his work. “I was curious about letting the unpredictability of light become a part of the ‘materials’ I work with,” the artist says.
Many of Fahler’s sculptures are framed or supported by heavy-duty metals like rusted steel, iron fences, and gates. Stained glass hovers a few inches from the wall, casting colorful shadows. For his most recent works, Fahler places barriers atop the glass to consider not only the viewer’s relationship to the image but also the implications of people being barred from freedoms and knowledge. “I draw from a lot of different sources—historical, mythological, and fantastical—all of which encompass my ‘heritage,’” the artist says.
In a piece titled after the poem “New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, which is carved in bronze on the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal, Fahler uses a gate to frame a detail of Lady Liberty’s arm constructed of tiny glass squares soldered to the facets of a chain-link fence. Historically a potent symbol of welcome, amnesty, and inclusiveness, the statue in this context references how today, new immigrants’ access is more troubled and often blocked.
Serpents, dragons, eagles, and landscapes merge with realistic portraits and references to historical moments and national emblems, like Mexico’s crest featuring a golden eagle on a cactus with a snake in its talons. The image centers on the nation’s flag, representing the resilience, bravery, and spirit of the Mexican people. Echoing his representation of the Statue of Liberty, the icon is barricaded, merging with iron bars.
“I against i” (2024), found fence, steel, stained glass, grisaille, glass, and lead, 53.5 x 53 x 7 inches. Photo by Nick Massey
Fahler is currently working on a solo presentation with Sebastian Gladstone this autumn. He and his family just moved to Amsterdam, where he shares he’s beginning from a “zero-point/clean canvas” in a new studio, and he plans to explore ideas around the complexities of sovereignty, expatriation, and a quickly evolving global society.
“The world is changing so quickly that we cannot collectively understand, let alone keep up with it!” he says. “I’m excited to be working on all of that and look forward to the body of work that depicts it.”
Find more on Fahler’s website and Instagram.
“two-headed serpent” (2023), mirror steel, cast iron, stained glass, copper, and lead, 30 x 45 x 4 inches
“fever dream” (2024), found gate, steal, stained glass, grisaille, and lead, 32 x 84 x 6 inches. Photo by Nick Massey
“twin serpents” (2024), steel, stained glass, lead, and rebar, 70 x 64 x 64 inches. Photo by Nick Massey
“Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-099)” (2023), fence, steel, stained glass, and lead, 64 x 59.5 x 3.5 inches
“copper zen mountain” (2023), rebar steel, stained glass, lead, and copper, 30 x 40 x 6 inches
“code switching” (2024), found chain-link fence, steel, stained glass, and lead, 64 x 48 x 8 inches
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.
Hide advertising
Save your favorite articles
Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop
Receive members-only newsletter
Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms
Join us today!
$7/month
$75/year
Explore membership options
Previous articleNext article More
113 Shares152 Views
in Art
Wycliffe Stutchbury Configures Miniature Wood Shingles into Mesmerizing Arrangements
by Aurelia Butler 5 February 2025, 15:32
“The Craig,” 17th-century barn blockwork repair clad in English oak sourced, harvested, seasoned, and machined from fallen branches in adjacent woods, 13 x 4.3 meters, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
Wycliffe Stutchbury Configures Miniature Wood Shingles into Mesmerizing Arrangements
February 5, 2025
ArtCraft
Kate Mothes
Share
Pin
Email
Bookmark
“Always in my mind is the desire to describe the landscape of the human body and the country,” says artist Wycliffe Stutchbury, whose elegant compositions are intimately tied to nature and a sense of place. He creates handmade wood shingles made from a range of sources like bog oak, holly, and ash, arranging the pieces into elemental compositions.
“I work with wood because it is full of surprises, and it is a miraculous material,” Stutchbury tells Colossal. “Its character, texture, fragility, robustness, and the way in which it records the passing of time… I really just see myself as an editor of nature.”
“Hundred Foot Drain 15,” excavated bog oak, 180 x 80 centimeters, Chatteris, Cambridgeshire
The artist is fascinated by the human relationship with landscape, or what he describes as “the struggle between our desire to impose form on the natural world and its unwillingness to conform.” No matter how we try to manipulate, use, or suppress the natural environment, it always shapes our efforts.
Stutchbury was formally trained as a furniture maker, and when he graduated from university, he focused on making what he calls “miniature realities,” or very precise models of everyday things, which he exhibited in large, white spaces. After university, he moved into a studio with some fellow graduates. The artist realized he needed to put the nose to the grindstone and began to gravitate back to woodworking.
“One day, I was walking home and the neighbour’s house was being re-roofed,” the artist says. “The builders had left the old roofing battens in the front garden, and I asked if I could take them away. The rain and sun and time had produced these wonderful colours on the timber.”
With his mind still in “miniature mode,” Stutchbury imagined a small tiled roof, and a textural wall panel clad with little shingles emerged. The rest is history, as they say. Over time, he experimented with different types of foraged wood, making larger panels, multi-piece installations, tapestry-like wall hangings and, most recently, architectural interventions.
Detail of “The Craig”
