Beth Cavener Stichter is one of my favourite artists of all time, and definitely my favourite ceramicist, so basically I wasn't down with trying to write about her when I was so sleep deprived that I was basically at the stage I could essentially only be "she is good."
She's not good, she is absolutely phenomenal.
First things first, I need to comment on the scale of the pieces, just to put them into context... these are not figurines or even life-sized sculptures, they are massive works that fill huge spaces, or cover in the corner trying not to be seen despite their enormity.
Now that we have covered the scale lets talk about the subject matter. These animals are not animals. I know that sounds like a very contradictory modern art type statement, but what I mean by that is the animals are actually all portraits of very specific people. If you look closely, many of the animals have human anatomy, such as collar bones, which accentuates the gestures and physiognomy to create multi-layer poses expressing deep seated emotions.
Time for confession number two...
I may or may not have travelled all the way to Long Beach primarily to see BCS work. Did I mention I love her work? I really, really love it.
BCS sculpts her pieces out of solid clay using a pipe armature. The pieces are then hollowed out and reassembled. There is a lot more on her website about her processes so I do not want to repeat it when you can read it in her own words.
Beth has been a massive influence on my work and to see her work in the studio was intensely inspiring. Her obsessive approach to her work means that she can only produce a few pieces a year but that they are to a ridiculously high standard. There's not so much I can say about Beth's work without becoming totally deep and fawning, so I suggest you just go to her website and check her out, she is truly an amazing artist and her pieces speak for themselves. It is really interesting to see the human condition played out using animals as the subjects.
I also love Beth's attention to detail, precision with specific materials, and her scientific background really shows through in her chemical knowledge of all the materials she uses, from the clay bodies and how they react in firings, right through to the specific types of glues and paints she uses.
It has been really inspiring to see how other interests feed back into your art. I think it may be time to bring some of my writing and stage design back into my work. Is the world ready for promenade theatre with ceramic sculptures as the actors? Only one way to find out...
Oh and in case I didn't mention it, I REALLY LOVE Beth Cavener Stichter's work.
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