Seagrove, North Carolina
Website
Bio
Anne Pärtna is a graduate of ECU (2007) and holds an MFA degree with a concentration in Ceramics. She received her BFA degree from Estonian Academy of Art (2000), in her native Estonia where her family still resides on a farm on the Gulf of Finland.
Even though functional tableware has taken over her studio time in recent years, she always finds time for making sculptural and larger scale vessel forms which have been a constant throughout her career. Anne prefers the volatile atmosphere of wood firing and uses salt and simple glazes to bring the surfaces of her wide range of forms to life. Each piece, from wheel thrown tableware to hand-built sculptural forms, is touched many times in multiple steps of forming, shaping, finishing, drawing and glaze painting.
Artist Statement
Most of my tableware today celebrates the quiet, fleeting moments when we find ourselves present: feeling the warmth of the sun, noticing a bee on a flower petal or a blade of grass swaying in the wind. It is startling when a faint smell or the quality of light triggers a memory, a feeling of familiarity. It must take us back to a moment when we noticed, fully took something in and recorded it for safekeeping. I hope to capture these moments of connectedness and sweet gratitude for all life and bring it to your table.
Bio
Abby Barringer is a ceramic artist, specializing in wheel-thrown pottery that is decorated with geometric designs and textures. Abby grew up in Cabarrus County, NC, where she began her love for art in high school behind a camera, photographing patterns and textures. This love brought Abby to East Carolina University where she explored clay and transitioned to creating her own patterns with it. After completing an internship at the North Carolina Pottery Center, she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Concentration in Ceramics and Photography, combining both of her passions. Abby has had ceramic pieces displayed at the Charlotte Art League and the Cabarrus Arts Council, as well as ClearWater Arts Center. She is currently a technical assistant as well as a passionate instructor at Clayworks in Charlotte, NC. Abby can often be heard saying “Why have the knowledge of pottery if you can’t share it with others?
Artist Statement
As a ceramic artist, I am inspired by home decor and the textures that make up those spaces, my eyes follow the lines that turn into patterns. I believe that the use of patterns as a source of inspiration adds a unique dimension to traditional ceramic art, bridging the gap between fine art and everyday life. My work explores the interplay between form and surface, as I carve each piece to bring out its unique character. My goal is to create pieces that are not only visually engaging but also invite the viewer to touch and explore the intricate designs. The act of laying out each design and carving into the clay is meditative for me, and I find joy in bringing each piece to life through this process. My hope is that my work will bring a sense of wonder and delight to those who encounter it, encouraging them to appreciate the beauty and craftsmanship of hand-made ceramics.
Bio
Will Dickert is a father, husband, studio potter and educator in Asheville, NC. He creates stoneware pottery and vessels in his shared studio space situated among a vibrant community of makers and artists along the French Broad River. He was raised in Bristol, Virginia, the middle of three brothers, and has a strong affinity and love for the people and natural environment of the Southern Appalachian region and Blue Ridge Mountains. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree with a focus in Ceramics from the University of North Carolina Asheville, and as a post baccalaureate student received a North Carolina Art Education licensure. Teaching and exposing his community to craft and art of clay is a passion that continues to play a significant role in his involvement in the arts as a whole. His work is wood fired using a number of techniques and kilns both traditional and contemporary in design and effect. He has exhibited his work nationally and internationally and is represented in a number of private and public collections. Will enjoys live music, vegetable gardening, hiking and backpacking, summer camps, cooking, eating, Jeopardy!, tennis, beer, baseball, skiing, and is a new parent of two boys with his brilliant and beautiful and wife.
Artist Statement
My work is most influenced by a strong sentimentality for my past and close consideration for how those experiences and relationships have shaped my life and decisions. I aim to elicit feeling, memory or sentiment through my artwork that relates to time, place, people, purpose and impermanence through the treatment of and reaction to the materials I use – stoneware clay and wood fire. I seek a sense of rhythm, evolution, chance and persistence in and through my studio practice. The direct record of response to touch and manipulation of the raw material, as well as the involved, deliberate loading and firing of my work in wood-burning kilns provides me with a balance of control and intentionality chance, and serendipity throughout the long process. The surfaces I seek are an aesthetic that echoes the tones, textures, and variation I experience in materials of both the natural and constructed world around me. The constant loop of deterioration and renewal of the seemingly lasting components of our physical world compels me to create objects that reference the beauty inherent in our universal vulnerability to time and change.
Bio
Autumn Payne, an emerging artist nestled in the serene landscape of Charlotte, North Carolina, is a genuine embodiment of artistic growth. Sharing her life with her beloved canine companion, Max, Autumn's creative spirit finds expression in her sculpting, painting, and printmaking endeavors. As an artist, she passionately believes that art is an extension of oneself into the reality that we live and breathe every day. In every piece she creates, Autumn wholeheartedly surrenders herself to the exploration within the human experience and her chosen medium, observing it take on a life of its own. Through her work, she earnestly strives to capture and document the ever-unfolding nature of humanity, drawing from her personal viewpoint and experiences to unveil the mysteries and provoke questions about the human condition. Raw honesty and self-reflection notes permeate her creations, as she fearlessly asks, "What does it mean to be human?"
Artist Statement
As an artist, I believe that art is an extension of oneself into the reality that we live and breathe every day. In every piece I create, I give myself over to the exploration within the human experience and my medium, watching it take on a life of its own. Through my work, I strive to capture and document the ever-unfolding nature of humanity, drawing from my personal viewpoint and experiences to unveil the mysteries and provoke questions about the human condition. You will find raw honesty and self-reflection notes throughout my work as I ask what it means to be human.
