“Colorado Clay” has had its ups and downs, but the regular installments of the statewide juried exhibition at Golden’s Foothills Art Center have consistently provided a welcome spotlight on the state’s strong ceramics scene.
This year’s edition, which runs through March 9, is no exception. It contains more than 90 works by a dozen artists chosen by juror Richard Notkin, a nationally recognized clay artist from Helena, Mont.
Although one always wishes more of Colorado’s premier ceramicists would take part in this show, it’s exciting to see so many new and unfamiliar names this year, such as Penny Bidwell of Denver, who took up the medium just two years ago.
Such an abundance of fresh talent is a testament to the juried format, which brings a different eye to the selection process each time and to Foothills’ wise decision to begin holding this exhibition every two years instead of annually.
In his juror’s statement, Notkin is refreshingly up front about the inevitably subjective reasons for his picks.
“Quite simply,” he wrote, “the 12 artists . . . reflect my prejudices, my opinions and my innermost musings. Therefore, I gravitated towards sculptural works with figurative imagery, implied narratives and tight craftsmanship and attention to detail.”
Exemplifying those three qualities as well as any of the participants is Caroline Douglas of Boulder, who has a sizable list of exhibitions to her credit, including two previous appearances in “Colorado Clay” and a two-person show in 2007 at the Sandy Carson Gallery.
She creates enchanting figurative sculptures, which have a whimsical, storybook quality, such as “Cheek to Cheek,” which depicts a woman in a princesslike ball gown dancing with an amiable-looking teal-blue crocodile standing on his hind legs.
Her pièce de resistance, and unquestionably one of the highlights of the exhibition, is her 5-foot-long, three-section piece, “Slow Boat to China,” a kind of Noah’s ark populated with such animals as a zebra, giraffe, elephant and camel — all rendered with fastidious care.
In a somewhat similar vein are the well-crafted figurative works of Marie E.v.B Gibbons of Arvada. They, too, possess a fantastical quality, but instead of whimsy, they are tinged with an unmistakably unsettling quality, though the artist writes that she does not intend them to be dark or macabre.
“This is a body of work that embraces my interests in the imperfect, the damaged, the destroyed, that we each witness, experience and endure in our own lives as human beings,” she writes in an accompanying statement.
A characteristic example is the menacingly titled “Duplicity,” in which a 10-inch-tall figure’s two heads blur more or less into one. Like Gibbons’ other works, the sculpture is constructed of slip-cast doll parts, which have been altered and reassembled.
The most original and conceptually sophisticated work in “Colorado Clay” is “Township: Metes/Bounds,” one of three works by well-known Denver artist Chandler Romeo. The nine-section, 63-inch-square installation consists of low-lying, shaped ceramic works on 42-inch-tall metal stands.
Each of the 16-inch-square sections, which carry basic subtitles such as “Hills” or “River,” are loose, semi-abstract topographical evocations of the Eastern Plains of Colorado. Like the land it depicts, the installation is compellingly beautiful in its spare, unassuming way.
The piece is a forceful example of how inventive contemporary artists are rethinking landscape art in exciting new ways.
Other highlights include the “George Bush Monument for Baghdad Square,” a politically charged piece by Mike Keene of Englewood, and the streamlined, moderne-like vessels by Shelley Schreiber of Denver.
Once again, “Colorado Clay” demonstrates that ceramic art is alive and well in the Centennial State.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost .
“Colorado Clay”
Art Foothills Art Center, 809 15th St., Golden. A juried exhibition of ceramic works by 12 Colorado artists. Through March 9. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Reception and awards presentation with juror Richard Notkin, 5:30 to 8 p.m. today. $3, $2 seniors and free for members, children and full-time students. 303-279-3922 or .
