Lisa Clague Workshop

Dreaming in Clay with Metal

Lisa will lead this three day hands-on sculpture workshop, sharing with participants her excitement about combining metal and clay in figurative sculptures. Participants will explore the ways that incorporating metal elements enables the creation of structures that would be impossible with conventional ceramic methods. Lisa uses metal in most of her work, giving her the creative freedom to represent a more diverse array of dreams, fantasies and subconscious musings.

Participants will create sculpture reflecting their personal visions while incorporating metal objects such as steel nails, rods, kiln elements, old tools, forks, and other found objects. The use of metal with clay allows for thin appendages, large structures, cantilevered forms, and other elements difficult to achieve with clay alone. Clague explains, "Metal has allowed my figures to juggle balls, wear hoop skirts and wiggle their legs. I'm excited about the endless possibilities." The goal of this workshop will be to experiment and discover new ways of creating personal visions in clay.

Class size 16.

A note from Lisa: Previous handbuilding experience is helpful. Please bring steel objects like those noted above. Test objects with a magnet, which will attach to steel. Other metals will melt.

Lisa Clague Biographical Timeline

1962

Born Elizabeth Honsberg Clague on March 23 in Cleveland, Ohio to Sculptor, John Clague and Potter, Sarah Clague.

1972

Takes children's art classes at the Cleveland Art Museum shadow puppets, collage and drawing.

Discovers a book on parents book shelf of Hieronymus Bosch, was hugely affected.

1971-1977

Spends one month each summer at Northway Lodge in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada. A girl's camp, lived in the woods, backpacked portaged canoes, and learned about survival; traveling through out the Cache lake area. Develops a deep love of nature.

1975

Attends West Geauga Junior High School.

Receives Gold Key awards in Scholastic Art Contests.

1977

Attends West Geauga High School.

Receives Gold Key award and is a New York finalist.

1978-1980

Teaches children classes at Fairmont Center for the Performing Arts Chesterland, Ohio.

1980

Graduates High School.

Enters Columbus College of Art and Design on scholarship Columbus, Ohio; Studies Illustration.

1982

Transfers to the Cleveland Institute of Art to major in Fine Art, Textiles and Painting.

1983

Changes major to clay, studies with Judith Salomon and Bill Brouillard.
Throws pots; eventually the work becomes more sculptural.

1984

Works with Jerry Adlin and Rich Fiorelli in the sculpture department. Influenced by nature, insects, vertebrae, and cacti.

1984-1985

Teaches Saturday morning sculpture classes to high school students, at CIA.

Also teaches children classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

1985

Graduates from CIA; BFA.

Awarded the Agnus Gund Traveling Scholarship for a large sculpture installation, portraying her experience of daily visiting her partner who has been in a coma after an accident this past year.

Works at the Natural History Museum, Cleveland, Ohio. Hired into the Paleontology department to cast bones of a Dunkleosteus terrelli, a three million old fish fossil found in the shale around Cleveland. She also created the final coloration for the bones that were to be sent to other museums across the country.

Teaches Adult Ceramics at the Jewish Community Center, Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

1986

Travels to Japan, visits numerous kiln sites such as Mashiko and Bizen.

Has a short visit to Hong Kong, China.

Upon return, takes a lay over in San Francisco, finds a studio, decides on a graduate school and returns to Ohio.

1987

Moves to the Vulcan studios in San Leandro.

Works as a studio assistant for Kathy Erteman in Benicia, CA.

1988

Enters graduate school at California College of Arts and Crafts. Studies with Viola Frey, Art Nelson and Dennis Gallagher.

1990

Summer residency at Port Costa Brick yard, Port Costa, CA. Built large scale sculpture using wet bricks, stacking and carving. Worked with André Thompson, Hedi Ernst and Sam Perry.

1990

Works as a Studio assistant for Claudia Hoffberg, Kensington, CA. Inlaid color clay work.

1991

Graduated from CCAC; MFA.

Moves to a studio in Richmond, CA.

Listens to Viola Frey and decides to work for several years after grad school, developing work without the thought of showing.

1992-1995

Begins teaching at Walnut Creek Civic Art Center, Walnut Creek, CA. Hand building and sculpture.

1993-1995

Teaches clay at the Richmond Art Center.

1994

Shows figurative work at the Udinotti Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Group show "North by Northeast ll ", Richmond Art Center, Large metal and clay works.

Work published in "Hands in Clay 3rd Addition" by Charlotte Speight and John Toki.

