Narrative Ceramic Sculpture

Wesley Anderegg
Michelle Gallagher
Robin & John Gumaelius
Babette Harvey
Jacquline Hurlbert
Margaret Keelan
Heidi Preuss Grew
Akio Takamori

Sanctuary by Margaret Keelan

Narrative Ceramic Sculpture

Narrative Ceramic Sculpture

If you are looking for the definitive meaning of narrative art, you may not find it in
this exhibition. That is because there are many interpretations of what constitutes
narrative, dependent on the voice telling the story -- and that is as it should be.
Contemporary art continues to challenge and employ narrative structures,
symbolism and visual language. For a time, the emergence of Modernism
diminished the perceived value of narrative content in favor of more abstract,
formal, and conceptual concerns. Fortunately, in more recent years, the desire
to express personal, political, and social issues through storytelling has regained
some prominence.
This exhibition, Narrative Ceramic Sculpture features works by ceramicists Wesley
Anderegg, Akio Takamori, Michelle Gallagher, Jacquline Hurlbert, Margaret Keelan,
Heidi Preuss Grew, Babette Harvey and husband and wife team, Robin and John
Gumaelius. Each of these artists explores narrative, confiding a personal truth and
inviting outside interpretation. Each piece has evident or implied narrative, drawing
on the artists individual real-life experiences or imagined worlds.
Narrative told through the cypher of visual language relies on the viewers
approach to decoding the work. It evokes emotional and cerebral responses and
has the power to capture universal cultural truths and aspirations. The viewer is
more than a voyeur. The introduction of the viewers experience of the world and
biases makes them an active participant. In this way, each piece has a unique
meaning to each and every viewer. This is the power of a story. As it is retold and
is translated it becomes the interpreters own.
However, we should tread lightly as we appropriate the artists work to speak of
our own experience, and remember that these incarnations are confided to us in
trust. The commentary or confession may have a very particular meaning to the

artist -- one that may never be fully expressed in words. Heidi Preuss Grew admits
that she never fully reveals all the themes and ideas she is working with, preferring
to allow the viewer some scope for personal interpretation, but also keeping
a little something for herself. Both Heidi Preuss Grew and Akio Takamoris work
explores identity from the perspective of self and the context of community.
Both artists create works in groupings that relate additional meaning through
their juxtapositioning, and in which the constituent parts are powerful when
standing in isolation. Takamori and Preuss Grew are familiar with the concept
of mixed cultural references -- Takamori being born in Japan, and Preuss Grew
being a first generation German immigrant. Their works hint at the dichotomy of
homogenization and otherness.
Michelle Gallagher, Jacquline Hurlbert and Margaret Keelans work speaks of a
preoccupation with change and transformation through aging. Each indulge our
desire to return to a simpler and more innocent time, while acknowledging the
darker side of our psyche as we transition from childhood, though puberty, and
settle into adulthood with some level of discomfort. They are also a celebration of
the human condition with all its humor, mischief and mayhem.
Wesley Anderegg constructs caricatures derived from collected observances of
human behavior and personal memories. His imagination is allowed to develop
his subjects based on what he supposes his invented characters might do. He
accepts that the personal nature of his work means it has an emotional quality,
but he shies away from being blatant, using humor as a buffer. Babette Harveys
imagery draws on the natural world, humanity, and environmental issues. Robin
and John Gumaelius start from a position of sharing. The work is created through
an ongoing dialogue between the two artists, each taking the next chapter in the
narrative of their combined creations. Each of the artists in this exhibition has a
unique voice, their own stories and their own way of sharing, just as each viewer
has their own perspective and way of understanding.

