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Bermuda Artist: Christine Wellman

By Christine (edited by Pat Phillip-Bassett)   From my personal library. 'Lucie Rie' by Tony Birks Click image to purchase from Amazon.com   "I have owned my Lucie Rie book since 2000 but I first came to know of Lucie and her work through my subscription to the British magazine: Ceramic Review. I was particularly impressed with the story which spoke of how the aged Lucie visited an art school in England where a group of young aspiring students were working on throwing pots on the wheel.     One macho man was showing off his ability to throw a pot from 50lbs of clay but was having difficulty centering the large lump on the wheel and had enlisted the help of another of his male colleagues. Lucie stood with the instructor and watched as the two men fought with the clay to maintain their joint will to discontinue the clay's dramatic wobbling.     Having seen enough of the "circus", Rie (then old and fragile in appearance) walked over to the man whose work was on the wheel and demanded to have his belt. The whole class stopped working to stare.     Belt in hand, the mature Dame Lucie Rie, plunged it into the bucket of available water, whipped it around the mountain of clay, started the wheel and centred the clay single handedly. My first reaction to the end of this story was "Wow".     Obviously age didn't matter to Lucie as she continued to demonstrate a control of, and passion for clay well into her senior years. I aspire daily to acquire the manual dexterity and creative voice that Rie nutured even to the end. What a Dame!!!" -- Christine My past and recent experience as a Bermuda artist has led me to a pivotal point in my working life: I now make every attempt to avoid the perennial art vs. craft war well-known to most artists, since I now see myself as a bridge between both art and craft. If what is created meets the sense of beauty, good taste, pleasure and simple enrichment of one's experience, does it really make any difference whether it is hung on a wall or mounted on a plinth to be viewed, or put on the table to be used? Aquatic Large Serving Bowl View Detail Add to cart In my work, I continue to seek a fusion between painting and thrown ceramic form. The decoration and forms have evolved over the years and embody my personal pursuit for aesthetic maturity and technical growth. Most of my motifs are applied using sponging combined with brush painted accents. These pieces represent two nature themes from the OMax Ceramics Studio product line first introduced in 1994. In 2003 I created and introduced the OMax’s Limited Edition Series – consisting of an independent body of work that continues to evolve with my interest in exploring and manipulating clay. I would never have believed in my wildest dreams that I could set aside my canvas, paintbrushes and acrylics for clay! I have drawn and painted for as long as I can remember, as a child growing up in both England and Barbados. Floral Straight Mug View Detail Add to cart My flirtation with clay must have begun back in the 1960’s, either in elementary or junior high school. Thinking back, throwing clay had always remained an elusive attraction to me – even well into my second year of my Fine Arts degree at Mount Allison University in Canada. The work of two Barbadian artists – Courtney Devonish and Bill Grace – appealed to me long before I had an understanding of working the medium. Graduate studies in Art Education led me back to the Canadian Maritimes and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD). Before 1989, I had only created sculpturally with clay. Electing to take Walter Ostrom’s Introduction to Clay studio course that year at The Nova Scotia College of Art & Design (NSCAD) certainly changed that! Ostrom’s contagious excitement for clay ignited my own on going passion for changing “mud” into stone. Most of what I have learned since that time has been the product of trial and error, ceaseless reading and an increasing determination to “get this clay thing licked!” More recently I had the privilege of participating in two workshops at the Anderson Ranch Arts Centre in Colorado. Insights gleaned from the Director of Clay & Sculpture, Doug Casebeer, and professional potters/instructors: Kent MacLaughlin, Suze Lindsay (Fork Mountain Pottery) and Sandy Simon (Trax Gallery) and Silvie Granatelli (Virginia) have been priceless! Undoubtedly, my confidence in my role as a Bermuda “potter” continues to grow given my reclaimed ‘luxury’ of dedicating time to now doing this for a living. Nonetheless, I remain young to this medium, and I see myself holistically as an artist who enjoys the exploration and on-going challenges of working in clay.