CCC Interview with Evan Hobart.

Evan Hobart is California Clay Competition’s artist of the week. Hobart is an accomplished ceramicist who has been working in clay since the sixth grade. He has shown at the NCECA and had a few solo shows and feels good about selling some major works. He has built kilns including a wood fire train kiln. Hobart is also responsible for building the program up at the Mendocino Art Center. 

Hobarts artwork is informed by ecology, archeology and paleontology exploring a wide range of topics about humans influence on the natural world. Mostly, he is a maker and loves to create using his hands and loves the materiality of clay.  

Currently working on a series of Dragon head mugs, oil can cups and whimsical dragon and fish sculptures, Hobart uses B-mix and porcelain. Depending on the size of the sculpture, he can spend anywhere from a few days to a few months to finish a piece. Since the work is mixed media and takes glass components, it can take quite a while to get a piece from start to finish. His favorite finishing techniques are soda and wood fire but since he doesn’t have access to woodfire, he has been exploring using very little glaze and letting the porcelain clay shine on its own. 

Since the arrival of Covid -19, Hobart not only had The Artery show cancelled, but also a show in John Natsoulas Gallery, and a solo show in Mendocino that never opened to the public and has since been taken down. You can get a virtual tour on YouTube by following the link:    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4VnD1oyx-e8

He is also waiting to see if upcoming Creep Show, in New Orleans will happen as planned in September.  

Feeling out of balance, Hobart resorts to the studio as an addiction, “but I could use a little exercise! I think under the current circumstances…all I can do is make art, it helps me forget about the difficult times we are now living in.” 

You can see more video and learn more Evan Hobarts at: www.evenhobart.com,

 Instagram:  @hobarts

CALIFORNIA CLAY COMPETITION

 Since The California Clay Competition at The Artery in Davis was cancelled, I have offered to interview and highlight some of the artists here. I decided to volunteer to do this because I thought the competition had some great work this year and it would be interesting to hear some different perspectives on what is being done with clay.  Plus, most of the fun around this show comes from meeting the artists attending the Ceramic Sculpture Conference CCACA. 

JULIE CLEMENTS 

I have enjoyed the charming animals of Julie Clements and am delighted to share her work with you as the first of the CA Clay Competition artist interviews. 

Julie Clements of Clay Pigeon Ceramics, came to clay at Emory University when her twin encouraged her to take a sculpture class on a whim with Linda Arbuckle. Subsequently she worked with Diane Solomon Kempler and Glenn Dair, whose encouragement opened her to the possibilities of art as a way forward. 

Clements inspiration comes from nature and specifically animals. Working as a veterinary technician she has had experiences with sled dogs in Alaska to lions at the San Francisco Zoo. Clements uses her knowledge to create playful animals with lots of personality interacting with objects she grew up with in the 70’s and 80’s. Most recently her works include old wind-up toys, polaroid cameras and polaroid “selfies”, lunch boxes and matches. 

Clements hand-builds and slip casts using a fine low-fire sculpture clay with little grog so she can get fine details without having to deal with porcelain. She spends anywhere from two weeks to a couple of months on a piece and enjoys the obsessive surface finishing details using a variety of underglazes, china paint, luster, slip, terra-sigilata, decals and gloss finishes.

Starting a piece is difficult and Clements has been struggling to get back into the rhythm during quarantine. “It’s hard right now to settle my mind enough to generate ideas. I had been working toward a show at the Roscoe Ceramics Gallery in April. I poured everything into it and then it was cancelled. It was a huge blow to my impetus to make work.” 

But recently she has been able to process the past two months and has started a piece of a semi realistic squirrel, with a wind-up key, clinging to a pile of acorns called “Mobius Strip” which was inspired by watching backyard wildlife.

Look for Julie Clements work coming to the Pence Gallery, Davis, Ca in mid-May, and at Arthouse in Sacramento, CA this August.  You can also find her at: www.claypigeonceramics.com,  Instagram: clements.julie and Facebook: Clay Pigeon Ceramics.

. 

Art Instruction,Learn the Way of Clay

I am offering art workshops that can help you achieve your goals in creating beautiful artwork. Whether you are a beginner or advanced, we can work together to explore your creativity in a relaxed environment. Please scroll through the list of workshops to find out more.

Contact me at sandyfrankfineart@gmail.com or call (707) 824-5822.
Please visit my SandyFrankFineArt.com to view samples of my work.

Beginning Figurative Sculpture

Beginning Figurative Sculpture will give you the basic skills in creating the figure in clay. This 6-week hands-on course will be taught at The Sebastopol Center for the Arts. We will start with gesture exercises to give you the feel of the clay and work with technique. This class will cover basic anatomy, proportion, gesture and composition. You will learn about solid and hollow construction. All work is spontaneous with a live model and will hone your skills of observation. A 3-hour pose will start at 10am for more intense study.

6-Fridays, Jan. 22-Feb.29, 9a-1p
$250/$240 members + $30 materials
$40-50 model fee (due first day of class)
Register with the Sebastopol Center for the Arts: (707) 829-4797

Intermediate & Advanced Figurative Sculpture

Intermediate/Advanced Figurative Sculpture will run for 6 consecutive Fridays from 10a-1p offered through the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. This is a relaxed group designed to give you a chance to further explore what was taught in the beginning workshops, experiment with new techniques, or do your own thing. Sculptors should have some basic knowledge of clay and sculpting in order to join this group. If you feel you will need more guidance, please let me know and I can set up some private lessons or critiques to help you. Or, join the beginning group classes with instruction before coming to the Advanced Workshop. Clay, tools and firing are covered by the Art Center in the supply fee.

6-Fridays, January 22 - February 29, 2016
Time: 10a-1p
$185/$180 Members + $30 materials
$40-50 model fee (collected first day of class)
Register with Sebastopol Center for the Arts(SCA) (707) 829-4797

The Portrait in Clay

Come join this 4-Week session, offered at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, where sculptors will develop a life-sized portrait from the live model in waterbase clay. Focused study on facial features and character will be demonstrated. All levels are encouraged to join. We will cover basic construction and proportion of the head to help you develop your skills in getting a likeness. I am offering two

Session 1: 4-Fridays, March 4, 11, 18 & April 1
Session 2: 4-Fridays, April 8-29
Time: 9:30a-12:30
$130/$120 members + $30 materials
$40-50 model fee (due first day of class)
Register with Sebastopol Center for the Arts: (707) 829-4797

Figure Drawing Group

This Figure Drawing Group is for those who want to keep in practice drawing the live model. Drawing can improve your sculpture and is a way to practice capturing gesture and rhythm. We will meet on Fridays from 9:30-12:30 at my studio located at 6486 First St. in Forestville. We start with a different model each week doing short gesture poses and work into longer poses(20-30 mins.) over the 3 hours. There is no instruction just plenty of room to experiment and have fun.

Dates: TBA
Time: 9:30a-12:30p
Cost: $20.oo per session (drop-in), or $60 per four class session (paid in advance)