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An assortment of clay works -
Greg Busceme -
Greg Busceme circa pre-1980 (photo by John Fulbright)
The Art Studio, Inc. (TASI) will host Gumbo Clayfest, a celebration of ceramic arts, July 6-8, at its 720 Franklin St. gallery in downtown Beaumont. Clayfest is a public event involving demonstrations and workshops for those interested in making ceramics or just interested in watching the fascinating process.
TASI Executive Director Greg Busceme explains that he was smitten with the call to forge a career in clay in the 1970s – a love that hasn’t waned over the years. With this festival of ceramists, Busceme hopes to help others foster a love of clay creations.
“Some of these artists, I have known for many years, and others are more recent friends,” Busceme shares of the guest artists to descend on Southeast Texas the week of July 4. All the ceramists, he added, “are eager to come to our community and I hope, hope, HOPE you want to meet them, too.
“It will mean a lot to me to have everyone come meet and learn from these generous ceramists and friends.”
Admission to the event is by donation only, in any amount. There’s a reason behind this “pay what you feel” approach, Busceme further shared, and it has to do with the inclusive nature of ceramic arts.
“Clay is one of the oldest arts there is,” Busceme said. “It’s an art that is 20,000 years old. From cooking pots, to drinking vessels, to sculptures, it’s one of the first things human beings did once they harnessed fire and figured out how clay reacted with it. It was one of the things that made us human.”
Presenting artists include Clarion University’s Gary Greenberg; Patsy Cox, Professor of Visual Art at California State University-Northridge; Danielle Weigandt, a paper clay artist working in North Dakota; Stephen Wolochowicz, an artist who specializes in abstract industrial shapes with organic features; and Steven Erickson, a New York-based artist working with large-scale clay construction.
Gary “Greeny” Greenberg spent most of his formative years in the principal’s office, and as many years as he can since then, he’s spent in front of a kiln. Featured in a multitude of publications and universities over the last 52 years, Greenberg is serious about the humor of his work.
“Although I am very serious about producing work, I feel strongly that it should contain an element of humor, reflecting the absurdities of life, in general, and of art, in particular,” Greenberg explained. “In that regard, all the time I spent in the principal’s office and all the time I spent watching the Three Stooges and The Marx Brothers wasn’t really wasted.”
Patsy Cox, a Thailand-born Bay Stater that grew up in Massachusetts, has exhibited her works from China to California – and beyond. Cox holds a litany of titles, as well, a professor and Head of Ceramics at California State University-Northridge and former President for the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, to name two distinctions.
Leaving her LA digs for the Southeast Texas swelter, Cox anticipated what attendees at TASI would find most useful in cultivating their own ceramics.
“Participants will learn how to create small plaster mother-molds using Alginate,” she shared. Topics covered will include creating and using stamps/sprigs and making colored clay bodies.
Stephen Wolochowicz was born and raised near Trenton, New Jersey, but made his rounds around America – attending college in Ohio and Delaware, before taking on the role of teacher at The University of Notre Dame, The University of Central Missouri, and Central Michigan University. He currently lives, works, and maintains a studio in Ogden, Utah, where he is an Associate Professor of Art in Ceramics at Weber State University.
“The artwork I create is entirely composed of ceramic material,” Wolochowicz explains. “My constructed forms are derived from abstractions and draw from an array of thoughts and objects that include themes of industrialization, humor, games, politics and the environment. While I have these specific areas of interest that shape and define my practice, I find it interesting how a viewer perceives and interprets my artwork.”
Self-described Army brat Danielle Weigandt, who is is currently an Artist in Residence at the University of North Dakota, equated her art to the notion of “time.”
“What is time? It cannot be seen, heard, smelled, or touched,” Weigandt muses. “It eludes all our senses, yet we experience it every day. Time is ubiquitous. To most, time is just a clock on the wall, a constant cycle of 24 hours resetting and repeating over and over again in a continuous loop with seemingly no end.
“My art gives form to these ideas in creative ways using art, geology and quantum mechanics physics. Like time itself, my work and these forms have no end in sight.”
Chris Leonard arrived in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas in 1987 and quickly began to make big plans while living life inch by inch. Teaching for decades, Leonard has also found a family of four, pets and trying to find as much time as possible for his art keep him quite busy. Still, he has forged time to help coordinate the South Texas Ceramic Showdown for the past decade, featuring collaborative talent from participating schools in and outside of the Lone Star State, as well as workshops and exhibitions from established ceramic artists.
Steven Erickson went from Studio Manager at Greenwich House Pottery in New York, New York, to running a nonprofit that focused on mentoring at-risk teens through a ceramics program, to now being a full-time studio artist living in upstate New York, exhibiting in galleries in New York City and Pennsylvania.
“I make art because I love magic,” he said. “Making something appear out of thin air never gets boring to me. I love how art brings together all the things I love, the mental exploration of ideas, the solving of the puzzle, and then the physical work of making the final piece.”
Workshops/demonstrations will include working with paper clay mache, constructing clay pieces with coils, and decorative glazing.
Gumbo Clayfest will begin each day at 9 a.m. and will end at the completion of projects. There is no registration needed.
“We’ll stop letting people in when we reach the fire code limit!” said Busceme.
For more information, call TASI at (409) 838-5393.