Epperson Gallery
Epperson Gallery

Interviews






Vince Montague with Utopian Pots. May 21 to July 11, 2021.

Artist Statement
I have wanted to make pots that feel closer to the place where I live and work in Northern CA. Before the revolution in technology, people moved to theWest coast to pursue their dreams “to find themselves” or to build the type of world they wanted to see. “ Back to the Land” wasn’t just a slogan but an actual choice. I feel a great debt to the many artists, designers, architects, composers, farmers, Utopians, iconoclasts and spiritual seekers who have settled out here since the 1950s, to manifest their own ideals of living peacefully and equitably either alone or in communities. That burst of energy surrounds me every day, and my new work strives to be part of that dream.



Jane Grimm in FLOW.May 14 to July 11, 2021.

Artist Statement
Creativity always has been part of my like. I was born into a family of architects and artists. However, I did not seriously focus on making art until I was in college where one third of my course load was sculpture. I have been experimenting with materials, styles, and content ever since. I began by having a jewelry business in NYC in the 60’s making jewelry that could be considered small scale sculptures. In the 80’s, having tired of running a business, I decided to use clay as my material of choice. There are few limitations in creating sculptures in clay. Texture and color and surface treatment options are limitless. Most of my work is organic, reminiscent of things in nature, the sea, plant life, microscopic forms. Other sculptures are very structural, architectural, focusing on form. Each piece that I make becomes an inspiration for the next piece. As I am making one piece, I start questioning how it would look if I just made this one change, or maybe that one change. What if I change the dimensions, the form, the color, the finish…My artistic journey continues.



Nathan Lynch in FLOW. May 14 to July 11, 2021.

Artist Statement
I make abstract, biomorphic sculptures that are physical presentations of the difference between what we want and what we get. In one series, High, refers to record-setting stocks, housing, global temperatures, and ocean levels. High is for our deep aspirations and our American pursuit of constant improvement. The work includes abstract blobjects that appear to slump, sag, burst, drip and ooze off of their platforms presenting a tone like that of a 4-day-old helium balloon - neither all the way up or completely down, hovering in the layered emotions between elation, confusion and disaster.

In recent works I obscure boundaries between facts and fiction by comparing media reports of political events to the allegory of Plato’s Cave, where the division between reality and the representation of reality are confused. How does misinformation aid and create misdirection? For some news outlets, truth becomes malleable, almost elastic. In these sculptures, titled “Truthiness”, similar forms are represented in different iterations and several materials, questioning any singular truth.



Ofra Fisher, Surface Tension.Winter 2020.

Artist Statement
My current body of artwork explores the concept of action, motion and tension with the human figure in unfamiliar circumstances. I make sculptures that place the human body in situations that are peculiar and out of the ordinary. Setting the familiar in unfamiliar positions creates imagery of something unique and engaging. I have made several sculptures where parts of the body have contact with boxes, bowls and vessels. Many of the pieces have the figure held or contained within the form. The image of the body interacts with the form of the sculpture as if the figure is manipulating the clay material that it is made of. I explore the idea of having the figure emerge or come forth from the form, evoking a sense of physical movement and force.



Julie Clements, Into the Woods.Fall 2020.

Artist Statement
I am a ceramic artist working out of my home studio "Clay Pigeon Ceramics" in northern California. I began exploring clay art and sculpture during my undergraduate study at Emory University. Post-graduation I continued learning and developing during a year-long internship at Callanwolde Fine Art Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Current themes in my work include explorations into animals, ecology, and science. I also worked as a veterinary technician in zoo and small animal medicine for fifteen years. I hope to convey in my art my intense interest in animals in all their unique forms. I find nature endlessly inspiring and maybe you will too.



Arthur Gonzalez, Into the Woods.Fall 2020.

Dark, somber and foreboding, Arthur Gonzalez's works encourage serious deliberation and reflection on the relationship between personal concerns and world issues. Raw in form, lacking in smoothness and rough in finish, the ceramic sculptures give glimpses of a conversation or a contemplation in progress. Gonzalez's creations of ceramic and found objects reveal visions and feelings that are not polished but ongoing processes of gyrating thoughts and churning emotions that threaten to erupt into reality and consciousness to defy the fantasy of a peaceful experience.



Lisa Reinertson, Borderlands.Fall 2020.

Artist Statement
The inhumanity and militarization of our border policies weighs on our country’s conscience, and grieves my heart. By creating artworks that speak to the dignity and struggle of the personal experience, my intention is to touch our hearts. My hope is to remind us of the human decency that our country has tried to stand for, and to inspire people to think about how we can reclaim the goodness in us as a people.

