ARTIST STATEMENT

As a clay sculptor, my work is rooted in abstraction.  For over 20 years I was drawn to the vessel as a metaphor for containment. I borrowed ideas from traditional functional pots and stretched them into architectural and organic sculptural forms.

 In 2002, to explore more formal ideas, I abandoned my signature glazes for unglazed white stoneware and moved some of the work from the horizontal to the vertical plane. The introduction of paint in 2005 was a further letting go of tradition. I focused on openness rather than containment and found meaning independent of the vessel.

 Over the years, while remaining true to my clay roots, I’ve continually searched for sculptural possibilities by deconstructing and reconfiguring pieces, grouping them in multiples, and introducing wood elements. I’ve investigated both form and color.

My drawings, initially ancillary to my sculptures have taken on a life of their own. In 2020, I started a new drawing series by intuitively folding pieces of tracing paper.  Still interested in form, I was able to create three-dimensional works in two-dimensions. The folds and edges tell me where to draw while the shadows make additional lines of their own. Flattened behind glass, these three: folds, lines and shadows combine to form geometric drawings.

ARTIST BIO

For over forty years Anne Hirondelle has been a full-time artist making sculptural ceramics and drawings in her Port Townsend, Washington, studio. 

She has exhibited nationally and internationally in one-person and group shows including:  New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Scottsdale, Seattle, Taiwan and South Korea.  Her pieces are in a myriad of private and public collections including:  The White House Collection in the Clinton Library, Little Rock, AR; The Museum of Arts and Design, NY; The LA County Art Museum, The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, and the Tacoma Art Museum.

 She was a recipient of an NEA Fellowship for the Visual Arts in 1988. In 2004, Anne was a finalist for the Seattle Art Museum’s Betty Bowen Award. In 2009, her accomplishments were recognized by the Northwest Arts Community with the Yvonne Twining Humber Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.

The University of Washington Press published “Anne Hirondelle: Ceramic Art,” a book about her work in February 2012.