Feature Articles

September Issue 2002

Myersart Gallery/Clay on Camden in Charlotte, NC, Features Works by Gena VanDyke and Lambeth Marshall

Throughout the month of Sept., Myersart Gallery/Clay on Camden, located in the South End district of Charlotte, NC, will be exhibiting works by two of the gallery's most spirited female artists, Gena VanDyke and Lambeth Marshall.

Both women create ornate works, but their styles are like night and day. Gena VanDyke's work while modern in finish, has an air reminiscent of Asian and European designs. She credits the influence of the artwork collected by her parents and grandparents from around the world. Van Dyke began working with clay in 1986 and has become well known for her Raku, a five century old decorative firing method that originated in the orient. The metallic Raku glaze VanDyke uses yields a striking copper sheen, while her latest works in burnished and smoked clay have a softer, more sensual finish.

"The pots are fired to about 1700 degrees farenheit, removed from the kiln 'red hot', and placed in lidded cans lined with combustibles like leaves, straw, or paper, which ignite on contact. Here is where the changes occur that make each piece so unique," VanDyke explains. "Carbon from the smoke will penetrate any unglazed area and surface crackles, while the dancing flames enhance the colors of the metallic glazes."

"Clay objects have always been a part of human life, whether for function or decoration," VanDyke says. She believes pottery can provide a natural counterbalance in today's high-tech world of computers and instant everything. "The clay reminds us to enjoy the comforting quality of things hand made from the earth by the individual craft person." Her work is on display from Europe to New Zealand.

Lambeth Marshall, a former painter and landscape designer, has been working in clay for 26 years. She studied ceramics and design at The University of North Carolina, Charlotte, Queens College, and Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte as well as with internationally known potters and designers. She also studied at NC's famous Penland School of Crafts.

Marshall's contemporary white earthenware is brightly decorated, functional art with a Southwestern, some say Oriental, flavor.

"I was greatly influenced by the beauty of the Southwest and Central America," Marshall says. "Recent trips to Santa Fe, NM, and Sedona, AZ, changed my style of work. The incredible beauty of the mountain range views gave me an overwhelming spiritual feeling and attachment to the earth. I plan to keep reaching and learning, producing new artistic work in this new approach to clay."

Marshall's ware is decorated at the leather-hard stage with underglazes mixed in a water color fashion. She uses simple clean thrown and hand-built forms as a canvas. The pots are bisque fired and clear glazed, then refired. Marshall's wall hangings are done in the same fashion, but a "smoke-pit firing" completes the process, resulting in unusual free form shapes decorated with glints of color.

For further information check our NC Commercial Gallery listings or call the gallery at 704/790-2529.

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Copyright© 2002 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2002 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.