Meet Artist-in-Residence Christine Raposas

Artist-in-Residence Christine Raposas sat down with us to discuss finding inspiration in the natural world, chaotic glazes, and her current exhibition, Opposable Thumbs.

Christine Raposas developed her love for ceramic sculpture and glaze chemistry during her time at Alfred University, where she graduated with a BFA with a focus in ceramics. During Christine’s 2023 Post Baccalaureate program, she furthered her work with sculptures and textured glazes, which are signatures of her current body of work. Her exhibition, Opposable Thumbs, is the culmination of her year-long residency here at Clay Art Center, and demonstrates Christine’s captivation with the elements and their untamable motion, as well as her motif of repetitive human body parts.

Christine has had a life-long love of art, and also studied painting, drawing, and art history in college. In fact, Christine shared that her ideas for sculptures often begin as drawings: “I usually start by sketching out rough shapes for sculptures, and then combine them until I’ve found elements I like — my stopping point generally comes when the sculpture sketch looks overwhelming.” Once she arrives at her concept, Christine plans for the size and flow of her piece before she begins sculpting. Christine also added that she has recently been drawn towards adding volume to pieces and, “making them look like they don’t obey gravity.” This otherworldly effect is furthered by the unpredictable lichen, gloop, and lava glazes that crackle and crawl across the surfaces of her sculptures.

The tension between gravity and fluid movement that is so central to Christine’s work goes back to her first source of inspiration: bodies of water. She noted that, “I love how items in water don’t have to obey the same gravity we do on land, and I’m always looking to capture that dynamic in my sculptures.” Christine’s interest in the movement of water and rendering it in clay lead her to consider other elements, like wind and fire, and their relationships to gravity: “Both have a kind of weightless motion, and I sort of took it as a challenge — clay is heavy, my sculptures being no exception. It’s the one element that moves ‘normally.’ So I sought and continue to seek these really cool states of unburdened being in a material that, by all rights, shouldn’t get to exist that way.” Christine’s use of riotous colors also recalls the ocean, and she shared that her color palette is rooted in her memories of tropical coastal towns that she visited when she was younger, and the bright coral reefs just off the coasts. The dazzling colors draw viewers in, but Christine shared that they also have another effect: “I’ve found that the color palette sort of mitigates the creepy vibe of the body parts — together, the whole thing lands on “unsettling,” but (I like to think) in a good way.”

“For the glazes, I’m really just trying to pursue chaos, which is why I keep returning to lichen, gloop, and lava glazes. Each has its own impact on the texture, shape and movement of my sculptures.”

Christine’s sources of inspiration, whether in color or form, are essential to her work. Her biggest piece of advice for other ceramicists, whether they’re experienced or just starting out, is to cultivate their inspiration. Christine advised, “Consider where your inspiration comes from, and prioritize it. As I mentioned a bit before, a lot of my inspiration comes from the ocean and the water, and living near water (i.e. Greenwich Point Park and that little river stretch here in Port Chester) for the first time has fueled my creativity. It was harder to get it touch with that aspect of my work when I was in a more landlocked area. So I guess just make sure to keep in touch with your inspiration.”

Christine’s first year as a resident is coming to a close, but she will be returning as a second year Artist-in-Residence as part of the 2025-2026 cohort. When we asked what her residency had taught her so far, she reflected that her teaching practice has grown alongside her ceramics practice. “I’ve really grown a lot as a teacher,” Christine said, “prior to this residency, I had the opportunity to teach children, but that’s where my experience stopped. Now, as I’m teaching children and adults frequently, I’m much more comfortable and feel more confident anticipating what students need.” In addition to regular weekly classes, Christine also lead two workshops on the glazes that she specializes in, leading groups of students on their own explorations of lichen, gloop, and lava.

As Christine enters her second year, she’ll continue teaching and her glaze experimentation, which could take on new tones. Christine shared that she is interested in trying atmospheric firings (like raku, soda, salt, and wood firing) and might incorporate that technique into her work: “I would really like to give atmospheric firings a try, and then add gloop and lichen glaze to the pieces in a separate firing afterwards. Also, I’ve been broadening my color palette this year (as proven in my bright purple show!) but I’d like to keep growing in that direction and see what other color combinations work well with my sculptures. That said, I’m currently drawn towards palettes with high contrast, so there may be some darker tones in some of my future pieces!”

You can view Christine’s exhibition, Opposable Thumbs, in the Gallery and online through August 2nd.