Previous exhibits at Fire Arts
|
"TOOLS for Thought" Jan Dean
| Fire Arts welcomes one of our newest Artists in Resedence, Jan Dean, with and exhibition of her work. September 2 - October 27, 2011 Artists reception, "First Friday", September 2, 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. |
 |
 Eden Tin & Media 3.5 Inches |
Jan's works are created from a variety of materials, pins, tacks, nails, and traditional bronze. The one thing they all have in common is that they are "TOOLS for thought. "Similar to reading a book or seeing a movie twice, what you notice the second time is not the same as the first. The more I look, the more I see something else is holding my attention." |
|
She often focuses on opposites and deciphering the commonality of these opposites. "Humans perceive opposites pretty easily, but given in-depth observation, is that perception real? Don't opposites coexist on the same continuum? Are they not variations made of the same basic matter simply arranged in different orders?" |
Friend I |
| "In the process of relating opposites to each other I created a connection or pathway between them. This channel became more relevant than the ends it connected. It's a channel that represents energy." |
Knife |
She also tries to create tools to assist in peeling away layers of separation. This can be seen in the Phurbas -- small figurative hand tools. (A Phurba is a Tibetan psychic dagger.) Its use is in battle between lamas and spirits. "My tools seek to cut away the confusion behind desires, to enable the perception that what you seek may enable the opposite of what you desire." |
Heather Murray: "Irdische Bänder "
 |
 |
Heather's ceramic sculpture explores the emotional connection of human beings with other living creatures. "Through my fascination with animals and their familial relationships, I make sculptures that trigger an empathetic response from the viewers." |
|
Chris Jaworski:"Steeling the Farm"
Fire Arts, Inc. invites the public to an exhibition of work by Chris Jaworski created with antique farm steel. March 1 - April 30, 2011 The artist's reception will be Friday, March 4 from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m.
|
Pogo |
Wayne E. Harshberger: "Journey into Stone"
Fire Arts, Inc. invites the public to an exhibition of work by stone sculptor Wayne Harsbherger from Jan. 7 - Feb. 24. The reception will be Friday, Jan. 7 from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m.
|
 |
| Wayne will also be conducting a series of individual stone-carving workshops in February. Participants in the workshops will learn how to create a simple abstract sculpture using simple hand tools. |
See Workshops |
"Holiday Show "
| This show featuring work created by the our "Artists in Residence" will run through December 30. |
 |
|
|
|
|
"Mud & Metal"
September 21 - October 28, 2010 Artists reception during First Friday, October 1st, from 5:00-8:00 PM |
Eve Woodward and Christine Monteleon, Artists in Residence at Fire Arts, will be showing some of their recent work along with some of their favorite themes. |
Eve Woodward has been working in clay for nearly forty years. "Along with my creative journey, I have learned to work with paint, precious metals and bronze sculpture, and have loved them all." Woodward's first love is still clay. |
Lady Bird Eve Woodward |
Embrace Christine Monteleon |
Christine Monteleon has been an artist in residence since 2005. She works in clay using both wheel throwing and hand building techniques. Her work ranges from small utilitarian ware to large abstract sculptural forms. |
Summer Studio Show
| Yvonne Desrosiers' fourth Summer Studio is over; the work is in our Showroom from August 19th to August 31st. |
 |
| Friday, August 20th Opening |
| This year some large ceramic portrait heads and small bronze pieces were created along with other varied ceramic work. |
 |
 |
| Rebecca | Grace |
 |
|
| Angela |
 |
| Molly |
Linda Crimson/Dave Blodgett: Heads and Tails
Primarily a figurative sculptor, Linda Crimson enjoys studying people, "their faces, gestures, and movements tell so much about their lives and histories." Not caring to label her work with names, Crimson's titles come from her experiences in producing the sculpture and her love of certain periods in history. "I hope that the viewer can find a story of their own in each piece." |
"Delphic Sibyl" Bronze 18 &1/2" High w/base
|
 |
 |
| Dave Blodgett "November Snow" Oil on Panel 35"x24&1/2" |
| Dave Blodgett has found some time for wildlife painting while most of his time has been devoted to painting murals around the country with his wife Linda Crimson. "Easel painting was almost always left on the back burner so it was nice to have an excuse to move it forward." Even though Blodgett has always been a "city kid," he plunged into this genre. "To be a wildlife artist you ought to have at least one foot in the country, but I have always been one to ignore common sense prerequisites. I plunged in." Blodgett finds great pleasure in wildlife painting. What could be more fun than rendering textures and sunlight?" |
 |
Linda has taken up stone carving during the last four years and finds this a very peaceful activity.
"Sedona" Pink Alabaster 10" High w/base |
Lanedale Pottery : Farm Fresh
Billy and Li Chia Cooper
Billy and Li Chia Cooper received BA's in art from Earlham College in 2001 and established Lanedale Pottery in 2002. |
Lanedale Pottery: Farm Fresh March 9 through April 22
|
Vase 17 inches high
|
| "We make our own clay bodies and glazes, and we are currently focusing on our interest in local materials (local clays and wood ash) for use in glazing and glaze decoration. We fire in a number of ways including, gas reduction, gas fired salt-glazed, and wood-firing." Billy |
Shallow Bowl 13 inches wide
|
"For me success in making pottery is creating a favorite piece, for example, a cup, or bowl that one looks for when he or she opens a cupboard." Billy Cooper |
 |
Vase 14 inches High |
Li Chia's work is more sculptural , with birds that have become meditative little pieces that she places on more figurative objects for their own observation and contemplation. |
Sculptural Forms 17" high and 12" high |
Lanedale Pottery, 4786 W County Road 900 N, Royal Center, Indiana. |
Wayne Andrews Wildlife: Wood & Bronze
"Nuthatch, White Breasted", Wood
Owl, Bronze |
After retiring, Wayne started carving full time and attending workshops conducted by world class carvers such as Ernie Muehlmatt, Bob Guge, Phil Galatas, Chris White and Gary Eigenberger.
