Surface Design in Clay
After 10 years of making art quilts, I decided I'd had enough of the sewing machine. Although I love dyeing fabrics and piecing, I was really done with quilting and finishing edges. I needed the process to be more immediate.
Lucky me, now I have a clay studio and can again work in my favorite medium. I have loved the process of hand building in clay for many years, because of how wonderfully responsive clay is to every mark and impression. My printmaking background enters in as I pick up organic forms and other shreds and bits of life's everyday materials to use as texture in the wet clay. I highlight this texture so that it becomes the important element in the surface design. Transparent glazes and soft colors are meant to enhance but not overwhelm the marks.
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Clay vessel, hand built, pieced slab construction (left) - reminiscent of my hand painted and pieced art quilts, such as this one (right) titled Sentinel
Carol Phillips Whitt
Granville, Ohio