Curling leaves and pinched patterns cloak the bold vessels of artist Paul S. Briggs. Using a slab-building technique, he creates chunky sculptures that nod to nature, mindfulness, and the malleability of his chosen medium.
Briggs approaches his process as a kind of meditation, pinch-forming each piece from a single ball of clay. When sharing his work on social media, he even uses the hashtag #noadditionorsubtraction to illustrate how the form emerges from the precise quantity he begins with.
“It is difficult to see from the finished vessels how the pieces emerge from one piece of clay,” Briggs tells Colossal. “I’m at a stage in the process where to call them pinch-pots doesn’t quite capture the evolution of the form, and so I’ve been using the terminology ‘hand-turned.’”
The artist composes each piece through a kind of two-pronged method: the initial step of building with slabs helps him to think through ideas and “philosophize concretely,” while pinching quiets his mind.
As a teacher at The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Briggs is interested in how a range of topics—educational theory and policy, art education, theology, and art—coalesce in both the studio process and the finished work. “One of the main tools I ask students to bring to my workshops is patience,” he says. “You cannot rush these pieces; one must slow down. It is a very assertive but tender process, especially when handling six to 12 pounds of clay.”
Being psychologically present in the process is central to Briggs’s approach, “which is why I have talked about the work as being a mindful, meditative technique,” he adds. Undulating leaf forms, intimate divots, and rippling edges repeat in infinite circles around each vessel, evocative of a mesmerizing, three-dimensional zoetrope.
“Very recently, I’ve been making pieces with a balance of slow, intentional pinches and very loose, intuitive marks,” Briggs says. These works are still emerging, and he’s interested in the potential of combining different approaches in one form.
Among several other group shows, Briggs will show a few vessels in an exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Art School at Old Church in Demarest, New Jersey, which runs December 6 to 8. He’s also preparing for his next solo exhibition at Lucy Lacoste Gallery in Concord, Massachusetts, slated for July. Until then, explore more on the artist’s website.
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