Exhibitions 2009

Margaret Boozer: Dirt  Drawings
American University  Museum at the Katzen Arts Center
June 27- August 16,  2009

Opening Reception:  June 27, 6-9pm
Artist Talk: July 25, 2pm

In  these installations of unfired local clays, Boozer’s graphic compositions of color, pattern and texture create small  geologic events, manifestations of cause and effect celebrating  clay’s physical  properties.  Colors change, shapes warp, cracks emerge as counterpoint  the artist’s  hand in these fragile and mutable works that cross genres between painting  and sculpture, abstraction and representation.


show images

Voice of America video

Katzen Museum website

American  University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center
4400 Massachusetts Ave  NW
Washington, DC 20016
(202)  885-1300

Artist statement:

I have used dug clays for years in my fired ceramic work.  I’m interested in testing clays from different locations, finding what they are good at, creating works that capitalize on the clays’ qualities and highlight their geological origins.

I started making dirt drawings in the summer of 2006, after discovering some clay deposits at a construction site near my studio. On the side of a hill, the foundation cut revealed an enormous expanse of stratified colors: red, yellow, white, raspberry, and at least two different purples. I felt compelled to respond.  I brought samples back to the studio for testing.  The fired results were interesting, but paled in comparison to the raw material.  I began working with raw clays on the floor in my studio, crushing them with the earth tamper, raking patterns, sorting particle sizes, organizing compositions spontaneously with colors activating each other, textures enhancing one another.

As I prospect for clay, I’m interested in what’s happening to it. On a cleared lot or creek bank, clay shows evidence of weather, erosion, particle sorting, and layering. On construction sites, clay shows the bite marks of excavator teeth, the patterns of tire tracks, the dense compaction of road rollers.  These instances of cause and effect become strategies for me to manipulate clay in the studio, informing the aesthetics and physical forces behind both my fired ceramic work and the raw dirt drawings.  

Fired clay lasts forever.  The raw, ephemeral dirt drawings are a counterpoint to the conceptual weight of fired work. Part of their appeal for me is their temporal nature and their ability to respond directly and immediately to a given space.  After the exhibit, I sweep them up and recycle the clay for another use.

All the clay in this exhibition comes from Stancills, Inc. in Perryville, MD.  Stancills, Inc. has been a family owned mining and manufacturing business since 1934, mining sand, gravel and clay for industrial use.  Stancills makes custom mixed materials that are used in sports field construction, equestrian footing, the geotechnical industry, horticulture, and  most recently, green roofs with the development of their SkyGarden business.  I am deeply grateful to Emlyn and Terry Stancill for their friendship, generosity and willingness to foster an art project in the midst of running their business, and to David “Jonesy” Jones for his help with both shovel and excavator.

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website Project 4

Night Landscape is Often Obscured By Other Things
Mt. Rainier red clay, black stoneware, slip
2008

Floe
fired porcelain sheets
2008

The Idea of Gravity
porcelain, black stoneware, Mt. Rainier red clay
2008

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Saturday, December 12 , 2009
12 - 5 pm


Margaret Boozer
Kate Hardy
Ani Kasten
J.J. McCracken
Irma Alba
Graham Boyle
Sandy Dwiggins
Lily DeSaussure
Leila Holtsman
Ume Hussain
Rachel Kofal

Lindsay Sherman
Tetyana Wittkowski


red dirt studio
3706-08 Otis Street, Mt. Rainier, MD  20712  
202.607.9472


  
Red Dirt Gallery is pleased to present
Hand of Fate
an installation by visiting artist
Lily DeSaussure
12/12/09 - 1/16/10, artist's talk 1/16 at 2pm
lilydes@mac.com

More Gateway Studios Open:
Flux Studios, Washington Glass School,
DC Glassworks and more!

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