Strawberry Woman by Wesley Anderegg

Wesley Anderegg
Wesley Anderegg began his education in ceramics at Arizona State University
while earning a BS degree in geography. Ceramics is what stuck. He continued
his studies as a resident artist at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass
Village, Colorado and at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana.
Over the last 26 years, Anderegg has had 22 solo exhibitions, and participated in
countless group exhibitions across the United States. His work has been featured
in the Lark Books series 500 Ceramic Sculptures, 500 Clay Figures and The Best
of 500 Ceramics, and in Confrontational Ceramics: The Artist as Social Critic by
Judith Schwartz, A Potters Handbook by Glenn Nelson and Richard Burkett, and
Handbuilt Ceramics from Lark Books. His work has also appeared in Ceramics
Monthly and American Craft.
Andereggs work is held in numerous public collections including the Renwick
Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Archie Bray Foundation, the
Mint Museum of Craft and Design, the Fredrick R. Wiesman Museum in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, the Columbus Museum in Columbus, Georgia, and the Crocker Art
Museum in Sacramento, California. He has won awards at the Centennial
Celebration at the University of Kansas and the San Angelo Ceramic
National in Texas, in addition to various other accolades in institutions across
the country. He has also curated exhibitions of ceramics and has lectured
at UCLA, the Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Columbus State University and the
California Conference for the Advancement for the Ceramic Arts.
Wesley Anderegg lives on a farm in California with his wife Donna and his daughter
Izzy. They produce around two barrels of Pinot each year which is shared with
ceramic workshop participants in their light-filled studio.

Minotaur by Michelle Gallagher, courtesy of RiverSea Gallery, Astoria

Michelle Gallagher
Michelle Gallagher is a member of the Pacific Northwest Sculptors and the Oregon
Potters Association. Her career as a professional sculptor, which spans almost
three decades, has taken many interesting turns and has encompassed different
industries in addition to her studio practice. This exposed her to multiple mediums
and has informed her work in clay.
She moved to Oregon from California in 1988 to pursue work in technical theatre
design, working for several Oregon and Washington based theatre companies.
She later worked for a parade float manufacturing company carving large-scale
Styrofoam figures before finding her way back to clay and eventually setting up
her own ceramic studio.
She chooses local, groggy stoneware clay over fine porcelain. This both
satisfies the sculptural requirements of her work and her preference in how the
clay handles and feels. She recalls that, Its been said that clay is a malleable
and forgiving material but with a memory, and I have found this to be true.
The pieces are finished with commercial oxides and glazes in a combination of
applications and multiple firings. She may incorporate found objects into a piece
either as a primary element to the design or a secondary aid in construction.
Gallaghers work can be found in many private collections throughout the US
and Canada. In 2005, she was commissioned by the OHSU School of Dentistry
to create a work for the Portland Childrens Museum. Her work has been featured
in the Lark Books series 500 Animals in Clay, and 500 Figures in Clay.

Team of Three by Robin & John Gumaelius, courtesy of White Bird Gallery, Cannon Beach

Robin and John Gumaelius

Robin and John Gumaelius are collaborating artists and husband and wife. The
Gumaelius family live in a rural area in Washington State where they have built
their studio, home, barn, and gardens. They do not have a website or email,
instead spend their time enjoying the lifestyle they have created for themselves.
Our studio looks over the garden, Robin notes in a handwritten statement titled
Artist Ramblings. Now and then, chickens wander into the art space, but they are
not nearly as inspiring as our kids, who tumble into our laps, steal our shoes, poke
our bellies, argue and throw clay wads while were working.
John began his career as a metal sculptor but added clay after meeting Robin, a
ceramicist, so they could spend more time together. He explains that, Together,
we make something better than either of us could make apart. They combine
ceramic, steel and wood to form highly animated human and birdlike sculptures,
which hint of the comical and bizarre side of their combined imaginations. In their
highly unique working relationship they combine both skill and imagination to
build a singularly unusual world out of clay and mixed media.
Robin and John take turns sculpting and decorating each piece. John prefers to
pinch the clay into bird forms, while Robin works with slabs of clay, hand
forming the larger, figurative and animal forms. Robin then creates colorful ceramic
surface imagery with complex decorative glazes. John completes the works with
arms made of vine maple and madrona wood, and feet and other paraphernalia
in metal.
John and Robin studied at Brigham Young University, Robin receiving her Bachelor
of Fine Arts in 1998, and John his in 2003. Robin received her Masters of Fine Arts
in 2000 from Ohio State University.

