Artist: Laurie Shaman
Laurie Shaman currently works out of her studio at 4001 N. Ravenswood. Prior to this she was a resident ceramic artist at Chicago’s Lill Street Art Center. Here she held various directorial positions spanning from community outreach to educational programming. As director of its gallery, Laurie curated dozens of exhibitions involving ceramic artists of local and national prominence. She also worked in the Department of Museum Education at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she particpated in docent training and taught sketch classes during special exhibitons.
Before making Chicago her home, Laurie resided in southwest Wisconsin. She was a studio potter in the town of Mineral Point, while also serving an apprenticeship as an actor at American Players Theater in nearby Spring Green. For several years, she also served as the Program Coordinator of the Art in Public Places program, as well as the Visual Arts Coordinator for the Wisconsin Arts Board in Madison.
Artist Statement
The time I spend on my artwork can be divided into two phases. I first research for imagery. This includes sketching in the studio from books and accumulated source materials such as photos, postcards, and memorabilia from experiences such as travels and theater performances. Museum and gallery visits, books on mythology, architecture, and animals, and on occasion, a live model influence the imagery in my artwork.
In the second phase I construct the ceramic vessels or wall forms, which are mostly handbuilt from either earthenware or porcelain slabs. The size, shape, and contours vary with each body of work and suggest to me possibilities of embellishment and imagery. The imagery, applied in either a random or deliberate way, produces a kind of lyrical narrative that usually involves some combination of figure, animal, architecture and landscape. It is my hope that the shapes of the ceramic vessels, together with the surface imagery, convey both classical and contemporary sensibilities.
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