Allison McGowan
Allison McGowan is motivated by the challenge of creating handbuilt porcelain forms using texture, volume, and structure. Her body of work represents an innate connection of elements in nature, in the sewing process, and also in the Art Nouveau style of uniting nature and structure. Her clay work is literally tailored using texture, patterns, darting, cutting and altering. Her functional pottery incorporates the elements of volume, texture, and structure to please the hand, the mouth, and the table. Allison is an alumni of Alfred University.
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Allison McGowan at MudFire
Gallery group show Porcelain, August 2010
Allison McGowan Artist Bio
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. Currently Allison is working toward her Occupation Therapy Assistant associates degree to help others use arts and therapy to improve their life situation. Allison continues to work in her studio as a handbuilder in her home studio.
Allison McGowan Artist Statement
The challenge of creating handbuilt porcelain forms using texture, volume, and structure keeps my interest in the working process. The body of work represented here is an innate connection of elements in nature, in the sewing process, and also in Art Nouveau.
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. I marvel at the architectural elements of continuous lines that softly join different sections of a doorway or balcony and somehow invite one to enter or linger.
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 and are inviting. I want my pieces to be picked up and used and enjoyed. My desire is not only to create a form which pleases the eye, but one that incorporates the elements of volume, texture, and structure to please the hand, the mouth, and the table.
