Join us at First Thursday, March 1st to meet our featured artists, Trudy Woods and John S Crocker.
During the March 1st, First Thursday from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm, enjoy the music by Keith Hinyard, light snacks, and help us celebrate these artists’ fine works.
Trudy Woods – Ceramics
Trudy Woods at work in her studio
I enjoy making pots that people like to use. The relationship between form and function is an interesting concept to me, perhaps because it is a recurring theme in the study of biology, the subject of my formal education.
I have been creating pots on the potter’s wheel for over 40 years. My work has changed over the years, but for the past several years I have been working with carving motifs – either derived from African textiles or inspired by the river that I can see from my studio – and glazing them simply with a beautiful blue glaze that never ceases to amaze me with its complexity.
A chance request from a friend of a friend for a special pot decorated using the horsehair technique, with the hair from her own horse, has sent me exploring a new direction. The horsehair pots are not fired to vitrification, which means that they do not hold water and are therefore non-utilitarian – a new approach for me.
For this exhibit, I’m showing the two things I make that I think are unique: the pierced pieces – colanders, garlic keepers, and candle lanterns; and the horsehair pots, now with lids! The failure rate for both is great, but so are the rewards when they do turn out. I am having so much fun in the studio these days!
John S Crocker – Photography
John S Crocker
Photography remains my current vehicle for exercising the need to create images that strike a chord in myself and, with any luck, a greater audience. As far as equipment goes, I continue to employ whichever tool is handy when the muse strikes, whether it be my high-mileage Minolta SLRs, a digital point-and-shoot or, as evidenced by some of the pieces here, my cell phone; a Motorola, I think.
Although certain common thematic threads sometimes emerge, you can see that the subject matter and editing I choose are varied- so much so that one might wonder if the work was all done by the same person. What the pieces have in common, as I see it, is a pursuit of moving and engaging images which employ the “language” of the visual arts- the interplay of colors, values, gesture, rhythms and such. I also tend to avoid too much in the way of explicit narrative content. A bit of mystery which allows the viewer to form his or her own story is fine with me.
