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Electric Ladyland:
The Psychedelic Ceramics of Liz Quackenbush and Lisa Orr
August 27 - September 24, 2011
Reception:
Saturday, September 10, 6-8pm
installation photographs by Loren Maron |
 Clay Art Center is proud to present Electric Ladyland: The Psychedelic Ceramics of Liz Quackenbush and Lisa Orr, a duo exhibition featuring the mystical, wildly decorated functional forms of noted artists Liz Quackenbush and Lisa Orr. The exhibit will run from August 27 – September 24, 2011 with an artists’ reception on Saturday, September 10th, from 6-8pm. In conjunction with the exhibition, Clay Art Center is also hosting a two-day demonstration workshop with Liz Quackenbush and Lisa Orr, entitled, “Lowfire Layering: 2 Days, 2 Ways,” Saturday – Sunday, September 10-11, 10am – 4pm.
Admission to the gallery and the SHOP at CAC, featuring one-of-a kind handmade pottery and sculpture, is free.
With a title like “Electric Ladyland” and a subtitle utilizing the word
“psychedelic,” one might have certain expectations of this  exhibit,
and I am sure all of them will be fulfilled. Firstly, knowing Liz and Lisa’s highly decorated and colorful, work I am expecting a very “busy” exhibit. I am expecting to walk into the gallery and be blasted with color, form, pattern and narrative. I am expecting visual treats, eye-candy. I am expecting to look and look, and still not be able to take it all in. I am expecting to enter into another dimension, one with a visual feast.
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 About her work, Liz Quackenbush states, “My formal vocabulary has grown directly out of an abiding interest in the myriad visual languages that inform ceramics - as historical record, contemporary discourse, and real life experience. I’ve been inspired by work as varied as the medieval folk traditions of Europe, the ancient decorative impulse in Iran and Morocco and the charm of 19th century Staffordshire porcelain where adornment of everyday life is the impetus. I’ve drawn from them all, in decorative motif and in sheer physicality. These choices have coalesced into a very specific and personal formal idiom, perfectly suited to the larger conceptual implications of my work as a whole. Patterns of animal and reptile skins inspire some of my surface decoration decisions. Their ability to simultaneously be both visible and invisible informs my decorative reason. The forms of these creatures give birth to my pottery forms. For example, toads found underneath rocks by my 12-year-old son inspire my butter dishes, while remarkably camouflaged banana slugs surrounding our picnic blanket in the Redwood Forest of California inspire my serving dishes
“Over time I’ve developed a non-hierarchical vocabulary of imagistic inventions that embrace the salient features of many stylistic languages. In the midst of these I’ve found that it is my profound and personal immersion in nature that allows me to discover oddly familiar truths in each. I believe that I’m able to move between these languages easily, and without affectation, because the visceral realities of the natural world exist for all of us equally and may, if one is able to embrace them fully, serve as an interpretive bridge of great depth and resonance.”
 Lisa Orr’s “artworks for the table often refer to traditional porcelain or diner whitewares, but with softer forms inspired by the playful and abundant qualities of Mexican earthenware. She invented her own production process after studying clay mold fragments in antiquated factories and museums. After forming pieces in molds, on the wheel, or both, she finishes with stamps, slips, sprigs and multihued glazes. Though Lisa’s colors can evoke a happy garden, it is the strength of her form that sets her work apart: it feels muscular and strong while showing fluidity. In this way she plays both ends of the spectrum, from the dynamic and substantive to the detailed and dreamy--full of surprise. Her artwork is best presented with a lovely meal.”
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