Ceramic Artist of the Year!

Ayumi Horie is. Awesome.


I first got turned onto her work at NCECA, I can't remember which one, but I want to say Baltimore. Her work is unselfconscious and delicate. It draws on imagery that is both historic and contemporary. In addition to her ceramic work, Ayumi is a pioneer in utilizing the web for marketing her work, something that the ceramics world has been very resistant to. For these reasons and more, Ayumi was named Ceramic Artist of the Year by Ceramics Monthly!

Ayumi is a studio potter in upstate New York. She creates well-crafted, simplistic functional pottery that comes alive with curious illustrations featuring animals and letters. Her subject matter is sweet and her execution is very well developed. 

I am fascinated by the "Dry" throwing technique she uses and can not wait to try it! Check out this video she made which demonstrates the technique.

And, perhaps most impressive, is her commitment to humanitarianism. The day after the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan in 2011, Ayumi co-founded Handmade for Japan. This amazing project has raised almost $100,000  GlobalGiving’s Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund.

  

Read all about Ayumi and her Ceramic Artist of the Year award here.

Parallels between graffiti and antique jewelry

Congratulations to artist Amy Tavern for making the cover of Metalsmith Magazine. What an honor for her!

We love Amy Tavern here at SCC. Not only do we represent her work in our store (in-store only) , but she has recently been juried, as a finalist, into our upcoming biennial Elizabeth R. Raphael Founder's Prize Exhibition, Transformation 8: Contemporary Works in Small Metals. This competition awards one finalist a $5,000 cash prize and purchase award. All 33 finalists from the first round of jurying are included in a published catalogue and exhibition at SCC's main gallery space. 

Brooch in Light Blue and Hot Pink, 2010
Oxidized sterling silver, light blue, hot pink, and white spray paint, cotton string
Fabricated with sgraffito, knotted string, 4” x 5” x 2”

Amy holds a BFA in Metals from the University of Washington and a BA in Arts Administration from the State University of New York College at Fredonia. Working with formal art elements such as line, shape, repetition, and rhythm Tavern creates light, gestural pieces which are often reminiscent of maps, arial landscape views, and simple line drawings. 

Necklace Arrangement, Oxidized silver

Her current work draws parallels between graffiti and antique jewelry. Amy explains, "I am intrigued by the accumulated history graffiti conveys via layers of marks and how antique jewelry depicts specific time periods. In both cases evidence of the individual remains whether as graffiti artist, maker, or wearer. Although my work does not resemble graffiti in its purest form, I reference it by the way I manipulate the spray painted surfaces of each piece. I further reference graffiti by purposefully covering precious metal with paint like an irreverent tag on a statue. I show reverence also for the past by creating work that alludes both to traditional adornment, such as the teardrop, as well as jewelry that once belonged to my grandmother."

Bow Cluster Brooch with Teardrop, 2010 
Sterling silver, light blue, navy, yellow, and white spray paint 
Fabricated with sgraffito, 8.5” x 4” x 1.75”

Street Kings’ Bling Series now available!

Check out this sweet street bling by Tara Locklear, now available at our Store! In this series the artist is repurposing broken skateboards and turning them into artful adornment. Tara Locklear is currently pursuing her BFA at East Carolina University. "Costume, bling, urban, humor and remembrance are just a few of the words that describe the work that I make.   Watching people and being in different environments give me inspiration," she explains. 

Your New Aesthetic

Your New Aesthetic, a solo show featuring local artist Brian Ferrell, will open at our satellite gallery on October 14th. Perhaps best known for his woodworking, Ferrell is an exceptional metalsmith as well.  Born in southwestern Pennsylvania, Ferrell was strongly influenced by his father, who enlisted his two sons in the construction, renovation and repair of the family’s homes. This early exposure to making led Ferrell to pursue a BFA in jewelry and metals at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (my alma mater!) in 2001.  Following this educational path led him to the University of Massachusettes, Darthmouth where Brian pursued an MFA in jewelry and metals. During his time at UMass, the graduate student began exploring furniture making and the combining of his skills in woodworking and metals. 

