Review

"Dog Chasing Tail," Ceramic Sculpture.

Cathy Broski

10 a.m.-7 p.m.

ARTichokes
10557 Mission Road
Leawood, KS
913.322.9481

Hours : 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday.
Runs through: Aug. 8.

Artist's site: http://www.broskiclay.com
Gallery site: http://www.artichokeskc.com

It's hard to think of pottery without automatically linking it to the verb "to hold."

Ceramic pieces hold food, drink, flowers ... and, oftentimes, memories.

Cathy Broski explores that notion — and takes it a step further — in her art, which she shows at art fairs around the country (with upcoming dates at Art Westport and the Plaza Art Fair) and also has on display at ARTichokes in Leawood. Her creations are often not so much containers as depictions of them; even her line of vases is based on the gowned female form.

My work is steeped in archetypical and personal symbolism, she writes. Figures, houses, boats and pottery are all vessels to contain things we hold dear, and sometimes those things we would cast off. I chose these forms to work with because they have several levels of meaning I find intriguing to explore.

So when Broski depicts people and dogs (often in boats, adding another level of holding/containing),  the implied inside — the human mind and spirit, the animal's personality — is an integral part of the work. Stylized though it might be, the Dog Chasing Tail (pictured above) comes across as energetic, inquisitive and excitable.

A careful layering technique gives Broski's pieces the appearance of having been around for a while and having passed through numerous hands.

I love the idea of found objects, because of their wear and marks of their journeys, she explains. I see people in much the same way. When I go to a museum or a home and see these objects put into a special environment they are reborn.

The well-traveled (and well-loved) look takes time to achieve:

Each piece begins on the potter's wheel or with slabs. The pieces grow with the application of coils or additional slabs. When each piece is completed, I carve the surface and let it dry. The base color is applied and fired. Once the first firing is complete, I apply and wipe off a combination of terra sigilattas, slips, stains and glazes, then fire again. This process is repeated until I achieve the desired effect.

The result is work which, while it might never serve as a physical container, definitely holds a viewer's attention for all the right reasons.

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