Earth & Fowl: Chickens and Other Poultry in Clay
September 21, 2022 – September 17, 2023 | Schaefer Gallery
Image Credit: Tammy Leigh Brooks, Freddy Frizzle #1, 2007, glazed ceramic. On loan from the family of Carol and Shelton Gorelick. Photo: Maggie Flanigan
The ceramic objects found in this exhibition are obviously of a kind. Birds have long been a common subject for sculptural objects meant for the home. In particular, domestic poultry—ducks, geese, guineas, pigeons, and turkeys, with chickens chief among them—are animals that have been deeply integrated into our visual culture. They are signs and symbols of prosperity, familial health and wealth, and avatars in children’s stories and more recently of agricultural independence. Their likeness can be found on wallpaper and china patterns, decorative hand towels, mass-produced porcelain figurines, and nearly any other decorative object we might associate with the home. They are also a perennial subject in North Carolina’s rich pottery tradition.
These are animals that are often quite literally rooting in the earth in search of sustenance and who maintain a profound association with the land and our human ability to cultivate and derive succour from it. With that in mind, this avian association to clay is not entirely unfounded. In this gallery, you will find examples from a wide swath of regional potters. This idiosyncratic vein of work is by no means the entirety of any one artist’s practice, but it does represent a not insignificant shared vocabulary by this community of makers. Perhaps it is just a condition of the market: chickens and their brethren are (depending on who you ask) cute; they are immediately recognizable; they are familiar and carry personal and shared meaning. All that being said, the charm of these sculptural fowl is undeniable, and sometimes that is more than enough reason to stop and count the chickens.
Ron Slagle, Spotted White Chicken (left) and Spotted Brown Chicken (right), undated, Glazed ceramic. On loan from the collection of Carol & Shelton Gorelick.
Michael Bayne, Grouse, undated, Glazed ceramic. On loan from the collection of Carol & Shelton Gorelick.