Sara Swink

Clay Circle Studio

 

Member profile details

First name
Sara
Last name
Swink
Business Name
Clay Circle Studio
Profile Picture
City
West Linn
State
OR
Public Studio Phone
971 271-0480
Public Email Address
Facebook Page URL
 

Art Work Description

Art Work Example #1
Art Work Example #2
Art Work Example #3
Firing Methods
  • Electric
  • Mid-Range
Types of Clay Used
  • Stoneware
Forming Methods and Techniques
  • Hand Built
Finishing Methods and Techniques
  • Underglazes
  • Engobes
  • Oxides
  • Washes
Forms Types
  • Figurative
Artwork Description
  • Non-Functional
  • Garden
  • Figurative
  • Sculpture
Artist Statement
Besides my popular Wallies, I make approachable human and animal figures with a psychological stance. My hand-built sculptural works impart ideas through stories, often with a humorous edge. I've always loved animals and enjoy expressing human foibles through the animal persona. I like to form fast in a gritty sculpture clay, incise into the clay, bisque fire, finish with oxides, underglazes and glazes, then fire to cone 5.
Biography
My love of clay began at the age of 8 with the encouragement of a next-door neighbor potter. In high school, I learned to throw on the potter’s wheel and mix glazes; I bought my own kickwheel with money earned cleaning houses. In my early 20s, graphic design took my attention and ceramics were forgotten until I took a class at Palo Alto Art Center some twenty years later. This was followed by a workshop in 1998 with Coeleen Kiebert, who fused artmaking and ceramics with the psychology of the creative individual. For many years I took classes from Kiebert and early on was invited to teach her approach, while at the same time pursuing an academic art education in art history, ceramics, drawing, printmaking and foundry work at Foothill College, San Jose State University, and San Francisco State University through the first year of graduate study in ceramics. I taught at a number of California venues and in my own studio, while participating in regional shows. In 2006, I moved to the Portland area, where I established Clay Circle Studio and continue to show and teach. I show my work at Hanson Howard Gallery in Ashland, Imprint Gallery in Cannon Beach and Row Boat Gallery in Pacific City, and at other venues and exhibitions in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. In 2013, I was featured on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s “Oregon Art Beat”.
 

Clay Educators

Educator Type
  • Private studio
Name of Institution or Studio
Clay Circle Studio
Class Location
West Linn
URL to page with info on your ceramics program or class

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