Brenda Sullivan

clay

I have had a life-long love affair with clay. I can remember as a child in Newfoundland forming sculptures and baking them in the sun on a large rock in my mother’s garden. My formal education in ceramics started in Montreal at the age of sixteen with renowned Canadian artist, Rosalie Namer at MacDonald College. I continue to this day to be fine tuned whenever I can.

Demands for functional ware took over by age twenty three and I opened the first of three studio galleries in Pointe Claire, Quebec, followed by Schomberg, ON and finally resting in Port Hope, On.

Forty years or more have been spent on functional ware with an emphasis on the whimsical side inspired by nature and Art Nouveau.

After attending “the artist in residency” program at Medalta (centre for ceramic arts in Medicine Hat, Alberta) and The Archie Bray Centre (Centre for Ceramics, Helena, Montana) my attention has returned to my first love of sculpture. My work has been guided by what I see in nature: tiny forms in driftwood, seed pods and clouds on a sunny day. Pieces are thrown on the wheel and altered, formed by slab, by coil and pinch or by wherever the moment takes me. Most are glazed and high fired but I’ve been know to apply acrylic paint in order to achieve the look that I’m after. The environment is constantly on my mind and I hope to inspire a connection for people to see what Mother Nature has to offer.