there are these artists who are paving the way for a whole generation to come and the three that i am presenting to you today have done just that. they are pioneers for the new wave of the art of nerikomi. they revolutionized the field in their own way while being part of a millennial lineage.
Chris Campbell is known for her floral compositions in soft colors but also works with a wide variety of styles from organic to geometric patterns. She has played a big part in demystifying the work of colored clays with the huge knowledge bank that she offers totally for free on her website, and by leading the Color / Color in Clay community on Facebook. She shares all her secrets and I learned a lot from her even if we have a very different style. Once we understand how it works, we can create in our own way. She says it herself: Better to teach someone to fish than to offer them a fish. Well, if you know me you know that I prefer to leave fish in the oceans but you understood the meaning of this expression! By giving away knowledge, we are helping people to reach artistic independence and all the field benefits from that. Eventually students will become the teachers, and you’ll learn from them also. Chris Campbell deeply understands that. She doesn't know it but she's like a mentor to me. I aspire to be a resource for artists who would like to explore color in clay. I strongly invite you to visit her website to take full advantage of her tutorials.
Chris Campbell, pièces de la collection «Florals» , 2013. Tous droits réservés.
Another of the "legends" of nerikomi is Dean McRain. You probably already know him and even if you didn't know his name I bet you have already seen the designs of Light Wave Pottery, his company based on the island of Kauai, in Hawaii. Dean McRain is the king of brightly colored gradients and tropical psychedelic patterns. Dean creates blocks made up of several "canes". He then cuts slices which are sometimes shaped on plaster forms, and sometimes delicately shaped on the potter's wheel. His style is unique and recognizable among a million, whether it’s your personal taste or not, I bet that you will be swooning at the complexity and technical mastery in his work. The magazine Art insider produced a video showing him working in his workshop and I strongly invite you to go and watch him work here: a little 3 minutes that will dazzle you I am sure.
Images: dean McRain, tous droit réservés.Dorothy Feibleman est reconnue pour son travail tout en finesse et en translucidité, avec des contrastes de couleurs subtiles et monochromes a passé plusieurs années À Tokoname au Japon pour approfondir sa technique. Elle a développé un manière de travailler avec plusieurs teintes de blancs, certains translucides d’autres non, qui font apparaitre le motif devant une source de lumière, mais elle travaille également la couleur, comme vous pouvez le voir ci-dessous. Je vous invite à écouter son entrevue dans son atelier au Japon ici. Il y a un autre video très intéressant ou elle montre comment utiliser l’extrudeuse pour réaliser différents motifs. Pour le bien de la démonstration elle utilise deux argiles très contrastées pour qu’on puisse bien voir ce qui ce passe, mais en utilisant une argile blanche opaque et une porcelaine translucide, le motif apparaitrait seulement devant une source de lumière comme on peut le voir sur l’image 4 ci-dessous.
Dorothy Feibleman is recognized for her work all in finesse and translucency. She makes vessels and dinnerware with intricate patterns of subtle and monochrome color contrasts. She spent several years in Tokoname in Japan to develop her technique. She has developed a way of working with several shades of white, some translucent and others opaque, which make the pattern appear in front of a light source. She also works with color, as you can see below. I invite you to listen to his interview in his workshop in Japan here. There is another very interesting video of her showing how to use the extruder to make different patterns. For the good of the demonstration she uses two very contrasting clays so we can see what is going on, but using an opaque white clay and a translucent porcelain, the pattern would appear only in front of a light source as we can see on image 4 below.
Images par Dorothy Feibleman, tous droits réservés.
Je vous invite à poursuivre la découverte de ces artistes en visitants leurs sites webs respectifs et en visionnant leurs vidéos. Il y a énormément de connaissances des ces 3 artistes à aller chercher avec une petite recherche sur Google et Youtube. J’ai choisi ces trois artistes pour la catégorie «Les légendes vivantes» mais il y en a bien sur plusieurs autres qui méritent ce titre. Il y aura peut-être une suite à ce billet! J’espère que ça vous inspire! xx -Marina
I invite you to continue discovering these artists by visiting their respective websites and watching their videos. There is a great deal of knowledge of these 3 artists to go and find with a little search on Google and Youtube. I chose these three artists for the "Living Legends" category, but there are many others that deserve this title also. There may be a sequel of this post! I hope it inspires you! xx -Marina