Guilford | Arts & Culture | Youth Arts Journalism Initiative | Ceramics
Bianca Turner’s Untitled #11 (Pink Sphere) consists of multiple hollow pink spheres, each holding a smaller sphere within. At their centers, the miniature spheres are spindly and golden brown, disconnected from the shapes that surround them. Around them, speckled blue bowls hold it all together.
Turner’s work joins dozens of pieces at the Guilford Art Center (GAC), where the space’s 2024 Ceramics Biennial runs now through August 4. A national juried exhibition, this year's show brought in 42 artists, many of whom attended an opening reception at the end of June. This year, artists hail not just from the region and the state of Connecticut, but also across the country.
The biennial, which was juried by ceramicist Kathy King, is on view at 411 Church St in Guilford. Entrance to the gallery is free to the public; summer hours at the GAC are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. More information is available here.
“It’s fantastic to work with Kathy King to present this national overview of ceramic practice today,” said Guilford Art Center Executive Director Maureen Belden in a press release that the center shared on its website
In an interview with Belden, she added that the GAC "has a very prestigious ceramic community which has many participating artists.”
Turner, who knew a couple of the other artists, was there to support them and their art. While she is originally from Connecticut, she currently resides in Massachusetts, and made the trip for the opening.
Six years ago, she began making art inspired by the belief that people should not be judged (or judge each other). Her main medium is ceramics because “it’s like making a 3D painting,” she said.
Untitled #11 (Pink Sphere) represents someone exploring in a vessel. Turner said it is about “being free and letting go.” Later, she added that she herself needed this reminder and that was one reason to create the piece.
Nearby, Anne Thiam’s Seed Crown drew a small crowd of viewers. Inspired by sea creatures and fossils, the work’s long, bone-colored spikes look like long sharp claws or teeth, lining the top of the piece in a circle to create the crown. The body of the piece is in the shape of a treasure chest, with the crown laying upon it.
A staff member of GAC mentioned that Thiam dropped off her work and is local.
Thiam is inspired by plants, sea creatures, and fossils; more about her is available on her website.
Not far away, Krater Crush #6, a pot created by Matthew Towers, is big, black and bold. While the base of the pot has black jagged spikes that protrude outwards, the cup part has smooth wrinkles and bends which create shadows.
Towers, who teaches ceramics at the University of Hartford, made the piece by throwing large pieces of clay on a potter’s wheel, said his colleague, Stephanie Lanter.
Lanter, who came in his place and also works at the University of Hartford, also has multiple pieces in the show.
The first, Currency, takes the shape of two circles, overlapping each other. Gold and silver strands flow out of the top like a stream in reverse. The second, Wishes and Broken Sorries, fits in with her abstract work.
The overall build resembles a mountain and is mainly gray and yellow. In these two pieces, she uses pastel colors such as blue, gray and yellow. When she is working, Lanter shapes the clay into small pieces which then she attaches together onto a base.
This was not Lanter’s first juried show, she added. Since she was young, she knew that she wanted to be an artist. In college at Xavier University, had a duo major in art and writing. She is from New Britain and said that the reason she made the trip was for “ceramics are about community.”
This article comes from the 2024 Cohort of the Youth Arts Journalism Initiative. Ruby Szekeres is a rising sophomore at the Sound School.