Artists

Fall 2014 Artists

We are pleased to announce our talented artists: Lindsey Elsey, Molly Fitz, Hannah Miller, Allison Rupprecht, Hallie Shafer, and Brittany Wilund. Each of their proposals were chosen out of a large pool for their quality and design by our juror, Harriet Green. Below you will find a short description of each of the selected artists, along with photos of their past work. The finished pieces will come together to make a great, well rounded share!

Past work: wheel-thrown mugs, porcelain

Lindsey Elsey
Lindsey Elsey’s style is, in her words, “fluid, curvaceous- definitely generous.” She loves ceramics because working in the functional realm allows her to influence her audience in the most intimate ways possible. Her pots are meant to operate beyond the world of the pedestal - to be touched and tasted, to transcend the notion of art as a spectator's game. Elsey’s aesthetic choices are influenced by the historical role of femininity and the domestic realm in Western culture. She takes cues from confections and floral motifs as well as artistic periods that focused heavily on ornamentation, such as Rococo, Victorian and Art Nouveau. Her selected piece draws especially from the generous, feminine qualities associated with flowers. She is most excited for the opportunities the CSArt provides to connect students with the community outside the university.

Lindsey became invested in ceramics in 2007 during an undergraduate course. She switched majors to Studio Art and graduated with a BFA in Ceramics and Metalsmithing & Jewelry Design from Appalachian State University in Boone, NC in 2010. She is now in the MFA program at Clemson. She interned with John Britt in the summer of 2009 and was an assistant under the MoCA GA Working Artist Program for Jiha Moon in 2013. From 2011-2013, she was a resident artist at Mudfire Clayworks. Elsey will be showing this summer at the MoCA GA in Atlanta in July and at the Swan Coach House Gallery in the Altanta History Center in June. More information about Lindsey can be found at www.lindseyelseyceramics.com

Past work: wheel-thrown breakfast set, stoneware

Molly Fitz
Molly Fitz has a unique and quirky design aesthetic; it is both calculated and fun. When it comes to ceramics, Molly most enjoys the tactility of the whole process, the feeling and manipulating of the material with her hands. Molly feels that using functional work is more than just a visual experience; how the piece feels is very important. She draws inspiration from nature, whether it is interpreted through the forms, imagery, or colors. Many of her concepts are also inspired by psychology, as she likes to represent psychological states or processes with animals and other natural imagery.

While Fitz has always loved making art, she realized it was her passion in high school. She took a short ceramics course in high school, but then fell in love with clay after taking the first course her sophomore year at Clemson. In terms of this CSArt season, Molly is most excited about the pick-up event. She is excited to meet and interact with the shareholders, and cannot wait to hear what they think of her piece and of the CSA idea in general.

Past work: wheel-thrown cup and plate with mishima drawings & decals, white stoneware

Hannah Miller
Organic forms and linear drawings characterize Hannah Miller’s visual aesthetic. She is attentive to the multidimensional meaning in each piece from the movement of the form to the layers of surface treatment. Hannah has chosen to concentrate on ceramics because of “the process of literally making something out of nothing” Miller’s inspiration comes from experiences, places, and relationships that have pervaded her life. For her share piece, she was inspired by the people and places of Nicaragua and her memories from living there. This fall, Hannah is very excited to see how the Clemson CSArt community grows, as well as seeing how the artist and team members gain more experience throughout in the whole process. To learn more about Hannah visit hannahgervais.com

Past work: slip-cast dish with decal, porcelain

Allison Rupprecht
Allison Rupprecht is drawn to ceramics for its versatile materials and the process of getting one’s hands dirty when making a form. In most of her work she is inspired by her everyday experiences and surroundings. Allison Rupprecht’s selected design is a simple form but with a focus on surface details. The material she used for the piece is very fluid, which gave her the opportunity to experiment with the nature of liquids. As a result, her inspiration for the selected piece comes from water and it’s movement.

Allison has been making art for as long as she can remember, but she found her love for ceramics her junior year in high school. She is very excited to see all how each of the artist's pieces come together to create this season's share.

Past work: wheel-thrown tumbler, white stoneware

Hallie Shafer
Hallie Shafer’s ceramic work is inspired by the idea of home, family, and the table. Growing up she was always taught that having a family dinner every night was very important. As she has grown and had other community experiences, she has found that the places that have felt like "family" and "home" are places where she has sat down and shared a meal with the people around her. Watching these relationships grow around a table is what has inspired Hallie to create functional ceramics. At the center of her design aesthetic sits calm and comfort. She enjoys creating a balanced weight that is comfortable to hold in the hand, and then tends to choose glazes in soothing colors. There are many things Hallie loves about ceramics, but the aspect she loves most is the process of being able to form a vessel quite literally from the ground up. From making the clay to firing the kiln, Hallie loves that she can be present every step of the way.

Though ceramics is a fairly new discipline for her, art has always been an integral part of her life. Hallie is most excited about spreading the word about the Clemson Art Department through CSArt.

Past work: wheel-thrown wood-fired cup, stoneware

Brittany Wilund
Brittany Wilund has always been inspired by nature and how the combination of different natural forms, colors, and textures are capable of evoking specific emotions and feelings. From this, the aesthetic of her functional work is organic and typically references natural forms. For her selected piece for the share, her aim is to create a strong sense of movement and weight that gives an animated quality to the piece.

Brittany is constantly drawn back to ceramics because of the flexibility of the material. It allows for exploration of essentially every facet of art within one material- sculpture, printing, painting, drawing, and functional ware. It allows her to the blur lines between categories within art and to represent a concept from multiple angles. While Brittany has been making art from a very early age, she has only been exploring what ceramics has to offer for two years. She feels that CSArt has the ability to get the community more excited about and directly involved with art and she looks forward to seeing what comes of the new relationships established.