Artist Finder
C Gallagher
Ceramics
Flower Boat with Feathers
Swallowtail
Lepidoptera
Two Vases; Mantis and Dragonfly
Description:
My functional vases, pottery and tiles are handbuilt of stoneware. The original drawings and paintings are of natural imagery and are executed in oxides and slips. The pieces are fired in a woodburning kiln which deposits wood ash and flashes of color. Some of them are also flashed with saltglaze, which is introduced into the woodkiln at high temperature.
The digging and forming of clay and the gathering and burning of wood reinforce my connections to the forested island where I live. Although I control processes, the woodkiln’s ash deposits and color flashes are always a combination of physics and serendipity. My drawings on the successful pieces seem effortless and familiar, yet as mysterious and surprising as a leaf or a feather.