His project “The Craig,” a title derived from the Gaelic word for rock, reinterprets the exterior cladding of a 17th-century stone barn in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire. Following the contours of the original stonework and the covered aisle through the center, Stutchbury applied hundreds of shingles in a delicately undulating pattern.
The artist harvested material for “The Craig” exclusively from fallen branches in the adjacent woods. “The title for each work is provided by the location that the timber is found,” he says. “I seek out fallen and forgotten wood, and how it has responded to its surroundings and environment provides me with the platform to work from.”
Stutchbury follows where the work takes him. “Although I strive to apply my own structure to these works through concentration and technical skill, I fail,” he says, adding:
I make mistakes, my concentration wanders, I change my mind, (and) I can’t maintain a straight line or a perfect sphere. I find I am being pulled toward an intuitive way of working, like stacking firewood. So, I allow the timber I have before me to lead the way, and through a process of editing, I try and reveal the qualities and narrative held within it.
The artist has been busy with commissions, including a trip in May to Maine—a region rich with Shingle Style architecture—where he will clad one elevation of a house on the coast. Explore more on the artist’s website.
“Holme Fen 3,” handsawn excavated bog oak tiles hung on cotton twill, 330 x 228 centimeters
“The Rodd,” discarded barn cladding, 127 x 79 centimeters, Prestigne, Powys
“The Hill 10,” felled common holly, 180 x 90 centimeters, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
Detail of “The Craig”
“Hundred Foot Drain 9,” excavated bog oak, 100 x 150 centimeters, Chatteris, Cambridgeshire
“Oakhill Park,” felled ash tree, 93 x 88 centimeters, Oakhill House, Hildenborough, Kent
“Fenland Drape,” excavated bog oak and autumn leaves on 230gsm artists linen, 270 x 270 centimeters, Chatteris, Cambridgeshire / Lucas Gardens London SE5
“Hundred Foot Drain 9” in progress
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.
Hide advertising
Save your favorite articles
Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop
Receive members-only newsletter
Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms
Join us today!
$7/month
$75/year
Explore membership options
Previous articleNext article More
188 Shares165 Views
in Art
Naomi Peterson Channels a Sweet Tooth and Sense of Togetherness in Her Vibrant ‘Cup-Cakes’
by Aurelia Butler 4 February 2025, 10:00
“Mud Pies.” All images courtesy of Naomi Peterson, shared with permission
Naomi Peterson Channels a Sweet Tooth and Sense of Togetherness in Her Vibrant ‘Cup-Cakes’
February 4, 2025
ArtCraftFood
Kate Mothes
Share
Pin
Email
Bookmark
Frosted sponge and overstuffed pies are just a few of the sweet treats Naomi Peterson crafts from clay. Her playful “cup-cakes” take confectionery as a starting point, adding layers reminiscent of fondant, ice cream scoops, berries, and sprinkles.
Many of Peterson’s pieces are functional, incorporating lids or handles to be used as vessels or coffee mugs. “I’m drawn to visual sweetness, imagining the potential enjoyment of confectioneries rather than physically consuming them,” she tells Colossal. “I actually prefer savory and salty foods to sweet ones!”
“Topiary Jar 2”
Flowers complement playful lattice patterns in vibrant hues, sometimes leaning into a garden theme with topiary forms. Peterson relies on an intuitive approach that combines wheel-thrown techniques with hand-building methods like coils, slabs, and pinching. “I construct different forms and plan surfaces later,” she says. “I find if I pre-plan the surface and shape from the beginning, the process becomes too controlled, limiting spontaneity.”
Once the basic form is complete, Peterson adds or removes elements through darting—cutting wedge-shaped pieces from a cylinder of clay—and embellishing with sprig or press molds. “My surfaces require many applications and separate firings to achieve vibrant, layered effects,” she says. “Before ceramics, I spent many years painting mainly with oils, influencing much of my surface decisions.”
We often think of confectionery as a token of joy, celebration, and togetherness. Every cake and bon bon reflects Peterson’s interest in relationships and the way our actions and emotions entwine us with others and our communities. The spaces in between the dot patterns are essential, “not to keep each element distant but to connect them,” she says. “Although not physically connected, each of us is important as part of a whole.”
Peterson’s work will be part of Dirt Folk: Planted, a pop-up exhibition running concurrently with the 2025 National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference in March in Salt Lake City. If you’re on the East Coast, you’ll be able to see her work in Lines and Patterns from March 22 to May 24 at Baltimore Clayworks. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
Assorted “Cakes”
“Flower Pot”
Assorted “Bon Bons”
“Bloom Cake 2”
Assorted “Bon Bons”
“Pluff Jar”
Confectionery-inspired mugs
“Harmonia”
Assorted “Cakes”
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.
Hide advertising
Save your favorite articles
Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop
Receive members-only newsletter
Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms
Join us today!
$7/month
$75/year
Explore membership options
Previous articleNext article More

sculpture

More stories

Joan Clare Brown Juxtaposes Anatomy and Memories in Poignant Porcelain Sculptures

‘Imagining the Future’ Honors Aleksandra Kasuba’s Trailblazing Installations and Environments

Announcing Joy Machine, a New Art Gallery in Chicago

Visit Dozens of Incredible Artist-Built Environments, Homes, and Studios Around the U.S.

Whimsical Ceramic Sculptures by En Iwamura Evoke Ancient Traditions and Childlike Curiosity

Wycliffe Stutchbury Configures Miniature Wood Shingles into Mesmerizing Arrangements

Naomi Peterson Channels a Sweet Tooth and Sense of Togetherness in Her Vibrant ‘Cup-Cakes’

ITALIAN LANGUAGE

ENGLISH LANGUAGE