Greenville Artisphere: Short Review
This year’s Artisphere had a great turnout, and I got to talk to a bunch of great artists from the area. Picked up a few tips, and got to see a lot of unique work. I only saw the outside exhibits, and probably missed a few tents, but what I saw was fantastic.
Becky and Steve Lloyd make hand carved porcelain. Won first prize! Very detailed work. Steve makes these forms on a wheel; Becky brushes a thin layer of black on top and carves away with a thin X-acto knife.
Andy Smith does raku fired pieces. Stunning reds and blacks achieved by applied substances. Refer to list he gave me.
Susan Barrett taught me how she learned to burnish thrown pieces on the wheel rather than by hand. Very friendly and open to talk about her work. Does some blackware. Very clean and polished.
Bauman Stoneware had a collection of high fire pieces with a very nice orange and turquoise-ish glaze. I found one my mom and her mother were drawn to the forms, and really liked the themes with acorns, pears, and pumpkins. I thought the hatching worked well on it.
Mark Knott does soda firing. Possibly going to be doing a demo for us at school.
Joy Tanner works with wood and soda fired pottery. Told me about how she fell in love with wood and soda firing from the start, and mentioned artist residencies to me for after school.
Anderson Bailey has a style I rather like that is very focused on line.
Gregory Story focused more on the sculptural end of ceramics with interesting round wall pieces.
Michael Hamlin-Smith had very interesting crater and matte glazes that complimented the flower vase. My Grosi really liked the colors.
Emily Reason’s work was some that my Grosi really enjoyed. For good reason, as her color choices work quite well and her forms are a style that my grandmother loves. She loves to carve into the forms, and we talked about how hard it is to stop carving sometimes.
William Baker does wood and soda fired pottery.
Luis Enrique Gutierrez originally was from Nicaragua and learned pottery from age 9. His work is burnished, then carved. Shows his culture and history in the pots. Very straight, even lines.
