Former Staff
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Karen Carlson
Karen has exhibited ceramic art nationally and locally for over 15 years. She has participated in regional and national workshops with an outstanding group of professional artists, to expand knowledge and technical ability. Karen has served as juror or curator for various established organizations and events.
Karen's work has been shown in the extremely popular "Around The Coyote" exhibition for nearly 10 years.
Carlson holds a bachelor's degree in fine arts - ceramics from Knox College, and an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management.
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Paul Lee
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
Form vs. Function? Function vs. Form? Clay is functional. It was originally created to be purposeful and useful. It was a tool. Esthetics came later. Eventually clay did take on many forms and designs and esthetics became important. But I try to remember the origins of clay when I approach my work.
I recognize its functionality: what can this pot contain? what can this bowl hold? Dozens of my pieces are functional everyday items, filling my kitchen cabinets waiting to be used. I eat off my clay, drink out of my clay and cook with my clay. But my pieces are also my art.
I am a designer by profession and Asian by birth.
As a graphic artist working with corporate clients, I work in the creative world of the two-dimensional. My job is to market, to promote, and to sell.
I generate corporate identities, brochures, newsletters, and other promotional products. Wanting to marry an image ("what a charming restaurant") to an action ("we should eat here"), I work with visuals to express emotion and create feelings. I focus on the influence of color, shape, form and texture to evoke and stimulate. This experience and training I incorporate into my works of clay.
My Chinese heritage immersed me in esthetics. For thousands of years, Chinese culture emphasized the importance of beauty for beauty's sake. Some of the world's oldest works in clay come from China where early on form became as important as function. Colors and shape are endowed with mythical and spiritual powers. Festive reds, Imperial yellows, and somber blues capture imagination and heighten sensitivity. Having grown up in Hong Kong, where East meets West and generously steals the best from both cultures, I got started as an artist. I spent three years at the Fringe Club in Hong Kong learning the basic techniques of pottery and clay work.
Having arrived in the United States ten years ago, I have spent nearly that long practicing my pottery-making skills, first at Lill Street Gallery in Chicago and then at the Jane Addams Hull House - Pottery Studio. Now, I call this city home, and get inspired by its dramatic changes in seasons with its corresponding changes in colors, textures and forms. I revel in the man-made beauty of the city's skyline sitting alongside the natural wonders of Lake Michigan.
Today, I strive to bring together disparate elements. While each piece has a function I also intend each to have an emotion, a feeling, and a spirit evident in its form. In addition, I use the potter's wheel to hand throw my creations but am always adding hand building touches and trimmings as well. This combines the smooth contours achieved at the potter's wheel with the rough elements of hand building. This, I feel, captures the ethereal as well as gives the piece a sense of grounding and strength.
I approach my work as a wedding of East & West, of form & function and of the natural & the spiritual all reflected in textures, colors, and techniques to give illusion to the practical.
RECOGNITION
Illinois Artisan 2002 - Illinois Artisans Program: a juried competition of state artists for display of crafts in Illinois State Museum Society shops and catalogs.
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Roberta Ulrich-de Oliveira
Roberta uses handbuilt techniques in creating clay artifacts that explore a multitude of textures and ideas. Symbols of home, power, and struggle dominate her small and peculiar sculptures. Roberta explains: "Working small allows me to quickly capture the essence of an idea or thought. If I plan too much the piece can seem contrived. I approach my work like gesture drawings… capturing fleeting moments that seem sorta' mythically profound."
Her professional experience includes work in the fields of graphic design, information design and art education. While working in those fields, many weeds have been pulled, treasures unearthed, and seeds have been planted. The fruits of the labor are ongoing and satisfying.
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Todd Duncan
Details coming soon.