Clay Times Back Issues Vol. 3 Issue 10 • May/June 1997 | Page 17

Ceramic Sculpture Invitational: Go Figure
AN ESSAY BY KEVIN A. HLUCH

shapes of the female form have
birthing and nurturing benefits,
attributes also instrumental in attracting a mate as well as providing inspiration to the artist.

Bird Keeper. 10” x 14” x 4” teapot
by S. Isvpov.

S

ome of the first marks made
by man have been left in
ceramic articles. Perhaps
today's artistic expressions are very
sophisticated versions of an ancient
mark-making compulsion that had
its origins in clay. At this awakening
of human consciousness two dominant streams of expressions are
found: decorated pottery and figurative sculpture.
This fascination with the human
form is almost certainly a transcendental one. These objects from so
long ago seem to ask, "Who or what
is this creature?" By fashioning these
icons there appears to be an inherent
hope that the question may be
answered. Yet the evocation of the
figure from the clay had practical
purposes as well: nurturing and survival of the species.
In present-day ceramics, however, the decorated clay pot and/or the
sculptural figure have been unreasonably treated as separate genres.
But both of these two distinct streams
have seen the human figure as a significant topic in the decoration of
pottery. Also, pots have been fashioned in the forms and volumes of
the human figure. In many respects,
the pot and the figure can be considered to be inseparable. Even the
terms that describe the various elements of pottery form are grounded
in the description of the figure: lip,
mouth, neck, shoulder, belly, foot.
The physical attribut \