Cheryl Ann THomas: Out of My Hands
On View: March 4–26, 2016
Reception: Friday, March 4, 6–8 pm
Represented by six sculptures and having her first solo exhibition at Gallery NAGA, Cheryl Ann Thomas’ work is fluid and sensual.
Thomas uses a coiling technique – a technique that has been used for thousands of years across many cultures to build large storage jars -- whereby she hand rolls clay into long, snake-like forms. Each of Thomas’ coils is layered onto the previous roll allowing her to build large columns of tiny ropes. Each form is tall with thin walls and when she fires them, they collapse. The shapes resemble fabric in the way they fold and crumple in on themselves. These collapsed shapes yield the beauty in her work.
Most recently, Thomas has been taking two or more fired columns, refiring them stacked together, and watching as they encircle each other. Where one column ends and another begins is almost impossible to discern were it not for the color differences between vessels.
cheryl ann thomas
Thomas’s work is frequently noted for its allusions to the transience and delicacy of existence. Although the heat of the kiln is what causes the collapse of her forms, it also gives the porcelain she uses its durability and strength. In this way, the artist notes that her work “is not a metaphor, but a real and distinct experience of creation and loss.” Thomas has recently expanded her output to include works in bronze and stainless steel, which continue her meditations on fragility. Cheryl Ann Thomas graduated from the Art Center College of Design in 1982, and has emerged as a ceramic sculptor within the past 13 years. She has been featured in solo and group shows in New York and Los Angeles and her work is included in the collections of the Long Beach Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the Gardiner Museum in Toronto.
artist’s biography
press release
