Steven Colby
potter
SAW
978 euclid avenue
Carbondale, CO
8 1 6 2 3
StevenDColby@GMail.com
short bio:
Steven Colby received his BFA from Alfred University, New York State College of Ceramics in 1999. He has been an artist in residence at Baltimore Clayworks; Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts; and The Carbondale Clay Center, Carbondale, CO. He is currently a member of SAW, Studio for Arts + Works, in Carbondale. Steven’s exploration of earthenware and colored slips enables his interests in painting and ceramics to merge in one creative endeavor. Steven shows nationally and is a working member of Artstream Nomadic Gallery.
statement:
My studio practice is centered around observation over time. I come back to a wet pot as often as possible, looking to see each part of the pot, turning it over and round looking to bring identity to the pot by considering and addressing every possibility of form and surface.
I work with red earthenware because of its material modesty and its peasant heritage. Typically I will apply a white slip to a pot immediately upon completion of form with the pot still revolving on the wheel. I think of this time as preparing a canvas as a painter would apply gesso. Occasionally I’ll stop there.
More often I’ll allow a pot to sit for awhile while I begin to imagine its painting. Using colored slips I’ll begin to work the surface while the body of the pot remains responsive. In this way painting and form develop as one. An aggressive brushstroke will compromise the body’s volume while a painted petal can be given breadth by a push from within. The painting can be pulled into the form as the red clay becomes an addition to my color palette. At my best the pots appear to be made from the painting.
Touching the work often and undaunted the pots take on a sense of being already broken in. The imagery is purposefully familiar, worn and out of focus. I’ll introduce layer upon layer of simple motifs to tell stories and evoke common cultural memory. I’m working to portray shared moments that are precious, stirring and just out of reach.
This process that begins with me in studio continues thru the life of the pot as pressed into use in the home. I try to make a pot that reveals itself over time as the holder brings the pot close to the body and into the daily intimacies of life.
One of the elements that i enjoy so much in your work is that feeling of a lifeline. The history that is revealed in the details- a story.I like that idea… of working on something until it feels ready. However many layers it takes. I’m taking a painting class right now and the thought just ran through my mind today at the wheel of creating texture with slip that would later be decorated, just as a painter would do with gesso. One more layer of information to play with. Joy.
As a painter and potter myself, I really love the way you merge and balance these two variations on expression. You develop such a rich surface, and yet it is integrally a part of the form it covers… Lovely work, Steven!
Just to let you know, I’ve added your blog to the blogroll at http://pottery.about.com/od/potteryblogs/index.htm —
And just another note… what you are doing with your work reaffirms the direction I have recently begun going in my own pottery. Thank you!
Beautiful work! The flower motif you often incorporate is wonderful. Too bad you’re all the way out in Colorado — nowhere near Atlanta. I adore Japanese pottery, too! I just can’t pass it up when I find it.
P.S. The awesomeness that is alphainventions.com led me to your blog. Comment on http://bridgecatering.wordpress.com so we both get more traffic and go up in the search engine rankings. Thanks, friend!