Holding The Future by Babette Harvey

Babette Harvey
Babette Harvey lives and works in Oregon, where the mountains and ocean
are within an hour or two drive from her house. Surrounded by nature, this has
become the underlying narrative throughout her work. Her imagery draws on the
natural world, humanity, and environmental issues. Each sculpture reflects these
subjects through the juxtaposition of nature imagery and human centered objects.
Her work is constructed using slab and coil techniques. Her imagery is drawn and
carved in low relief on to the surface of the sculpted forms. Following an initial
bisque firing the pieces are stained with black underglaze, which pulls up the
detail of the drawing and carving, and fired again at maximum temperature for the
clay (mature fire). After the mature fire Harvey uses over-glazes called china paint
to add color, and concludes her work with one or two more kiln firings at a very
low temperature to set colors into the clay body.
The use of china paints allows the latent painter in her to express herself. These
colorful over-glazes are traditionally painted onto an already glazed porcelain
piece, but Harvey prefers to paint on the non-glazed, but fully fired surface of the
clay body. She does this to create a semi matt or satin finished surface that looks
similar to water color. She explains, I also enjoy using china paints because their
transparent nature allows the detail of the black staining (done at the bisque stage)
to show through their beautiful colors.
Babette Harvey is a member of the Oregon Potters Association. She studied at
the Oregon College of Art and Crafts, Portland State University, and Humboldt
State University. She has works in the collections of the Contemporary Craft
Museum, Portland, Oregon and Clay Art Center, Tacoma, Washington.

Keeping Her Mischief Polietly in Check by Jacquline Hurlbert, courtesy of Whitebird Gallery

Jacquline Hurlbert
Jacquline Hurlbert is an established Northwest ceramic sculptor. Hurlbert draws
on the stories she created for herself as a child growing up on her familys farm in
Nebraska. As an adult, her characters are much more refined and the narratives
influenced by the continued growing pains we encounter as we proceed through
our lives. She has created a vocabulary of symbolism, where oversized feet denote
the strength to stand alone, and exaggerated hands beckon an unknown future.
She explains, Clay serves as the vehicle for my meditation; it speaks without
words. Everything that I feel is automatically transferred to the clay through my
hands. This is my voice, not heard but seen. I invite you to communicate with me
through visual imagery, creating a dialogue between yourself and the work.
Hurlberts studio is set in the grounds of her home in Lake Oswego, Oregon,
where she has lived for the past 16 years. Inside are two rooms; the first, which
houses her kiln, is dedicated to the clay production; the second, her studio where
she applies the patina to the surface of her sculptures.
She describes the activity of making as dirty, messy, creative, energy filled clay
pounding, and the ceramic production room as the work horse room, and Im
the horse! Once the pieces have been glazed with a dark charcoal grey, which
emphasizing the form and acts as an under painted surface, they arrive in second
room. Here she is able to listen to music, contemplate, and play as she applies the
painted surface. She tells how her sculpture comes to life in this room.
Hurlbert received her art degree from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and
her masters in sculpture at California State University in Northridge.

Cockatoo Secret by Margaret Keelan

Margaret Keelan
Margaret Keelans ceramic sculptures are glazed, stained, fired, then glazed,
stained and fired again to give the surfaces the look of disintegrating, painted
over weathered wood. She explains, This softening and reduction of form so that
its essential nature is revealed is a metaphor I am using for life being lived, my
exploration of the process of growing up and growing older.
Keelans figurative sculptures confront issues of mortality, decay, beauty, aging
and innocence. In her article Margaret Keelans Intimate and Universal Stories,
Cheryl Coon describes how, The skin-like malleability of the clay has been stained
and manipulated to show all the scars and scratches and gouges. The sculptures
appear to have been excavated, but not restored to any previous state of pristine
beauty. They reveal their raw, exposed and broken selves.
The labor-intensive process that goes into the creation of the work is itself a ritual
of transformation. Many of the figures hold a smaller character or animal. The
interpretation of this is left deliberately ambiguous -- another doll, a child, a pet, or
another version of the self? The artists focus on the boundaries between the adult
and the child and self-reflection draws on dreams, spirituality and an emotional
passion.
Margaret Keelan is the Associate Director of the School of Sculpture at the
Academy of Art University in San Francisco, where she also teaches ceramics.
She received an Advanced B.A. from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada
and an M.F.A. in ceramic sculpture from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
Her work has been featured in numerous books including Lark Books, 500 Figures
in Clay, Volumes 1 and 2, Ceramics and the Human Figure by Edith Garcia, The
Craft and Art of Clay, Contemporary Ceramics and Working With Clay by Susan
Peterson.

