The Artist's Statement

Part II

The Artist's Statement

Do YOU have an Artist's Statement?

     One thing you will need to start thinking about after you begin to get your work into juried exhibitions is the Artist's Statement.

     Galleries will ask you to provide them with an Artist's Statement.  You'll need to begin right NOW to start thinking about YOURS and begin writing down your ideas on what you wan the gallery and the public to know about YOU, your WORK, and the IDEAS behind your work.

     In my next article I will go into more detail on Juried Exhibition and explain them in more detail to you. But, for now, I want you to begin thinking about your own art work, and how you can begin to TALK about it.

     Here is the Artist's Statement I completed today to send to a gallery that will be displaying my work in a few weeks. They also needed my Artist's Statement to apply for a grant for me to be an Artist in Residence at their gallery. 

 Lynda Lambert: Artist’s Statement

September  2011

The source of my pottery lies in two traditions: 

1.)    Art History - my studies of the ancient past. I taught Ancient to Medieval Art History for many years as Professor of Fine Arts and Humanitis at Geneva College. It is natural that the imagery and history I worked with daily would be abiding motifs in my own creative efforts. My love of the ancient past was aroused as a mature student working on my BFA degree at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania in the mid 1980s. My first glimpse into this world happened the first night of my first art history class. These memorable images and ideas have remained a central part of everything I create.

2.)    Nature - My observations of the natural, organic world around me have been urges that I have held within my creative self from as far back as I can remember.  Nature has been my muse since childhood. She continues to guide my hands as I work with clay. The ancient myths hold me transfixed as I contemplate the symmetry and majesty of Nature. My work is both a celebration of Nature, and a recognition of the eternal forces that are inherent within Nature.

My artist process begins as I gather fragments of information from the art of the past, and combine those inages with the world of Nature that surrounds me every day  These fragments mingle with memories, myths, history, and become the force that guides me in my creative work.

I define and explore a sense of place as I make my pottery.  Images and motifs emerge slowly as I work in layers of clay, mark making, stains, under glazes, and glazes. My   color is influenced by nature and a sense of the passage of time. The methods I use in creating my organic sculptural vessels are very time intensive. Each piece takes form over a period of weeks or months before it becomes the final work that will be on view in the gallery.

     Each piece begins with my choice of clay.   From there, the object is created mostly by using timeless Asian hand throwing techniques.  I am influenced by ancient pottery and especially by shards of pottery that is found in an ancient ruins. I like to be sure that the mark of my hand is left in the clay to show the process and to remind the viewer that pottery is made from the earth and by a person who has left behind marks that naturally occur in the process of making the object.

     I see my pottery creations as individual works of fine art. I am not a production potter. There are no two pieces of my work that are the same. Each piece is one of a kind.