Eric Skoglund
Nearasfar Productions
Clay
Clay
6×6, Etched Plate, B-Clay, Cone 10
Location
Guest at: Thorp Building
1618 Northeast Central AvenuePop-up in Dashfire
Minneapolis, MN 55413
Map & Directions
Phone
Online
Artist Statement
Before my interest in clay, I worked primarily as a painter, printmaker, and drawer. In general it has been a struggle to express content as well as express how I feel about the topic.However, lately I seem taken by my immediate surroundings and for the moment this feels pretty good.
Clay is a unique medium that allows for an immediate tactile experience, for the artist and the user. I am interested in the usefulness, and the multi-dimensionality of an object in concert with the image-making.
How I got into Ceramics
I stumbled into the ceramics arts. In 2007, I was asked to teach visual arts to special education students with profound emotional and behavioral needs. Whenever a student wanted to try something unfamiliar, I would learn a new process. Creating ceramics turned out to be a deeply therapeutic experience for many students. My appreciation and skills in ceramics grew deeper as I continued to teach. In 2016, I started the Art licensure program at Augsburg University and worked with Robert Tom in ceramics. I began taking classes at NCC in 2018.
Subject Matter, Content, and Mark-Making Influences
My ceramics mostly follow the shapes of utilitarian ware, and the forms follow the function. But the forms are also stages for images of imbued emotional content. The tactile forms of everyday ceramic ware invite us to touch, and daily use allows us to make connections. The external surface designs allow me to communicate ideas, feelings, and moods.
I am fascinated by landscapes. An artist can interpret an environment where we exist through its rendering. An open barren field, a dense thicket, and a brewing storm may represent a feeling of being exposed, anxious, or longing. A landscape can be pregnant with emotions and human experience.
Other themes often inhabit my work. Presently, I am consumed by crows other animals and plants. Crows have haunted me for years. Their lives are ever on the edge of non-existence, yet they are always making alliances, and when one dies or goes missing, they demonstrate a sense of loss. I desire to capture their curiosity, fear, watchfulness, and defiance. They speak to what humans experience but rarely express.
Imagemaking and Integration of Clay
I incorporate design, composition, and mark-making skills into ceramics, through underglazing, sgraffito, and etched surfaces. Many painting techniques correspond to my use of underglazes and gestural glaze work. Sgraffito is essentially relief printmaking on clay, and etching techniques are borrowed from intaglio printmaking. Clay lends itself to many physical treatments, and I intend to learn more ways to engage its surface.
In my work, the functional clay form countervails the surface design, marks, and narrative elements. I want the user to be drawn into my ceramics through their encounters with beautiful, solid, tactile objects with images that convey powerful emotions and feelings.
Art-A-Whirl
Art-A-Whirl Main Page
Eric Skoglund is open on Friday, Saturday & Sunday of Art-A-Whirl weekend.
I will be in the Thorpe Building, with a pop-up in Dashfire.
Online Sales
Eric Skoglund is setting up their online store. Check back or email/call for purchase information.
Commissions
Eric Skoglund takes commissions.
Image Gallery
Events & Classes
Nothing scheduled yet – please check back soon!
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