Stoneware by Laura Clemons
My Old Florida Home
These pots are impressed and carved with symbols evocative of Florida riverbanks and beaches. Most are functional tableware, including wheel-thrown bowls, mugs, vases and slab-formed platters. None of the pieces are glazed in more than two colors and all are formed of a dark gray-brown clay.
Fossils and Artifacts
More sculptural in nature, my Fossils and Artifacts series is almost exclusively slab- and coil-built platters, serving bowls and freestanding sculpture, some of which can be functional for use as vases. Most pieces are composed of several torn slabs joined with coils and impressions. Carvings are deep and, again, representative of shapes found in nature, particularly shards of shells. I use multiple glazes and slips to create a complex landscape of colors – mostly earth-tones with gloss and matte textures on gray-brown clay. The sculptural pieces in particular are “subtractive”; some carvings remove layers of clay, while some cut all the way through the clay wall, leaving holes and gaps. These are a sub-series called “What Remains.”
Marine Life
This newest series is an outgrowth of each preceding group of work. Bowls and vases are functional. I think of the art tiles as clay paintings, each perfectly displayed on a vertical surface – wall or easel. The common thread among each is a sculptural application of coils in flowing organic lines and shapes, an “additive” process that makes me think of re-emerging life. I use two clays for these pots, white and a red brown with deep mineral speckles. The white gives me brighter colors, while the speckled red brown adds depth and automatic texture.