   

 
     
   

 
     
 

Vince Montague with Utopian Pots. May 21 to July 11, 2021.

Artist Statement
I have wanted to make pots that feel closer to the place where I live and work in Northern CA. Before the revolution in technology, people moved to theWest coast to pursue their dreams “to find themselves” or to build the type of world they wanted to see. “ Back to the Land” wasn’t just a slogan but an actual choice. I feel a great debt to the many artists, designers, architects, composers, farmers, Utopians, iconoclasts and spiritual seekers who have settled out here since the 1950s, to manifest their own ideals of living peacefully and equitably either alone or in communities. That burst of energy surrounds me every day, and my new work strives to be part of that dream.
     
 

Jane Grimm in FLOW. May 14 to July 11, 2021.

Artist Statement
Creativity always has been part of my like. I was born into a family of architects and artists.  However, I did not seriously focus on making art until I was in college where one third of my course load was sculpture.  I have been experimenting with materials, styles, and content ever since.  I began by having a jewelry business in NYC in the 60’s making jewelry that could be considered small scale sculptures.  In the 80’s, having tired of running a business, I decided to use clay as my material of choice.  There are few limitations in creating sculptures in clay.  Texture and color and surface treatment options are limitless.  Most of my work is organic, reminiscent of things in nature, the sea, plant life, microscopic forms. Other sculptures are very structural, architectural, focusing on form.   Each piece that I make becomes an inspiration for the next piece.  As I am making one piece, I start questioning how it would look if I just made this one change, or maybe that one change.  What if I change the dimensions, the form, the color, the finish…My artistic journey continues.
     
 

Nathan Lynch in FLOW. May 14 to July 11, 2021.

Artist Statement
I make abstract, biomorphic sculptures that are physical presentations of the difference between what we want and what we get. In one series, High, refers to record-setting stocks, housing, global temperatures, and ocean levels.  High is for our deep aspirations and our American pursuit of constant improvement.  The work includes abstract blobjects that appear to slump, sag, burst, drip and ooze off of their platforms presenting a tone like that of a 4-day-old helium balloon - neither all the way up or completely down, hovering in the layered emotions between elation, confusion and disaster.

In recent works I obscure boundaries between facts and fiction by comparing media reports of political events to the allegory of Plato’s Cave, where the division between reality and the representation of reality are confused.  How does misinformation aid and create misdirection? For some news outlets, truth becomes malleable, almost elastic. In these sculptures, titled “Truthiness”, similar forms are represented in different iterations and several materials, questioning any singular truth. 
     

 

Ofra Fisher, Surface Tension. Winter 2020.

Artist Statement
My current body of artwork explores the concept of action, motion and tension with the human figure in unfamiliar circumstances. I make sculptures that place the human body in situations that are peculiar and out of the ordinary. Setting the familiar in unfamiliar positions creates imagery of something unique and engaging. I have made several sculptures where parts of the body have contact with boxes, bowls and vessels. Many of the pieces have the figure held or contained within the form. The image of the body interacts with the form of the sculpture as if the figure is manipulating the clay material that it is made of. I explore the idea of having the figure emerge or come forth from the form, evoking a sense of physical movement and force.
     
 

Julie Clements, Into the Woods. Fall 2020.

Artist Statement
I am a ceramic artist working out of my home studio "Clay Pigeon Ceramics" in northern California. I began exploring clay art and sculpture during my undergraduate study at Emory University. Post-graduation I continued learning and developing during a year-long internship at Callanwolde Fine Art Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Current themes in my work include explorations into animals, ecology, and science. I also worked as a veterinary technician in zoo and small animal medicine for fifteen years. I hope to convey in my art my intense interest in animals in all their unique forms. I find nature endlessly inspiring and maybe you will too.
     
 

Arthur Gonzalez, Into the Woods. Fall 2020.

Dark, somber and foreboding, Arthur Gonzalez's works encourage serious deliberation and reflection on the relationship between personal concerns and world issues. Raw in form, lacking in smoothness and rough in finish, the ceramic sculptures give glimpses of a conversation or a contemplation in progress. Gonzalez's creations of ceramic and found objects reveal visions and feelings that are not polished but ongoing processes of gyrating thoughts and churning emotions that threaten to erupt into reality and consciousness to defy the fantasy of a peaceful experience.
     
 

Lisa Reinertson, Borderlands. Fall 2020.

Artist Statement
The inhumanity and militarization of our border policies weighs on our country’s conscience, and grieves my heart. By creating artworks that speak to the dignity and struggle of the personal experience, my intention is to touch our hearts. My hope is to remind us of the human decency that our country has tried to stand for, and to inspire people to think about how we can reclaim the goodness in us as a people.