“Mostly Black and Blue”

Teresa Griffin Ray

Pottery and Water Color Artist

Artist Statement: This body of work includes pottery and watercolor paintings created in the winter of 2021/22/ Being mostly isolated, I began to think about the emotional effect and decided that a black and blue palette would match many of my feelings. This idea of black and blue became more productive and pleasing. While painting, it is hard to stick to darkness when light is such a great quality of watercolors, therefore the “mostly black and blue”.

The Pots: I see clay surfaces as an opportunity to carve and create graphic images much like a print. The act of carving gives me great satisfaction. A vase, plat or platter becomes a print template preserved. Having print like visuals and patterns on functional potter serves a dual purpose in presenting pleasing images as well as useful ware.

In this body of work, I wanted to explore cylinder shapes and vase forms. I decided to “throw” pots that were variation of vases and then added in some tumblers and cup shapes. Additionally, there are some bigger bowls and a few plates. The carved pieces are done with a s graffito technique that is applied in the “green ware” stage of making pottery. After the pots are “thrown” on a potter’s wheel, an underglaze is applied. When the clay is at a particular state, tools are used to draw and carve different images and textures into the clay. Juxtaposing patterns based on nature, gives these pots either a quilt like feel or creates movement on the surface. Plants, flowers and water are often concurrent themes.

The Paintings:The watercolors are based on nature, abstractions of water, trees and mountains. Living on a lake I am always interested in the surfaces of waters and shorelines. My husband and I lived in Colorado for over forty yeas while working and raising our children. Mountains and big skis are also captivating for me. The linear connections of sky to land to ware is a springboard for exploring these structures. This work expresses a feeling about landscapes and attempts to create a mood or a feeling. The suggestions of trees, mountains, water or shorelines create a world that could exist, but doesn’t. the water may be floating or dropping, the mood may be light or dark. I have always been fascinated by color and color theory. Color invokes feelings and connects to everyone in different ways. Using variations of color creates light and dark and combined creates mood. During the winter, I was intrigued by the texture of ice forming on the lakes and the lines of the cracks in the ice. I abstracted this and played with the textures within a shoreline format. My interest is in creating a mood or a feeling that is a reminder of nature. It might invoke excitement, calmness, relaxation, tension or contemplation. My hope is to create paintings in which the viewer can see or feel something new with multiple views.