A Marriage Made In Earth
By Tom Wachunas
“Clay. It’s rain,
dead leaves, dust, all my dead ancestors. Stones that have been ground into
sand. Mud. The whole cycle of life and death.”
- Martine Vermeulean –
“You cannot help
but learn more as you take the world into your hands. Take it up reverently,
for it’s an old piece of clay, with millions of thumbprints on it.” - John Updike –
It’s taken me a
long time to nurture anything approaching genuine reverence for ceramics (aka
stoneware or pottery). My own experience as a practicing ceramist lasted just
two quarters during my college years. Then, my mastery of “throwing” pots
(i.e., forming clay vessels on a potter’s wheel) was limited to disgustedly dashing
many if not most of my finished wares against the unforgiving concrete floor of
the student ceramics studio. The few clumsy – make that ugly - pieces that
survived my sophomore tantrums ended up as a “gift” to my parents, which they
quickly and understandably packed away permanently.
Out of sight, but
not out of mind. For, despite my fledgling failures with the medium, a seed of
appreciation for the unique challenges of the potter’s craft did survive. Gradually,
and with a modest bit of research and intentional observation, I’ve come to
have real respect and even affection for those masterfully thrown vessels that
transcend the ordinary.
More than 20 truly
extraordinary vessels are currently on view at the Canton Museum of Art (CMA)
until July 22 in the show, “Journey in Clay: The Colemans.” CMA Curator Lynnda
Arrasmith has been fascinated by the married couples she’s met who work
together as ceramic artists, and this is the inaugural exhibit in a series that
will spotlight such couples. Tom and Elaine Coleman, husband and wife from
Nevada, have been working together for more than 35 years. Tom’s special
expertise is in throwing large porcelain pieces, while Elaine’s is in carving
and glazing, with an acute mastery of celadon glazes.
In general, many of the tapered bottles and
circular platters here share the same physical form. But the artists have
imbued their respective forms with a distinct surface identity and individualized
aesthetic. Comparatively speaking in this context, and at the risk of
oversimplifying or stereotyping the elegant uniqueness of these vessels, I do
think his look like a he made them, while hers look like a she made them.
Tom’s matt glazes are like abstract paintings
with undulating colors and visual textures that lend his forms a quiet yet
muscular volatility. Quieter still, but equally stunning, Elaine’s celadon gems
glow with a stately, sleek linearity, delicately incised with marvelous, fluid
drawings of birds or leaves. The subtle
but vibrant complementary relationship between the his and hers – the
beautifully articulated point-counterpoint of individual approaches – makes this show richly unified.
I’m also reminded
of the appeal, indeed the potency of clay itself to conjure deeply poetic,
archetypal connections to the planet. Rebirthing clay - that viscous, timeless
reliquary of all things earthen - into
vessels as beautiful as these is very much an act of practical magic.
Photos: Top two: “Raised
Lines Platter” and “Loose Bottle” by Tom Coleman / Bottom two: “Iris and Leaf
Platter” and “Parrots and Leaf Bottle” by Elaine Coleman. All works are thrown
porcelain. On view through July 22 at the Canton Museum of Art.
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