the dirt

Let me just start by saying that I love Shannon Sullivan’s work. It’s clearly based on her keen observations of nature from a micro to macro scale. She’s clean and precise in the execution of her organic forms with a clever eye for presentation. Be sure to watch the video below where she explains the process and inspiration behind making her latest body of work, Folded Topographies. I am really looking forward to getting to know her and her work better as we work towards a group exhibition next spring.

Shannon is one of five artists in the exhibit that Cynthia Siegel and myself are co-curating as part of the 2022 NCECA conference entitled, This is the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is defined as the current geological age during which human activity has been the dominant influence on the climate and the environment. The artists will be responding to this topic within the themes of Animal, Agriculture, Landscape, Water and/or Atmosphere in a diversity of styles and approaches. Shannon will be featuring work from her disc series as part of this exhibition. Over the next few months, I’ll be featuring the other artists from this exhibit.

About Shannon Sullivan’s work:

Sullivan creates sculptures, wall pieces and installations using a core visual vocabulary rooted in the prevailing ways of nature. Her work maintains a seductive, mysterious quality as she explores the nuances present in the living world.

Wet clay transforms the paper mold from exclusively sharp and crisp to something in between—manipulated, and distorted. I seek the inimitable forms that result from this experimental process of what I’ve termed “paper casting”. Jutting and topographic, the glazed composite forms are reminiscent of plate tectonics at work. I’m compelled by the rugged and folded coastal mountain range of my home here on the North Coast of California.

Learn more at Shannon’s website or follow her on Instagram

Artists Sharing Artists: is a series of posts where I share some of my favorite artists who are also inspired by nature and use their art to protect what they love. More artists coming soon…

I have been a fan of Cynthia’s work for a long time, the textures on her pieces are incredible and they draw you in to the movement of her figures and forms. I have probably known her work longer than I’ve known her, as we have shown our work at the same local venues over the years, both being clay artists working in the same town but hardly crossing paths in person. When we went to the same residency in Taiwan, one year apart from each other, she was able to share all of her experiences there with me before I left for my residency- which was fantastic! And we became friends through the process of putting together exhibition ideas for the NCECA conference. We spent lots and lots of time pitching ideas to each other, editing content and not only did it forge a friendship, but it also resulted in a big upcoming show.

In March of 2022 we will be co-curating an exhibition entitled This is the Anthropocene at the 2022 NCECA conference. The Anthropocene is defined as the current geological age during which human activity has been the dominant influence on the climate and the environment. 5 artists will be responding to this topic within the themes of Animal, Agriculture, Landscape, Water and/or Atmosphere in a diversity of styles and approaches. Cynthia will be featuring work from her beautiful Bristlecone Pine Series as part of this exhibition. Over the next few months, I’ll be featuring the three other artists that Cynthia and I curated into this exhibit.

If you want to see her work in person, be sure to visit Cynthia’s studio October 9th, 10th, 16th, or 17th for the Santa Cruz County Open Studios Art Tour, she’s artist #160 in the catalog. And check out the video below to see how Cynthia builds her large scale figures.

About Cynthia Siegel’s Work:

I create figurative work, primarily ceramic sculpture, which celebrates human connection to the natural world. By re-establishing human respect for all flora and fauna, I believe that the earth may again find its balance. I revere the beauty that comes from the passage of time, and the struggle to survive and adapt. My imagery and process of meditative mark-making are fueled by a love of storytelling, anthropology, anatomical structure, and natural history.

One of my current work series is inspired in part by the ancient bristlecone pine trees of the western United States, (particularly the groves close to my former home in Bishop, a remote town in the high desert of the Owens Valley in eastern California), As a parallel to the human struggle for survival, I’m drawn to the tenacity of the bristlecone pine trees that have endured for thousands of years, both because of and despite their fragile environment. The textured surfaces of my sculpture reflect the intersection of time, weather, growth, and decay. As memory and experience abstract themselves over time in our minds, so I encourage my figurative sculptures to transform themselves, in the form of markings carved upon their surfaces. My intent is to connect with others, to bring awareness to nature’s current state of peril and to empower viewers to reconsider and to recalibrate their own relationship to our earth.

Learn more at Cynthia’s website or follow her on Instagram and Facebook

Artists Sharing Artists: is a series of posts where I share some of my favorite artists who are also inspired by nature and use their art to protect what they love. More artists coming soon…