Talent Skip Bleecker

Channels:

Art, Crafts, and Design

Genres:

Abstract, Fantasy

Roles:

Artist, Designer, Potter - Artistic, Sculptor, Web Designer

Specialties:

Ceramic Sculpture

Hometown:

Davison, Michigan

EDUCATION

Central Michigan University, B.S. ED.-1976, M.A.-1987
University of Alaska, Anchorage, A.A. 1972
United States Air Force, 1968-l972

Most of my life I have been involved in various types of so-called arts & crafts, in fact one of my earliest memories is of making clay jack-o-lanterns in kindergarten. I have done leather work, lapidary, copper enamel, copper tool, ceramic tile, reed basketry, lanyard weaving, and other crafts in elementary and jr. high. I learned photography while in high school, and dental laboratory in the Air Force (which taught me the principles of lost wax casting of plastic, gold & stainless steel.) I learned to slipcast clay while in the Air Force, and to throw pots in my first semester at Central Michigan University. When I returned to Central after graduation in 1976, I first added an art minor to my teaching degree. I started in ceramics and was gradually drawn into sculpture over the next few years, until I had a dual concentration in both. My road as an artist started in functional ceramics, led into sculptural ceramics, to sculpture in clay, through some video experiments, and now into computer graphics.

Most of my work consists of wheel thrown porcelain forms based on organic patterns of microscopic and macroscopic organisms. Some are based on seed pods, teeth, pollen, sea animals, squash, and even watermelon, but as the development proceeds, they merge and take on new forms of possible and imaginary organisms. All are hand made, one of a kind pieces, usually done in a series, so there might be some similarity among some pieces, but no two are ever exactly alike.

Organic, Abstract, Handmade, wheel thrown, Porcelain, one of a kind

Porcelain, Potter's Wheel (kick wheel), computer (Mac of course)

Most of my Sculpture is started as a "closed form", which means that I start to throw a bottle, but I close off the opening and trap air inside the form. I can then push and pull the shape until I get what I want, often distorting it completely from the basic form I started with. Next I add clay to the form or cut holes into it, to further change it into what I have in mind. This all takes place over several days after I threw the orriginal form, and as it starts to dry I evualate it several times and many do not survive this and are recycled, with only the best ones making it to the first firing.

Finally I get to the point of deciding on a glaze to finish the piece, and it not only involves color and texture but also the type of firing as well. Some are High Fired in a gas kiln to cone 9-10, which is about 2300 to 2600 F. Some are Low fired in an electric kiln at cone 06 which is about 1800 F. While some are Raku fired in a portable gas kiln to about 1800 F, then removed while still glowing hot, and put into a barrel of burnable material like leaves or paper or sawdust. This process developed in Japan results in some very interesting colors and textures and is a very difficult process to completely control. I can fire ten pots with the same glaze and get ten different colors and textures depending on many different factors, many of which I can't control.

GALLERIES

Da Vinci's Gallery, Adrian, Mi, 2006
Enigma Gallery, Essex, VT, 2005-2006
Circle Gallery at Smith's, Midland, MI, 2003-2006
Gallery: FunctionArt, Pontiac, MI, 2001-2002
Sistarz Art Gallery, Cape Coral, Fl, 2001

JURIED REGIONAL SHOWS

Sixth Annual Alma College, Statewide Print Competition, Alma, 1986
Lansing Art Gallery - Painting and Small Sculpture, 1986
- Small Wonders, 1982 - Marketplace, 1982
The Mid-Michigan Exhibition, Midland, 1978, 1979, 1983
Capital City Arts '82, Lansing City Hall, Lansing, 1982
Art Reach of Mid-Michigan - Holiday Art Show, Mt. Pleasant, 1982
Mt. Pleasant Juried Art Show, Mt. Pleasant, 1978-1982
Student Art Show, University Center, C.M.U., 1975, 1977-1979, 1982

INVITATIONAL GROUP SHOWS

M. A. (Two person) Show, C.M.U., Mt. Pleasant, 1987
Raku Invitational, Artists & Craftsmen Guild Gallery, Ann Arbor,1986
The Politics of Whimsy, 16 Hands Gallery, Ann Arbor, 1984
Four Person Show, 2 Doors Down Gallery, Lansing, 1983
6 Potters Show, University Center, C.M.U., Mt. Pleasant, 1982
Husband and Wife Show, 201 First Street Gallery, Clare, 1979
Art Reach of Mid-Michigan - Two Person Show, Mt. Pleasant, 2003

ART FAIRS

Summer Arts Festival, Ann Arbor, 1984
Mt. Pleasant Community Art Festival, 1979, 1980, 1982
Palmer Park Art Fair, Detroit, 1982
Art Under The Pines, Traverse City, 1981

Ceramic Sculpture

For most of my life, I have been both attracted to and very allergic to, large numbers of trees, grasses, and bushes. I have refused to become trapped indoors just because of these allergies, and as I began to develop my own sculptural forms, I examined both macroscopic and microscopic forms in nature. By examining the form and structure of seeds and other natural objects, I found great beauty in these simple forms, and developed simple organic sculptural designs, based on slightly abstract versions of these natural objects.