 Gordon Kellenberger
Gordon Kellenberger
Gordon Kellenberger
Gordon Kellenberger
James Kasper
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Gordon Kellenberger
James Kasper
Iowa Artisans Gallery presents work by two well-regarded area artists, March 2 – April 8, 2007. In his show entitled Country Roads, Amana artist Gordon Kellenberger shows new work in pastels. Tipton artist James Kasper focuses on larger woodfired ceramic vessels in his show,The Ritual Vessel: Science, Nature, God.
Gordon Kellenberger is a full time painter and potter working out of the Wasch Haus Studio in the Historic Amana Colony. “Throughout the seasons, in the morning and late afternoon hours, I take delight in traveling and experiencing the country roads of Eastern Iowa in my Jeep. I find myself experiencing a new sense of light, color and pattern. This awareness has become the inspiration for this new work.” Kellenberger graduated with a degree in art from the University of Northern Iowa and is a former art teacher and founder of the Amana Arts Guild. In the early 80’s he started the Art Iowa Workshops for artists and educators, which still continue today. Kellenberger is a past recipient of the Iowa Arts Council's Iowa Arts Award, which honors individuals for their commitment to excellence in the arts.
James Kasper shows sculptural woodfired vessels. This newer work is larger and more sculptural than in the past. Kasper often involves himself in certain intellectual investigations when creating his work, reflecting his training as a physicist.
Firing with wood has roots in Asia and varies from standard ceramic gas firing in significant ways. This high temperature firing takes place over several days, in which the fire must be constantly tended. Woodfiring is collaborative, not only between those that monitor the kiln, usually a group of potters, but also between the elements of fire and the work itself. The flow of flame and ash affect the surface of the pots, lending a spontaneity and unpredictable element to the firing. Kasper has become well known for his understanding and engineering of woodfired kilns and processes; he published an article on the subject in the most recent edition of Ceramics Monthly (February 2007, “Ashes All Fall Down.”) He traveled to Mashiko, Japan to participate in kiln building workshops there, and will visit La Bourne, France a traditional pottery area with a dozen or so woodfired kilns. His newest kiln resides on his rural property, where James and his wife Lucy established 20 acres of native prairie grasses.
Kasper writes, “In this new body of work I am looking at the collective through scale and artistic intent. Nature is the beginning for both religion and science. In the earliest human efforts at understanding the world they were closely allied if not inseparable. With the Enlightenment a schism developed. Science describes nature, but does not explain it. In the effort to maintain the core bits of revealed religion many faiths closed the door on the admission of new literature and revelation. But science continued looking at the world and showing many of those parts of the ancient texts dealing with the natural world to be in error.… I have chosen to work with vessels in the larger scale of the collective (unconscious), but with direct links to the individual in use – bowls and platters that have a volume for serving many, vases that in scale and weight are more suited for semi-fixed locations and viewing from a distance by a group of people.
Purposeful decoration is drawn from elements of science (Hubble images, fossils and their casts, high energy physics, solid state physics, the history of science), elements and symbols of religion (the large group of symbols (crosses, stars, swastikas, sickles, etc), the human focal points (crucifixion, Buddha, iconoclasm (an anti-focal point), the mass of small faiths centered around more recent founders/revealers, etc)), and elements of process, both natural and manmade.
In this latter aspect, I leave as many of the marks as possible on the clay from its history of being mixed and shipped, forming the blocks into rectangular solids (reference to buildings and houses), and use a very limited set of tools leaving visible enough clues on the final object to decipher the entire forming process.
Iowa Artisans Gallery is open daily. For more information, please call 319-351-8686, or toll free, 1-877-439-6554.
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