| |
- Artist Name:
- Skip Bleecker
- Location:
- Ann Arbor, Mi
- Statement:
- Most of my life I have been involved in various types of so-called arts & crafts, in fact one of my earliest memories is of making clay jack-o-lanterns in kindergarten. I have done leather work, lapidary, copper enamel, copper tool, ceramic tile, reed basketry, lanyard weaving, and other crafts in elementary and jr. high. I learned photography while in high school, and dental laboratory in the Air Force (which taught me the principles of lost wax casting of plastic, gold & stainless steel.) I learned to slipcast clay while in the Air Force, and to throw pots in my first semester at Central Michigan University. When I returned to Central after graduation in 1976, I first added an art minor to my teaching degree. I started in ceramics and was gradually drawn into sculpture over the next few years, until I had a dual concentration in both. My road as an artist started in functional ceramics, led into sculptural ceramics, to sculpture in clay, through some video experiments, and now into computer graphics.
Most of my work consists of wheel thrown porcelain forms based on organic patterns of microscopic and macroscopic organisms. Some are based on seed pods, teeth, pollen, sea animals, squash, and even watermelon, but as the development proceeds, they merge and take on new forms of possible and imaginary organisms. All are hand made, one of a kind pieces, usually done in a series, so there might be some similarity among some pieces, but no two are ever exactly alike.
- Biography:
- Michigan-based American ceramic artist Skip Bleecker creates world-class fine artwork available to private collectors, corporate collections, museums, art galleries, offices, hotels and restaurants. A majority of the work consists of wheel thrown porcelain forms based on organic patterns of microscopic and macroscopic organisms. Some are based on seed pods, teeth, pollen, sea animals, squash, and even watermelon, but as the development proceeds, they merge and take on new forms of possible and imaginary organisms. All are hand made, one-of-a-kind pieces, usually done in a series, so there might be some similarity among some pieces, but no two are ever exactly alike.
For most of Skip's life, he has been both attracted to and very allergic to, large numbers of trees, grasses, and bushes. He has refused to become trapped indoors just because of these allergies, and as he began to develop unique sculptural forms, he examined both macroscopic and microscopic elements of nature. By examining the form and structure of seeds and other natural objects, he found great beauty in these simple forms, and developed simple organic sculptural designs, based on slightly abstract versions of these natural world objects.
|
|
