Pots and Paintings
Ceramics and Paintings by Shawn Ireland
September 3 – October 29, 2011
Bakersville, NC
Pots and Paintings is an exhibition of pottery and paintings by Penland artist Shawn Ireland. Shawn utilizes local clays and glaze materials in his pottery described as both rustic and modern. His recent figurative candleholders and bowls have been influenced by travels to Italy where he experienced folk maiolica traditions and Etruscan antiquities. Still life and landscape have been the subjects of his paintings. ‘Pots & Paintings’ will be the first time Shawn has exhibited both his passions side by side.
With a foundation in folk tradition, Shawn makes pots with food, flowers and candles in mind. He keeps his craft connected to the natural world by using a variety of hand processed local clays and glaze materials, single firing in a wood burning kiln, and using a kick wheel. The clay is a blend of ingredients from North Carolina and Georgia and is mixed by hand. He uses nontoxic glazes that are composed primarily of local feldspar, silica, red clay and ash from his wood stove. He fires with poplar, oak and maple strips which are salvaged from a nearby sawmill. Shawn’s pots continue to change over time, influenced by traditions adopted from teachers Will Ruggles and Douglass Rankin. Several trips to Italy have inspired a figurative direction in the form of candlesticks, vases and bowls.
Shawn has been a full time wood fire potter since 1997; he began painting with oils as a Resident Artist at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina in 1996. While working as a Visiting Artist with the University of Georgia in Cortona, Italy for three semesters between 2006 and 2008, he focused on painting still life and landscapes.
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