Studio Visit: Virginia Leonard, Auckland, New Zealand
An open-plan studio space in a commercial building gives Virginia Leonard the flexibility to use additive and reductive processes to … Read More
Ceramic Sculpture
Explore the virtually limitless world of ceramic sculpture. Meet the clay sculpture artists who bring clay to life in ways you may never have imagined. From the diminutive to the monumental, the figurative to the abstract, there are endless possibilities for expression in the form of ceramic sculpture.
Contemporary clay sculpture is perhaps the most diverse range of sculpture in existence, perhaps because clay has been used to make art objects longer than any other material. Browse through these archives to see images of the sometimes beautiful, sometimes unsettling works of talented contemporary ceramic sculptors and to find out more about their clay modeling techniques and their motivations. And don’t forget to download your free copy of Contemporary Clay Sculpture: A Collection of Four of Our Favorite Articles on Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture to see work by the latest and greatest new talents in the ceramic arts field.
Whether you are interested in finding out more about making ceramic wall art or you need to learn more about clay armature for figurative ceramic sculpture, you’ll find a wide variety of information on clay sculpture techniques in our vast archives.
You’ll find Jennifer McCurdy’s lighter-than-air, extremely carved work, which tests how thin high-fire porcelain can be and how much of it can be cut away before it collapses in the kiln. Gerit Grimm actually throws the components for her figurative sculpture on the potter’s wheel! Helen Gilmour knits ceramic teapots and then soaks them in paperclay slip and fires them. The result: ceramic sculptures that look delicate, but have the fired strength of porcelain. And Christie Brown sculpts styrofoam models and then press molds her figurative sculptures.
The sky’s the limit when it comes to ceramic sculpture techniques. From large-scale ceramic installation art to realistic animal figures, ceramic sculptors are always finding new and exciting ways to reach their goals.
Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture
Get a taste of the exciting and diverse range of ceramic sculpture being made today when you download this freebie, Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture.
Tips and Tools: Working Backward
By designing ceramic pieces from finish to start, this duo considers how to move through each step of fabrication with … Read More
2020 Emerging Artist: Lynne Hobaica
Hands are the place I often start as I think about and build my work. Our hands are powerful instruments … Read More
2020 Emerging Artist: Joann Quiñones
My ceramic and multimedia figures are hybrid forms made up of different individuals’ body parts. I make a life cast … Read More
2020 Emerging Artist: Noemi Iglesias Barrios
It is important for makers to know traditional ceramic methods and use them to generate a more contemporary discourse. Learning … Read More
2020 Emerging Artist: Diana Butucariu
As a ceramic artist, the palpability of ceramic materials inspires me, as does the fact that you follow the material … Read More
2020 Emerging Artist: Jared Peterson
I’d like my work to be seen by everyday folks. In my art, I repeat simply rendered motifs—dogs, birds, mailboxes, … Read More
2020 Emerging Artist: Iren Tete
The art world has been quite accepting of artists working in clay. In turn, the ceramics community is progressively more … Read More
2020 Emerging Artist: Lukas Easton
Going to the studio every day is the most important tool in my process. If I have enough pieces in … Read More
2020 Emerging Artist: Juan DeJesus Barroso
In the last six years since I started working with clay, I have found that the clay community is made … Read More
