CORY BROWN
IN USE
July 14 - August 18, 2012
installation images by Loren Maron
 Clay Art Center is proud to present In Use, featuring 2011-12 Artist-in-Residence Cory Brown, who uses site specific installation and functional ceramics to turn our daily lives into a more meaningful experience. The opening will be interactive to forge a connection with the viewer beyond sight, creating a time and space to experience ceramic art “In Use.” The exhibit will run from July 14 – August 18, 2012 with an opening reception on Saturday, July 14 from 6-8pm.
Admission to the gallery and the SHOP at CAC, featuring one-of-a kind handmade pottery and sculpture, is free. This month’s Featured Artist in The Shop at CAC is Andrew Coombs, from Columbus, South Carolina.
For the past year, Cory’s magnificent porcelain and iron-rich inlay pots have been slowly filling up his ware shelves, and most recently, any extra inch he can find outside of his 100 square foot studio space. There is certainly enough work in there to fill our gallery. But Cory wants to do more than place his pots on pedestals and wall shelves. He wants to give us the opportunity to experience their intent: USE. On a shelf, on a pedestal, we only have our eyes to experience the work. The work has to be in our hands and touching our lips to be complete. About this exhibition, Cory states “Ceramic art has the unique opportunity to enter our lives on such a personal level. There is so much that we look at but wouldn’t touch, so much we touch with our hands but not with our mouths. I feel compelled to use the opening for my exhibition as a way to connect on a deeper level than through sight alone. Creating a happening in which the attendees become part of the artwork through use. It’s all about the experience.” This “happening” has created quite a buzz around the studio. We are all excited and interested to see how Cory will involve us with his work during the reception.
 Cory’s approach to clay is experimental and process-driven. For him, the making of the work is paramount, and he has chosen for himself processes that lend opportunity for constant exploration. About his work he states, “I am constantly amazed and inspired by the possibilities of clay. Nature is more beautiful than anything a person can produce. I create situations in which the clay can show its own element of natural spontaneity. By setting up patterns and designs of colored clay to be stretched or altered I create life and fluidity in my pieces, though I work in a very controlled way. I explore the gestural qualities of clay while striving for excellent form and function.
“I am a very process oriented artist. I like to be innovative with methods of creating work. Sometimes excitement over a process drives my work more than anything else. To me my artwork is more about the experience of developing new ideas and experimenting with materials than it is about the finished product. All aspects of being a ceramic artist are intriguing to me. I am an artist, a craftsman, an engineer, a teacher, a chemist, and an entrepreneur. These are all important facets of creating my work.”
Hailing from Northern Utah, Cory Brown received his BFA from Utah State University after maintaining a home studio for two years. Immediately following his education, he was fortunate to acquire a Studio Technician job working for Bard College at Simons Rock in Massachusetts. There he also taught ceramic classes to children and adults throughout the community. Prior to his Clay Art Center residency, he spent a year in the rolling hills of rural Virginia at the Cub Creek Foundation where he was inspired by the beautiful surroundings and use of the native clay. He is excited to be in New York currently, with its wealth of art and culture. Cory has always found the chemistry of life and ceramics intriguing, resulting in a fascination with atmospheric firing, glazes, and inlaying of metallic oxides. He explores the gestural qualities of clay while striving for excellence in form and function.
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