Description

Clay artists Marion Schlauch, Judy Brater, LeAnn Lewis, Tina Curry, and painter Brenda Fieser have a combined artistic experience of over 200 years.  During the 2020 pandemic, artists had diminishing business opportunities.  Everyone had time to reinvent their art; artists used that time to explore their mediums and create new work.  Pieces in this exhibit reflect this period of time.

Marion Schlauch prides herself as a functional potter.  For 50 years, her love of clay is evident and shows her masterful skills on the potter’s wheel.  Her glazing techniques are precise.  She finishes her pieces in her hand built gas kiln, firing to cone 10.  Since the pandemic, Marion has used her time to create barrel fired tiles.  She has also collaborated with Judy Brater, combining her elegantly wheel-thrown vessels with Judy’s sculptural pieces.   Judy alters Marion’s vessels with surfaced decoration and embellishments, such as sculptural wheel-thrown bird life.  Marion has exhibited for decades in national art festivals, such as The Ann Arbor Street Fair.  She is a member of The Southern Highland Craft Guild and Terra Madre Women in Clay.

Judy Brater began her ceramic career in 1972.  Her work has evolved through decades of exploring texture, altering forms, and incorporating her love of nature in each piece.  Wheel-thrown bird sculptures are a priority in each unique creation.  Time during the pandemic gave her the opportunity to refine her sculptures and create collaborative pieces with Marion Schlauch.  For decades, she has exhibited in national art festivals, has been represented in galleries, and has taught various workshops.  She is a member of The Southern Highland Craft Guild and Terra Madre Women in Clay.

LeAnn Lewis has been working in clay for 15 years.  She is a master on the potter’s wheel.  Her expert shapes are a canvas for her intricately carved sgraffito designs.  Her compositions reflect her love of flora and fauna, and she frequently creates jaunty expressions of farm animals on her pieces.  Since the pandemic, her creativity has expanded to sculpture, and she has explored diverse firing techniques.  She is a member of The Southern Highland Craft Guild and Terra Madre Women in Clay.

Tina Curry has been working in clay for over 30 years.  As a retired graphic designer, she is now a full-time ceramic and bronze sculptor.  Each one-of-a-kind piece has its own distinctive style and personality.  She uses natural elements and alternative firing techniques to finish her pieces.  To create a piece of sculpture is a spiritual process for Tina.  Since the pandemic, Tina has had time to share her skills by teaching workshops.  She has also studied anatomy, which has changed her approach to her animal sculptures.  She is a member of The Southern Highland Craft Guild and Terra Madre Woman in Clay.  

Brenda Fieser has painted for decades.  Working primarily in oils, her impressionistic style is evident in her brush strokes that capture movement and the relationship of light through texture.  She paints what she sees in nature and how it makes her feel.  Each painting is created from her experiences.  Since the pandemic she has pushed her senses.  Nature is her energy source and never ending inspiration.