Allison McGowan
Allison McGowan
Allison is a studio ceramist and mother of 2 in Concord, NC. She received her MFA from NYSCC at Alfred University. She was a resident artist at The Philadelphia Clay Studio, a Sage Scholar at the Archie Bray Foundation, a professor of ceramics at Rowan and Immaculata Universities, and she taught a concentration at Penland School of Crafts. She has presented lectures and workshops nationally and internationally. Her handbuilt pots have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions all over the country. Allison also works as an Occupation Therapy Assistant to help others use arts and therapy to improve their life situation.
The challenge of creating hand-built porcelain forms using texture, volume, and structure keeps my interest in the working process. The work represented here is an innate connection of elements in nature, the sewing process, and Art Nouveau Architecture.
Nature constantly inspires me to arrive at new forms and structures with different volumes and textures. The repetitive grooves on an orange or the petals on a flower give me ideas for the details on the surface of my clay work. The process of sewing has given me a new approach to form and volume. Cutting, darting, altering, and mending are processes used when tailoring textiles. I have found that, in clay, I am able to tailor my forms to maximize the volume while keeping them relatively simple. Finally, the Art Nouveau style of uniting nature and structure gives me ideas for the basic form and function of my pieces. The architectural elements of continuous lines that softly join different sections of a doorway or balcony inspire new ways of joining elements in my work.
It is through the combination of these three inspirations that I create my clay pieces. I find a texture, create a pattern on the clay, then begin to tailor my ideas into a form where the lines blend and soften. I want my pieces to be used and enjoyed.
