Three Sculptors: Warashina, Currier and Lyon

Lucy Lacoste Gallery is pleased to present Three Sculptors:  Warashina, Currier and Lyon, May 7- June 4, 2022 in Concord, MA. The exhibition brings together three women each representing distinct eras of contemporary ceramic sculpture who coincidentally have ties to the University of Washington.  Each creates sculpture, primarily ceramic through the lens of their personal experiences.  Though separated by several decades of age, these three artists share a commitment to sculpture unequaled by their peers.

Patti Warashina (b.1940), considered a defining sculptor in West Coast Funk Art, is known for her ironic and surreal polychromed glazed ceramic sculptures, often autobiographical, which reflect commentary for issues ranging from feminist critiques of the art world to the internment of the Japanese during World War II.  For most of her 60-year career the human figure has absorbed and fascinated her visual curiosity. Warashina was instrumental in bringing the Seattle ceramic scene to prominence, heading the department at the University of Washington, Seattle, where she received her masters and undergraduate degrees.

Patti Warashina is the recipient of numerous awards, including most recently, the Visionary Award from the Smithsonian, the Meloy Stevenson Award of Distinction at the Archie Bray Foundation, and the 2021 Gold Medal at the American Craft Council.  Her work can be found in over 25 public institutions including the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse; the Museum of Art and Design, New York; the Smithsonian, Renwick Collection, Washington D.C.; Los Angeles County Museum, LA; and the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto.

Regarding the human figure, Ms. Warashina states: “This sustaining interest is probably because my own body is my most immediate resource, in terms of its psychological and physical proximity. While observing the interaction of everyday life and its interwoven parts, the human form has given me a reference point to my own existence, as a marker of personal time, and the civilization in which I live, almost like a personal visual diary.”

Anne Currier (b.1950), is known for formalist abstract sculpture, constructed from the point of view of clay slabs, cylinders and cones.  For this exhibition, she has created a new conceptual series of works comprised of a photographic image and a ceramic object serving as ‘characters on a platformed stage’.  The ceramic objects, made in her studio in 2022 are in combination with an image of hands from sculpture found in the Jardin du Luxembourg, taken in Paris in 2006.

Anne Currier received her MFA from the University of Seattle, studying under Patti Warashina.  She was Professor of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, New York from 1985 – 2016, serving as Chair several times.  Ms. Currier has shown with Lucy Lacoste Gallery since 2007, as well as the Harvey Meadows Gallery, Helen Drutt, and Galerie B15 in Germany.  Her work can be found in the public collections of Los Angeles Museum of Art, LA; the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Arts and Design, NYC; as well as the Renwick and the World Ceramic Foundation, Icheon City, Korea, among others.

Ashley Lyon (b. 1983) strives for a nearness to realism in her sculptures which become a vehicle for projection. She meticulously creates all her works by hand from memory and reference materials without the use of casts.These works are sometimes modeled after family heirlooms, as in the quilted calico of Wellspring or as in Blue Blanket, the original object began as an insignificant airline blanket, yet through continued use evolved into a beloved, pilled, and tattered fabric. The theme of motherhood is often explored with all its contradictions from breathtaking and beautiful to confusing and grueling and ways it often doesn’t measure up to expectations. “By revealing the simultaneity of contradictory emotions and thoughts I have personally unexpectedly experienced in my motherhood journey, these works are both reflectively cathartic and offer an opportunity for connection among mothers or caretakers with similar experiences.” Lyon received her MFA at Virginia Commonwealth University and her BFA at the University of Washington.She received the Excellence in Teaching Award as well as the Turner Teaching Award from Alfred University where she was a visiting artist during Ms. Currier’s tenure period as head of the ceramics department.

As Lucy Lacoste says: “Patti Warashina is legendary as one of the foremost sculptors of West Coast Funk ceramics; Anne Currier defines the complete modernist sculptor and Ashley Lyon is a champion of realism which she uses metaphorically.  Each has shown a true commitment to sculpture unequalled by their peers.  We are thrilled to bring them together in this historic exhibition and to get their perspectives on contemporary ceramic sculpture.”

Three Sculptors:  Warashina, Currier and Lyon will be highlighted by a Reception for the three artists on May 14th at Lucy Lacoste Gallery and an Artist Talk May 15th at Concord Academy which will include a discussion on ceramic sculpture over the last 40 years.  A catalogue will mark the exhibition.