Statement
My functional pottery incorporates narrative imagery, pattern and form to amuse and delight the user, imparting a sense of play. In practice and product, my work reflects an approach to make-believe through discovery. I incorporate bouncing lines, candy colors, low relief and hand-drawn elements into my ceramic service ware, encouraging exploration through use. The determined characters that star in my work dwell within landscapes of leisure. These illustrations employ exaggeration, humor, and metaphor to facilitate the viewer’s ability to capture the narrative and apply it to his or her own life.
Patterns found within nature, such as tree bark, water waves, or flower petals are abstracted and simplified, ricocheting across forms. My salt and pepper landscapes, treat servers, jars, plates, cups, and bowls become playscapes where pattern and character frolic, inviting human fingers to also roam the topography, seeking out their own morsels of delight.
Only through using the piece: holding and exploring it, can the whole image or pattern be seen. When someone laughs at a character I’ve drawn, spills their drink because they were investigating the bottom of a cup, or finds joy in discovering a plump spoon nestled inside a pocket, I know the pots are successful. Feelings of joy, delight, and amusement tickle the imagination and spark light=hearted behavior, resulting in an enriched life.
Bio
Chandra DeBuse lives in Gatlinburg, TN where she is a resident artist at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. After receiving a degree in psychology, she discovered her love of functional pottery while taking a community wheel throwing class. She was a special student at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln before receiving her MFA from the University of Florida in 2010. Following her graduate degree, Chandra completed a nine-month residency at the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach, FL where she taught adult and children s clay classes. Chandra s pottery incorporates bouncing lines, candy colors, low relief and hand-drawn imagery. She was named an Emerging Artist by NCECA and presented a lecture about her work at the 2012 Seattle conference.