Patricia Griffin Ceramics
About The Artist
Patricia Griffin • Cambria, CA
Ceramics • CUSTOM COMMISSIONS
Art was prescribed for me 20 years ago. I was overwhelmed and burned out as the owner of a busy design agency when a counselor recommended I do something art-related not tied to meeting a client's need. That led to my first clay class, and a whole new world opened up. For more than a decade, I've been a full-time artist and now work from my home studio, where I face the ocean in one direction and a wild preservation area in the other. I explore this sense of place in my work, depicting animals and plants, and the movement of the sea, air and meadow grass. I use the traditional technique of sgraffito in contemporary designs, etching through an applied color to the clay surface. It's similar to making a woodcut, and the result looks very much the same. I'm enthralled with creating narratives using layers of form, color and imagery to break up the surface and create movement around a three-dimensional form.
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Q&A with the ArtistTell us how your work is made.I make my pieces from stoneware clay, moving between throwing forms on the wheel to hand-building with slabs. I love pattern and texture, often using the traditional technique of sgraffito with contemporary designs that resemble woodcuts. To create my designs, I paint the piece with black underglaze while still in the "leather-hard" stage and then etch through the underglaze to create the pattern or image. The piece is then bisque fired, followed by glazing and the final firing. |