Feature Articles


September Issue 2001

Gallery W.D.O. in Charlotte, NC, Features Pottery of Terry Gess

This is Terry Gess' fourth major show at gallery W.D.O. in Charlotte, NC. On view from Sept. 4 - 29, it will be the last one person clay show for the gallery at Atherton Mill. Gess gave us our first clay show in 1995. At that time, he was artist in residence at the Penland School of Crafts. Now he has his own studio in the mountains near the school. He continues to explore his very personal relationship with clay objects that meet functional needs. He continues to combine the functional purpose with an aesthetic concern. Gess' pottery allows its user to quietly celebrate the simple pleasures of cooking, eating or drinking.

Of his work Gess says, "My favorite pottery has long been the spirited, populist styles - the Medieval English jugs, for instance, with their casually thumbed bases, or the Fifteenth Century Islamic tin-glazed wares, such as the fat, swollen-bellied Persian jars." Gess values these pots for their clunky forms, thick lips, and age-worn surfaces. Their casual, mundane earthiness, healthy and unpretentious, holds a subtle, grounded beauty that reveals its secrets slowly. He feels the hand of the maker has not been overshadowed by skillful mastery or opulent lusters, but is still clearly present.

Gess continues, "My allegiance and affiliation are with this work. It is not that I wish to mimic or interpret the qualities of these kinds of pots as much as I wish to adopt the emotive subtleties of presence, stance and gesture that are infused throughout this kind of work."

Underlying all of Gess' work is a desire to elaborate this kind of awkward, clumsy beauty in his pots. This is not a sloppy awkwardness, but rather an assured, considered individuality. It is assembled from the integrity of the materials and the distinction of the artist to create a particular idiosyncratic beauty.

Gess states, "I want my pottery to be of service, soulful and spirit-filled."

For more information check our NC Commercial Gallery listings or call the gallery at 704/333-9123 or on the web at (http://www.gallerywdo.com).

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