His favorite subjects are birds of prey, but he enjoys working on other birds and animals.
Upon joining Fire Arts, Wayne began working in clay and casting in bronze using the lost wax process. |
| He has exhibited at many sites including: Fernwood Botanical Garden and Nature Center, Niles, Michigan; Love Creek Nature Center, Berrien County, Michigan; and wood carving shows at Sauder Village, Archbold, Ohio; Duneland Wood Carvers Show, Portage, Indiana; The Fruit Belt Wood Carving Show, Cass County Fair Grounds, Michigan; World Championship Ward Wildfowl Carving Competition, Ocean City, Maryland; and the International Wood Carver Congress, Davenport, Iowa. |
Polar Bears, Bronze |
Harvest / Holiday Show
A Season of Celebration Fire Arts presented its annual Holiday Show with an opening reception on Saturday, November 7, from 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. |
 |
 |
The month of November featured a harvest theme with festive vases, mugs, and serving dishes that would liven up the Thanksgiving table. |
December featured a winter holiday theme with whimsical sculptures and Christmas ornaments. This Annual Holiday show featuring work by our resident artists ran from November 7 through December 29.
|
|
| Dick Trench | Barry Davis |
Beau Belinki |
 |
Yvonne Desrosiers |
|
Tuck Langland |
Spring Clay Workshop Exhibit
Examples of Raku Pottery by Christine Monteleon |
A display of pieces from the Beau Bilenki raku workshop and the Dick Lehman "Altered Forms" workshop. These wonderful raku and altered ceramic pieces were created by Fire Arts artists and others in the community from this Spring's pottery workshops at Fire Arts.
|
Beau and Students at his Raku Class Dick Lehman exhibit
Jon Hook and Andrea Peterson
Jon Hook's pottery
Andrea
Peterson's paper pieces |
Jon Hook and Andrea Peterson:
Into the Woods
March 10 - April 23
Fire Arts had "Into the Woods," an exhibition of wood-kiln fired pottery by ceramicist Jon Hook and paper art by artist and papermaker Andrea Peterson.
Studio ceramic artist, Jon Hook, creates sculptural work and functional pottery. Jon's work is in numerable private collections. He exhibits his work nationally as well as in his own gallery, Hook Pottery Paper, in Laporte, Indiana. He has built his own kilns, in which he only fires with wood. Wood firing for Jon is a passion. He finds that wood firing is an intense and industrious process. It is very exciting to use local materials; straw and cattails from the wetlands add color in the form of ash glaze to the surface of the wood-fired ceramics.
Jon lives as close in harmony as he can with his surrounding environment. He creates glazes from the ash of the wood stove that heats his studio, and collects rainwater in barrels to use. The work that is produced is like no other due to the wood fly ash and plant fiber introduced into the glaze chamber during firing.
Andrea Peterson is an artist, papermaker and educator
based in Laporte, Indiana. She received her MFA from the University
of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 1994, and BFA from the Art Institute
of Chicago. Most of her art consists of relief printed images on
handmade sheets of paper that have utilized pulp-drawing techniques.
She also has created site-specific installation work and book art
pieces. Most of her work can be found in private collections, as
well as a few corporate collections such as that of Hollister Clothing,
Chicago. See www.hookpotterypaper.com
Valerie A. Schroeder and Patricia Stutsman
  Valerie Schroeder's ceramic
orbs   Pat Stutsman's
pastels |
Valerie A. Schroeder / Murisopsis
Patricia Stutsman / Full Circle: People and Places
January 13 - February 26
Fire Arts had "Murisopsis" (a mouse's view),
an exhibition of clay sculptures by local ceramicist Valerie Schroeder,
and "Full Circle: People and Places," an exhibition of colorful
pastels by local artist Patricia Stutsman, in its showroom from
January 13 - February 26.
Murisopsis is what Valerie Schroeder calls this body of work; it is a compound word meaning mouse vision - looking at the world through the eyes and with the perspective of a mouse. With murisopsis small details are magnified and things are seen from a different point of view. As a ceramicist, she uses hand building techniques, slab, coil,and extruded shapes in her sculptures. Some works in this show are from her "Fungus," "Pollen," "Sea Creatures," and "Parasites" series.
Her work has been on display at the Midwest Museum of Art and the south Bend Regional Museum of Art.
Full Circle: People and Places by Patricia Stutsman is about stories and color. Pastel is her medium of choice because it is fast, colorful and most of all fun. "I try never to take myself or my work too seriously," says Stutsman. She works primarily from photographs, old family photo's and interpreting photographs of her colleagues. She considers herself a "Born-Again Hoosier," returning to Indiana for the same reasons that she moved away in the first place - family, small town atmosphere, and old fashioned Midwest values. Stutsman is currently a member of the Northern Indiana Pastel Society and a board member of the Elkhart Art League.
Her work has been on display at the South Bend Regional Museum of Art, Studio Arts Center, Elkhart Art League, Elkhart Showcase of Art, and the Havilah Beardsley House.
Winter Holiday Show - December 2008
December 6 - 28
Work by Fire Arts artists and friends
on exhibit and for sale -- great gift ideas for the
holiday season.
Janet Leazenby exhibit - November 2008
 |
Janet Leazenby's nature inspired work, in porcelain and Raku, was in our showroom September and October 2008. She has been a teacher for 25 years in the South Bend Community School Corp, presently at Washington High, and since 1978 a ceramics instructor at the South Bend Museum of Art. |