Tag: clay

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Hitomi and Takuro Shibata: Featured Penland Benefit Auction Artists

Penland Benefit Auction featured artists Hitomi and Takuro Shibata live and work in Seagrove, North Carolina, which is home to the largest community of potters in the U.S. Before they came to the States, they were based in Shigaraki, one of Japan’s oldest pottery villages.

They are both members of the International Academy of Ceramics. They have participated in dozens of group shows and taught numerous ceramics workshops, including at Anderson Ranch (CO) and Peters Valley (NJ).They are co-authors (with Matt Levy) of the book, Wild Clay: Creating Ceramics and Glazes from Natural and Found Resources.

Hitomi manages their pottery business, Studio Touya, where they make pottery and sculpture using local wild clays and firing in their wood kilns. Takuro is the director of Starworks Ceramics in Star, NC.

 The Whirlwind triptych featured in this year’s auction is a rare collaborative work. The shapes were inspired by the wind, but Takuro says the pieces also reflect their experience at Penland. “Instructors and students come to Penland, and it’s like a whirlwind that’s mixing ideas, mediums, knowledge, techniques, and personal and cultural backgrounds together and creating something meaningful and beautiful.”

This exciting Studio Touya triptych will be featured in the 39th Annual Penland Benefit Auction:


Hitomi Shibata and Takuro Shibata
Whirlwind
Woodfired North Carolina stoneware, slips, red iron oxide, clear glaze, wood ash
Largest: 14 x 20½ x 20½ inches

Video produced by Jeff Goodman using photographs and video supplied by the artists.

 

 

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Penland Auction Mug Maker, John Quick!

Meet Artist John Quick, official mug maker of the 39th Annual Penland Benefit Auction.

Quick’s works can be easily recognized by their minimal forms and bright colors. Sure to light up anyone’s day with their glowing presence, these beautiful mugs will be selected by guests at our Saturday morning auction tradition: Breakfast at the Barns.

Making 500 unique, slip cast mugs
John joined us for a week in the Penland clay studio back in the spring, slip casting and glazing 500 beautiful mugs, each of them with a unique signature.

For the Penland benefit auction mugs, Quick employed a “two-part strategy for efficiency.” First, they created a mother mold – a durable mold made of rubber – for both the handle design and the mug body. This master mold allowed them to cast multiple, less-durable plaster molds (around twenty for each component) to expedite the production of 500 mugs. To add visual interest to the uniform design, Quick used colored slips with a variety of stains. This approach introduced variations in color and pattern across the mug set.

Why was slip casting the right choice? “While slip casting ensures the consistency I seek in functional ware, it also offers flexibility in terms of surface decoration and final outcome,” they told us. 

About John Quick
John is a queer artist who recently swapped the sandy shores of Saint Augustine, Florida for the bustling streets of Philadelphia. Their work is a captivating fusion of practicality and artistic exploration. Earlier collections featured airbrushed functional pieces with meticulous wheel-throwing and slip-casting techniques combined with stunning airbrushed gradients. These pieces, often minimalist with an emphasis on refined details, showcased a fascination with simple forms. Recently, Quick’s artistic voice has taken a new direction, embracing a more conceptual approach that centers on themes of identity, nostalgia, and the Y2K aesthetic. This experimental body of work delves into new forms, surface decoration, and personal narratives that hold deep meaning for the artist. Quick aspires to bridge the divide between functional and conceptual art by finding connections between their beautifully crafted wares and this evolving dialogue.

John’s Penland Connection
John’s  journey as a ceramic artist took a pivotal turn in the fall of 2022 during their first visit to Penland as the studio assistant for Matt Repsher’s fall concentration workshop, an experience they remember as transformative. Fueled by newfound connection to Penland and the ceramics community, John returned in the summer of 2023, this time assisting Brooks Oliver in his mold-making class. John had this to say about the effect that Penland has had upon their artistic journey:

As a ceramicist who has largely charted my own course through self-study, these experiences at Penland were invaluable. Assisting these renowned instructors not only honed my technical abilities but also provided a crucial link to the wider ceramics community. The knowledge, guidance, and camaraderie I gained at Penland have been instrumental in shaping my artistic path. So much so that I now share a studio in Philadelphia with a former core fellow (Molly Bernstein) and former work-study student (Claire Whitehurst), both of whom I met during my incredible time there in the fall of 2022. This shared space fosters a constant dialogue and exchange of ideas, further enriching my artistic journey.

We are honored to have John as the 39th Annual Penland Benefit Auction Mug Maker.

 

 

 

 

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Sculpting Subtle Expressions with Arthur Gonzalez

When sculpting insecurity, mischief, skepticism, jealousy, contentment… asymmetry is key.


These beautiful works were created by students in Arthur Gonzalez’s recent workshop: “When Sculpture Talks Back.”

THE POWER OF SUBTLETY

Arthur is intrigued by the storytelling possibilities of understated, human expressions. For him, “a subtler expression is more alive. It has a longer existence.”

In his workshop, students explored how minute changes, like a slight turn at the corner of a mouth, tilt of the head, or an asymmetrical element like an eyebrow can create complex, intriguing emotion.

“We all know how to read faces,” he says. And if you can see it in real life… you can sculpt it.”

INSIDE-OUT TECHNIQUE

The class achieved their impressive results using Arthur’s preferred “inside-out”-technique.

Starting with a pinch pot head, they learned to add and subtract clay, pushing from the inside to create a cheekbone and from the outside to create an eye socket, for example.

COLLECTIVE ENERGY

These sculptures definitely have a lot to say. Arthur said, “This class had a beautiful, collective energy. They were a very talented group and even those without experience did really well.”

Want to experience clay at Penland? We will be announcing our spring 2025 lineup later this month…