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Unique porcelain art featured at Harris-Warke
12/17/08
BY MARK WEBER
Red Deer Express
Working with porcelain certainly presents its challenges, but artist Rose Bauer’s finished products shine with striking uniqueness.
Her show Into Thin Air: Porcelain Drawing runs through Jan. 9 at the Harris-Warke Gallery in downtown Red Deer.
Bauer, based in Cochrane, has created a series of beautifully-rendered, delicate drawings in porcelain.
With plaster slabs as a base, the drawings are laid down using a pallet of coloured porcelain casting slips.
The images are built up foreground to background and when enough information has been laid down, the pieces are sealed with a layer of liquid porcelain.
“Porcelain, for me is a technical challenge as well as a real beautiful material to work with,” she explains. “It’s translucent and durable and fickle, but it’s really rewarding when you bring the pieces through the other end.”
The drawings are lifted from the plaster slab and turned over to reveal the fully integrated images. They are then fired, sanded, re-fired and sanded again.
“The use of a single medium, porcelain without glaze allows me to sand the surface as a means of fine-tuning some of the images.”
Bauer first discovered the world of ceramics back in 1996, and most recently studied the craft through a program offered by Red Deer College in partnership and the Australian National University.
A love for art came early in life, and although she worked for Parks Canada for several years, she knew a pursuit of arts education would eventually follow.
Her first medium of choice was glass. “I did a fair amount of stained glass prior to getting my hands into the clay,” she explains.
A course at RDC introduced her to clay, and she was promptly hooked.
Instructor Trudy Golley “was and is a huge inspiration for me, and quite a mentor. Her attitude towards ceramics was ‘try it’.
“She was the perfect person to have as my first instructor.”
Ceramics offered an appealing challenge to Bauer immediately – something she treasures in creating art.
“There’s so much to learn, and I love the tactile quality of clay. You can take it in so many directions as well.”
especially rewarding.
As for the current show at Harris-Warke, Bauer said the images hold a special place in her heart.
“For me, the subject matter of this particular series is very meaningful, because I’ve spent most of my life in or near the mountains. Landscapes figure largely in my work.”
She and her husband also own their own plane, so flying above the mountains offers plenty of breathtaking imagery and a continual source of rich inspiration.
Ultimately, the works in porcelain have provided Bauer with the ideal means of expressing herself.
Seeing others enjoy the work is also especially rewarding.
“For me it’s the response I get from people to the work. How people respond is really gratifying.”
It sounds like Bauer has found a wonderful balance in life. As she says in her artist’s statement, “The complexity of porcelain continues to fascinate me. Being in the mountains continues to comfort me.”
The Harris-Warke Gallery is located in Sunworks (4924 – Ross St.)
mweber@reddeer.greatwest.ca 403-309-5459
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