The Guide by Heidi Preuss Grew

Heidi Preuss Grew

Heidi Preuss Grews approach to sculpture is a very personal and intuitive process,
in which both subject and material are consciously chosen impacting the outcome
of the final work. The concept of truth to material manifests through the use of
porcelains delicacy and sensual responsiveness to facilitate the feminine ideal
or the slick maneuverings of a crafty villain. On the other hand, rough stoneware
results in more immediate and gritty surfaces, ideal for characters that display a
bohemian lifestyle or deep-set fatigue from unrelenting domestic labor.
Born in Illinois, a first-generation German immigrant, she found a study year
in Marburg, Germany in 1991-1992 a pivotal experience that enriched her
understanding of the culture that informed her early years. Through residences
and exhibitions her career has enabled her to travel, broadening her experience
of cultural nuances. She is acutely aware of the precarious nature of identity as
experienced through introspection and through the critical lens of others. She
explains that her work intends to reveal the vulnerable and pathetic side of the
human condition as well as the heroic and beautiful. She is best known for her
glazed ceramic sculptures of stylized anthropomorphic figures. These are often
based loosely on friends and members of her community, as well as prominent
historical or fictional personalities.
Heidi Preuss Grew earned three degrees from the University of Illinois, including B.A
and B.F.A. degrees in Art History, Germanic Languages and Literature, and Crafts.
She completed her M.F.A. in Fine Arts at Ohio University and moved to the Pacific
Northwest in 1999. Her work can be found in many museum collections including
the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Oregon, Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague,
Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, FuLe International Ceramic Art
Museums, China, and Atliers deArt de France, Paris.

Equivalents by Akio Takamori from the collection of Driek & Michael Zirinsky

Akio Takamori
Akio Takamori continually evolves his interpretations of the human form. Born and
raised in Japan, he has been working in the United States since 1974. His initial
training in Japan lent itself to the creation of dramatic vessel-based works, which
gave way to the subdued and intimate figurative sculptures he is now best known
for. Takamoris work constitutes an important contribution to the long tradition
of figurative sculpture. Drawing upon Asian and American culture, childhood
memories of Japan and his experiences in the United States, Takamori creates
work that is truly cross-cultural.
Takamoris figures are a hybrid between two-dimensional and three-dimensional
art. They are sophisticated ceramic sculptures, but are also paintings on irregular
surfaces. Calligraphic brush strokes denote features across the solid hand-built
forms. In his creating of communities of figures he deals with the interplay
between history, tradition and modern life, often depicting exchange between
two or more cultures - Japanese and Western, male and female. They may
represent figures of extreme authority, such as monks, Bodhisattvas, empresses,
or queens, but more often depict ordinary men, women, and children.
Takamori has a B.F.A from the Kansas City Art Institute and a M.F.A. from the
New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University. He has an international
reputation and has work in museum collections including the Los Angels County
Museum of Art, Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Ariana Museum in Geneva,
the Seattle Art Museum, and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. He
is the recipient of numerous awards, including three National Endowment for the
Arts Visual Artists Fellowship Grants, the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and
Sculptors Grant, and the USA Ford Fellowship.

This catalogue was published on the occasion of Narrative Ceramic Sculpture, an

exhibiton at Cannon Beach Gallery, 3 September - 16 October 2016.
Curated by Jane Brumfield
Exhibiting the work of:
Wesley Anderegg
Michelle Gallagher
Robin & John Gumaelius
Babette Harvey
Jacquline Hurlbert
Margaret Keelan
Heidi Preuss Grew
Akio Takamori
Published by:
Cannon Beach Arts Association
PO Box 684
Cannon Beach
Oregon, 97110
www.cannonbeacharts.org
Cover Image:
The Muse by Heidi Preuss Grew, Limoges porcelain and Western Bigleaf
Maple burl, 13 x 20 x 7 inches

Banjo Man by Wesley Anderegg

Cannon Beach Gallery

1064 South Hemlock Street

Cannon Beach OR 97110
www.cannonbeacharts.org