Northern Clay Center

I wasn't sure what to expect at this weeks location for art. Before going I did a drive by on my way to work. Conveniently it is located about two blocks from where I work. It really didn't look like much of anything from the outside. Just like many store fronts along a busy street, this one was there, but nothing to special was going on. So I was thinking to myself, "I hope this isn't going to be boring". When I went back the next day, in the pouring rain, I was able to see what was really happening in there. Let me just say that it is much much larger on the inside than it looks like it could be from the outside. An important thing I came to realize by going there is that there is art hidden EVERYWHERE in the Twin Cities. If a place looks that small from the outside, and is so large and beautiful on the inside, can exist in one place, it must exist in many other places as well.

The Northern Clay Center is what you would probably imagine it to be just from reading the name. It is a gallery that concentrates on art that is made of clay or some sort of earthen ware. When you walk in you are first in an area that is a little bit like a store. There is a lot of clay and ceramic pieces around that you are able to buy. Most of them are dishes or vases. There were a number of cute little tea pots that caught my eye, and I almost bought one of them. Problem the price is slightly beyond the reach of a frugal college student. So I just had to enjoy looking at all of it an imagining buying some items one day.

Going further back into the center you walk into the gallery. It is broken into two large rooms. First room had the works of artists Patti Warashina and Ron Meyers, and the second room was holding the College Bowl II/09. Patti Warashina and Ron Meyers are well known artists where as the College Bowl has items by local college students who are just getting their start in the art world. Most of these items can be purchased by an interested person. Just stop at the desk and speak to someone.

Patti Warashina and Ron Meyers are both expressionists. They like to represent emotion and "being alive" on their works of art. You can see this in all of the work that they have at the Northern Clay Center. Patti's art is vibrant and full of contrast. The figures she has shaped are mostly the same; female, and slightly Asian looking. This I believe is a representation of herself. She has an Asian family background. The figures are set in a pose that represents normal human activities. Their faces hold all the expression and you can almost tell what they are feeling. The odd part about her pieces is that they are in environments that would not be possible. The photos I have of my two favorite pieces of hers show this. The one is of a figure with a witch hat on and what looks like small moons floating over her, it is called Lunar Affair. The other is of a figure who is under water, called Bottom Feeder. You can tell by the way the artist has painted this that there is water flowing past the figure. There is also a fish swimming around her leg and her hair is flowing off to one side in the direction of the current. Patti also has some drawings at the gallery which are framed and on the walls. They also have a lot of contrast in them, but other wise look much different than her sculptures. These are drawings using mono print, copper sketching, and dry point techniques. She has a lot of depth and emotion in the drawings. There is one in particular that is called Eye of the Storm that shows a lot of emotion. If you look at the photo you will see that there is a person in the fore ground who is just an outline. Behind the person there is an oval with a scene of what looks like fire boats, like this is what she is seeing through her eye. This reminds me of a photo I saw of the fire boats that were at ground zero when the World Trade Centers were hit. I don't know if that is what she was actually drawing, but it caused me to have an emotional response.

There is an interview with Patti Warashina where she speaks about her life and how she came to do the type of ceramics she does now. http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/warash05.htm In this interview she explains how she figured out how to "draw" on the clay without it dripping all over the inside of the kiln. This was very important as it allowed her to begin expressing her art in the way she really wanted to.

Ron Meyers seems to like to do a more natural looking style. His art is in natural colors and is of scenes that you could imagine happening. The way that he puts the images on his ceramics is through applied decoration. This means that after the piece has been fired he applies the color or other items and they are able to attach through the heating process. He "draws" images onto the ceramics in this way. From what I saw at the gallery it looks like he focuses mostly on human faces and the faces of cats, dogs, and whole fish on his pieces. They were drawn in a sketchy sort of way. So not all the lines are perfect nor does it have that finished look. The work he does had a very warm feeling to it, even though the faces on his work looked sad or confused. You could imagine finding work of his in peoples kitchens being used as casserole dishes or mugs for tea. I'm sure also that he has sold work to animal lovers that have used his bowls as water and food dishes for their pets.

As you walk back further into the gallery you get to the College Bowl II/09. This is the area where all of the college students have their art. The Norther Clay Center hosts this show each year. Right away I noticed my two favorite pieces. These two immediately caught my eye and I was able to see the beauty in them. My favorite of the two is called Endurance by Mika Negishi Laidlaw, a student at Mankato State University. She has designed two statues that look either like a number of different spheres stacked on top of each other, or two faceless pregnant bodies. I think she was trying to portray pregnant bodies. One of them is black and the other is white, and they are both facing opposite directions. I though of yin and yang right away, but you could think of many opposing things that this represents. The thing that caught my eye was the striking contrast. Please see the picture I have included.

The second piece that I really liked was a huge stone picture of what looks like a lotus flower. This is called Negative Space Gingko in Red by Gary Erickson who goes to Macalester College. This is a piece of large white earthenware. It has a red back ground with a huge yellow flower in the center. It looks like it is made of many pieces of stone fit together into a pattern. I have a picture here so you can see what I am talking about. I really enjoyed the contrast and beauty of this piece. I would love to have brought it home with me and hung it in my living room.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my visit to the Northern Clay Center. Again, this is a place I will go back to. Especially since it is right in the neighborhood of where I work.