MUD: Three Vermont Artists Interpret Clay in New Show

A new show featuring the work of three Vermont artists opens Sunday, April 22 at Nina Gaby’s Studio and Gallery in Brookfield’s Pond Village.

The show will include "Folkloric Designs in the European Tradition" by Klara Calitri, "Gravity Assisted Raku" by David Martin, and "Smoked Earthenware and Clay Monoprints" by Nina Gaby.

Gaby noted that it was "ironic that the newest show in the gallery celebrating "Mud" (a.k.a. clay) was postponed by three weeks due to snow. The huge late spring snows made it impossible for Gaby to get to her hillside smoking kiln, and both Calitri and Martin had similar technical difficulties.

This is the fifth show in Gaby’s gallery, and the second time Martin has shown there. All three artists met at Vermont Studio Center during a residency several years ago before the gallery opened.

Both Calitri and Martin are from the Middlebury area, very active in the Brandon art scene, and use diametrically opposed techniques. Gaby, a clay artist whose involvement with clay spans over 40 years, is very excited by those techniques.

"Klara employs an almost traditional use of white background and bright colors, very reminiscent to me of a folkloric sensibility, very European (Calitri was born in Austria), yet very much her own." Calitri’s lyrical bowls, fountains, and porcelain wall hangings will be included in the show.

"On the other hand, David has developed a technique which he calls gravity assisted Raku; he actually hangs the clay from the ceiling and slaps and pounds until it drapes itself into a vessel. Very organic." He then employs the age-old Raku firing technique to add even more spontaneity to his work.

Gaby is currently working on two new bodies of work. One direction includes thin, functional hand built earthenware—shot glasses ("I call them ‘shots with spots,’ big polka dots and bright colors," Gaby said) as well as espresso cups, sake sets, and tumblers.

Gaby said her second direction experiments with surface design on non-functional work. "I am layering the original surface of the clay with slips, glazes, oxide pencils…then a firing to set all that in place, followed by a 24 hour smoking process, followed by layers of non-fired transparencies and other graphic applications. I am calling them clay monoprints, although they are not monoprints in the most traditional sense of the word."

In addition to the Brookfield venue, Calitri is mounting an installation of her work at the Brandon Artist Guild, opening soon, and Gaby has been invited to show her work at Phoebe’s Restaurant in Montpelier for the months of April and May.

All three artists will be at the gallery from 1-4 p.m. on Sunday, April 22 for an artist talk and reception. The show runs through the Vermont Craft Council’s Open Studio Weekend, Memorial Day Weekend. The gallery is open on weekends (please call ahead for times) and by appointment.

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