Scotch Cups

Returning to Pennsylvania in 2006, he opened his own studio -- Brian Ferrell Designs.  Now fully engaged in the creation of furniture and tableware, his work is exhibited in group and solo exhibits on a national level, was published in “500 Tables” by Lark Books, and can be found in private collections in the US and Europe.  

Water Set

Easy Chair

Ferrell’s furniture plays off subtle contours, daring construction, and hidden details. He incorporates a variety of exotic hardwoods along with native woods such as maple and walnut.  His tabletops are carved underneath to meet spider-like legs and carved upward on top to indicate the presence of legs below. 

Sideboard Table

Cabled Coffee Table

Shadowy gradations of color ingeniously disguise the carved plywood Ferrell uses for strength in sweepingly organic chair and table legs.  This material allows him to stretch expectations for furniture and create adventurous forms such as chairs with only two legs. Steel cables add stability without adding bulk and contribute to precarious-appearing designs. 

Cabled Sideboard

Like his furniture, Ferrell’s shelving reaches beyond the functional. These shelves are elegant contours simultaneously attached to the wall and escaping from it.  They succeed as sculpture, particularly in groupings. 

Shelving System

Shelf Cluster

Ferrell’s custom tableware and hollowware relates most closely to his training as a jeweler, incorporating single or double-walled pewter shapes often emerging from wooden bodies.  Like his furniture designs, these traditional objects surprise with the interaction of square and circular forms, and force one to be aware of the object’s function and use.

Cordial Set

Don't miss this amazing exhibition and be sure to visit The Store at SCC to see more of his work!

Take a class with Mariko Kusumoto!

Photopolymer Etching 

date & time: Saturday, October 22, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (one-hour lunch break)

visiting instructor: Mariko Kusumoto, Massachusetts

Etch your own images onto metal using a biodegradable photopolymer film to create jewelry or sculpture. Using this technique Kusumoto, a Japanese born artist working in the US, creates intimate metal environments that evoke the rich, sensual Japanese culture of her childhood and subtly reflect on east-west

cultural differences. Her MFA (printmaking) is from the Academy of Art College in San Francisco and BFA (painting/printmaking) from Musashino Art College, Tokyo.

Tuition: $100 (includes $5 lab fee)

Materials Fee: $20 (payable to SCC)

City Unseen Revealed!

I finished installing Scott Goss's new solo exhibition, City Unseen, at our Satellite Gallery on Friday. It was a harrowing experience negotiating giant glass panels from the loading dock, through the bowels of BNY Mellon Center and into the gallery. Not to mention the horrific thunderstorms and the fact that I ended up locking my keys in my car and getting stranded for an hour. BUT, I was successful and it looks incredible! I already loved Scott's work, but seeing it all together as a large body in a gallery setting just made it sing even more. I wish these exhibition shots were better for you, they make most of the show look over or under-lit, but it really isn't. I blame the strange light effect on the thunderstorms rather than my shoddy camera work. However, if you really want to see what this show looks like you're better off going directly to the gallery. It is located in downtown Pittsburgh, on the intersection Grant and Oliver Street, in the T-Station lobby. DO IT!


See the full exhibition here!

From the the upper deck

From the upper deck

Rail Bridge IV

Rail Bridge V

Cityscape #125

Late Shift

Animated pottery by Mel Griffin

Mel's work can be purchased on our website!

"My work is an investigation of the manner in which physicality, understanding, memory, and mood combine to create meaning in both everyday and imagined environments. I believe that the capacity to empathize can be developed through attentive engagement with daily landscape, and that the health of that landscape can affect the health of our minds. In my work, animals serve as both playful and solemn metaphors for my own interactions with the environment, as well as those of society as a whole.

Through imagery and metaphor, line and clay, my work seeks to capture the viewer's emotional interest and to rekindle her sense of wonder and discovery. Functional pottery is unique in the depth of its participation in its owner’s life, becoming a part of her personal and intimate sense of place and home. My drawings endeavor to inspire this same familiarity and are approachable, nostalgic, playful, and open to emotional participation."

-Mel Griffin