Article on work in Contra Costa Times, Danville, CA.

1995-1997

Begins job at CCAC as Studio Technician in clay department, reunited with Viola Frey.

Moved into studio in Benicia, CA.

1996

Lectured and conducted workshops at California College of Arts and Crafts and Lainey College in Oakland, CA.

Article in Arts Review magazine, "The Ashes ", Scottsdale, AZ

1997

Group show at the John Elder Gallery, NY, "Inaugural Exhibition."

Solo show Udinotti Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ.

Group show, Bucheon Gallery, San Francisco, CA.

Group show, John Toki Gallery, Berkeley, CA.

Work published in book "Make it in Clay "Charlotte Speight and John Toki.

Assistant to Nancy Selvin, Haystack School of Crafts, Maine.

Collaborates with jeweler Keith Lo Bue.

1998

First solo exhibition at the John Elder Gallery, NY.

SOFA NY, with John Elder.

Entered the California Clay Competition at the Artery in Davis, CA. Won first in show for "Queen of Hearts".

Quit job at CCAC to work full time in the studio.

Also showed at the Bucheon Gallery in S.F. and Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA.

Work was shown in various publications: American Style Magazine, Art and Perception and Art Talk.

Taught a mold making class at Richmond Art Center.

Taught Post Fired Finishes at CCAC.

Lectured and gave workshops on metal and clay at San Francisco Art Institute, the Academy of Art , and Lainey College in Oakland.

Marries Bob Rogers in August at her studio in Benicia. Clayton Bailey performs ceremony.

1998-1999

Began teaching Ceramics at Solano College, Suisun, CA. Beginning, intermediate and advanced classes.

1999

Shows at SOFA Chicago.

Group show at the Pence Gallery, Davis, CA. "Clay: N. CA".

Alumni show at the Avante Gallery in Cleveland, Ohio.

Group show, "Bob Arneson and Friends", John Natsoulas Gallery.

Invited to participate as guest speaker and show at The California

Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA.

Taught summer class at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Incorporation of metal and clay, figurative and abstract.

Lectured and demonstrated at Chico State, Chico, CA.

Awarded second place for the Virginia A. Groot Foundation grant, $10,000.00 to use towards studio and work.

Moved to Calistoga, CA.

2000

Daughter Isabella Manning Rogers is born in February.

Solo exhibition at the John Elder Gallery, NY.

SOFA Chicago represented by John Elder.

Palm Springs International also courtesy of John Natsoulas Gallery, Palm Springs, CA.

Group Show: La Modernism, courtesy or John Natsoulas Gallery, Santa Monica, CA.

2001

Moved to Bakersville, North Carolina.

Group show; Sheppard's Fine Art Gallery, University of Nevada, Reno.

2002

Solo show; Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan.

"Terrors and Wonders; Monsters in Contemporary Art", Group show and catalogue, DeCordova Museum & Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA.

SOFA Chicago; Visual Perspectives; 14 years of Virginia A Groot Awards.

2003

Solo show John Elder Gallery.

Group show " Trans-mission ", an exploration of the ways in which artists transmit the subconscious, Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, GA.

Taught a summer workshop at Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Group show; Artists from the Santa Fe Clay Summer 2003 Workshops.

Work published in Visual Perspectives; 14 years of the Virginia A Groot Awards catalogue.

Began building 1,500 sq ft studio in Bakersville, NC.

2004

Solo show at the Blue Spiral 1 Gallery, Asheville, North Carolina.

Group show; "Grimm's Fairy Tales Revisited ", Society of Arts and Crafts, Massachusetts.

Work published in 500 Figures in Clay. Monkey on My Back, Whirly Gig Rabbit and Enigma.

Group show, New x 3; Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC.

Taught summer class at Penland School for the Crafts, Penland, NC.

Taught metal and clay figurative workshop at Clay Space, Puget Sound, WA.

Completion of studio.

2005

Invited to the 3rd World Ceramic Biennale Korea 2005, Trans Ceramic Art "Ceramics: The Vehicle of Culture ", show and catalogue.

Invited as a guest speaker and show for the 16th Annual California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA.

Group show "Hot Ice "teapots and pitchers, Blue Spiral 1 Asheville, NC.

Group show Santa Fe Clay; American Masters. New work from artists who have participated in the SFC summer workshops 2000-2005.

Group show Santa Fe Clay; "Small Figures".

Lecture and demonstration at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.

Taught figurative sculpture and the incorporation of metal and clay out of studio in Bakersville, NC.