Terra Forma

TERRA FORMA

Roy Hanscom Cory Cryer Suzanne Shield-Polk Jeff Forster



TERRA FORMA

December 4, 2014 - January 14, 2015

Cory Cryer .................................................................................................. 1
Jeff Forster .................................................................................................... 3
Roy Hanscom ........................................................................................... 5
Suzanne Shield-Polk ......................................................................... 7

Cory Cryer

Artist Statement

Emotionally, I am attracted to clay and prefer it as an expressive medium because of the personal satisfaction I receive
from the ceramic process as a whole. The sensory experiences of sight, touch and sound of clay during the forming
process are very different from those of the viewer of a finished ceramic piece and constitute an intimate bond between
creator and the created. As an artist working with this material the colour of the clay as well as the decorative
treatments bear little, if any, resemblance to the finished result. As I work the clay is warm, malleable and responsive
to my slightest touch after firing the piece is cold, hard and fixed. The sound of a piece while I’m working on it is low
upon completion it’s high. The contradictory nature of this medium from raw to finished state continues to fascinate,
excite and inspire me.

Bio

Cory R. Cryer was born and spent her early years in Seminole, Florida. Her family moved to Houston, Texas when she
was seven. Shortly after the move to Houston the family relocated to Tehran, Iran for a year. She returned, briefly, to
Florida and then was off to a girls’ boarding school in Broadstairs, England. School holidays were spent in Houston
and ultimately, Houston, became home. Ms. Cryer is a Professor of Art at Lone Star College - Kingwood in Kingwood,
Texas where she has taught Ceramics for the past seven years. She received her Master of Fine Arts Degree in
Ceramics from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas and her Bachelor of Arts in Teaching Degree from Sam
Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.

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Sisters, 2014

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Jeff Forster

Artist Statement

Currently the Ceramics Chair at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Glassell School of Art, Jeff Forster
has participated in exhibitions nationally and internationally. His work has won awards in a number of
exhibitions including a Juror’s Choice Award in “Ceramic Object/Conceptual Material” and the Luis Jimenez
Award for First Place in the “Sculpture on Campus Exhibition” at Southern Illinois University. Additionally,
Jeff was awarded the Helen Drutt Studio Fellowship in conjunction with his residency at the Houston Center
for Contemporary Craft. Jeff has also completed residencies at Lone Star College-North Harris and the
Armory Arts Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Jeff currently sits on the Artist in Residence Committee at
the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and the Artist Advisory Committee for Fresh Arts. From 2011
to 2013 he served on the board of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts as the On-Site
Conference Liaison for the 47th annual conference in Houston. Jeff received a BA in Art Education from Saint
John’s University in 1998 and an MFA from Southern Illinois University in 2007.

Bio

“My work is inspired by nostalgia from experiences during my youth. Growing up in rural Minnesota I had
plentiful opportunity to observe the changing of seasons and, to me, these cyclical happenings conjured
ideas of life, death and rebirth. The surrounding woods presented other elements of mystery. Abandoned
farm buildings and equipment in addition to car parts and other cast off objects depicted another type of
time. As nature seemingly conquered all that man left behind, I was left pondering the temporal nature of
a very recent culture. Upon discovering clay I found an innate connection to the material. In addition to

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bringing back memories of building forts in the clay deposits on my family’s property, clay carried a direct
reference to time. Historical ceramic objects not only serve as documents of early people, but make evident
the extinction of entire civilizations. For this exhibition I decided to create work based in the vessel tradition of
ceramics. Through the use of studio reclaimed clay and glazes my intent is to highlight the Earth as the source
of my chosen material. Different colors of clay reference the idea of strata while jagged edges and unglazed
clay heighten the sense of earth and stone. I choose to wood-fire my pieces for a number of aesthetic reasons.
First, and most importantly, it is the most natural of all firing processes, yielding a varied, organic surface.
Additionally, there is a degree of control that is lost in wood-firing as flame and ash mark and accumulate
on the pieces. My building process also reflects this interest in chance as different clays shrink at different
rates and others begin to melt or bloat due to over firing. While wood-firing is steeped in traditional pottery,
originating in Asia, my hope is to reference this tradition while introducing contemporary aesthetics. I am
introducing commercial under-glazes and specific glazes to obtain colors that contrast the typical earthy,
brown field most often produced in wood-firing. My surfaces are further removed from traditional woodfire
by slightly under firing the kiln (promotes more intense, primary colors) and reduction cooling.”

Faceted Vase, 2014 Blue Vessel, 2014

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Roy Hanscom

Artist Statement
I enjoy working with clay, it is a material that sets no limits, and has practically no boundaries in its ability to adapt
to my ideas and designs. My latest body of work is the exploration of the functional form. The forms are thrown and
altered, giving each piece a sense of life and movement. Constructed of a high fire stoneware clay body, the forms
are reduction fired to cone 9 in a gas kiln. A combination of ash glazes are used to help accentuate the forms and
further enhance movement.

Bio
Roy Hanscom is the ceramic Professor at Lone Star College-North Harris. He is a member of Clay Houston, a non-profit
organization dedicated to promoting clay in the Houston area. Mr. Hanscom exhibits his work both nationally and
regionally in juried and invitational exhibitions. He received his MFA in 1980 from Bowling Green State University in
Bowling Green, Ohio. Prior to his career in higher education, Mr. Hanscom was a production potter in Wichita, Kansas.

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Serving Tray
Liddel Form

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Suzanne Shield-Polk

Artist Statement
“I have been an art-maker since childhood. My artistic focus is ceramics. That focus may manifest in functional forms,
or take the form of sculpture. My sculptural forms are often combined with assemblage, mixed media, encaustic wax
or electronic media. Themes in my work deal with social, environmental and metaphysical concerns informed by a
life-long interest in non-western art, Primitive Art, Surrealism, Dada, Outsider Art and Eastern philosophy and geology”.

Bio
Suzanne Shield-Polk grew up in central Texas, where she first studied ceramics at Southwest Texas State University with Jacques
Bakke, a student of the venerable teacher and studio potter, Warren Mackenzie. After working as a production potter in
San Marcos, then, she completed a B. F. A. at the University of Texas, Austin. After graduation, she relocated to California,
embarking on a career in set decorating and art direction for the motion picture industry. Leaving the film industry to teach
art, Shield-Polk refocused on her own work as a visual artist combining ceramics, video, and installation art, while completing
a Master of Fine Arts degree in Ceramics, Sculpture, and Video at California State University, Northridge. Her work has
been exhibited in Houston, statewide, and nationally. She is currently head of the ceramics area at Lone Star College-CyFair.

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Sketch for Rachel Carson, 2013 Woo Yellow Pierced Vessel, 2014

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Thanks to:
LSC-Kingwood Media and Jason Watson
LSCK TV: Garrick Joubert, Edwin Brega, Dan Ko
Pamela Clarke: Manager of Designs in Print

Graphic artist: Maria V. Valarino
Lone Star College-Kingwood Art Gallery

Mon-Thur 11am-5pm
20000 Kingwood Drive
Kingwood, TX 77339

281-312-1534
[email protected]

http://www.lonestar.edu/arts-kingwood.htm