Sandy Culp
Miniature Power

MudFire Gallery presents the work of seven ceramicists with a focus on the power of the petite. Featuring sculpture, decorative wall pieces, and functional works, the exhibit revels in art that is precise and restrained.

The artist reception and exhibit opening will be held Saturday, July 14, from 5-9 pm. The exhibit and sale will be on display through August 4, 2007.

Sandy Culp Artist Statement

“I’m a painter who fell in love with clay.”

I have always been both a two and three dimensional artist. As a painter, I enjoy the challenge of making my subject appear three dimensional through the obsessive use of intense shadows and meticulous detail. I am quite pleased when the painting is done well enough to fool even my own eye. Clay, as a three dimensional medium, is even more satisfying as it allows me to express the form from more than one perspective.

I make no attempt to be a production artist, but rather strive to articulate each piece with unique style, design and composition. My sculptures are handbuilt with carved details and multifired to produce both the tactile experience and the visual surfaces I desire. Frequently, the clay is left untreated to allow its natural color and texture to enhance the surface, while additional color is achieved typically through the use of layered oxides, engobes, stains, pigment and sometimes gold leaf.

My work, most of which is surrealistic or trompe lóeil, suggests not so much a metamorphosis but a coexistence within nature. At first glance it may appear to be simply a reproduction, but further study reveals the artistic or creative interpretation that may be more than lifelike.

Intrigue with technique combined with flights of imagination and inspiration from the natural world currently directs my work. Nature in all its richness and diversity has always been very important to me. I like to show the connection between nature and humanity in different ways.

My whimsical sculptures, for example, sensuous pears in still life arrangements, symbolically illustrate women. Being a pear shape myself, the theme came naturally to me. It allows me to be expressive taking a humorous approach to something emotional. My intent is to charm my audience and allow them to find comfort and delight in the different body types even with their characteristic imperfections. The pears may be interacting lightheartedly in loving relationships or simply highlighting the female form in nature. Situations and stories yet to be told are endless!

The more thought provoking pieces may show the drama of our environmental destruction directly. Urban development, having taken its toll on my conscience, moves me to express the demise of nature itself in several of my sculptures. I am moved to bring about, through my art, awareness of the beauty that nurtures all of us. There may come a day when the nature in art may be all that remains.Information and images to be posted.

Sandy Culp - Resume

Exhibitions

“8 x 10 Atlanta”, Mudfire Gallery, Atlanta GA, November 2003.

"Ceramics 2003”, Guilford Handcraft Center Gallery, Guilford CT, July 2003.

“Emergence”, Kennesaw State Universiry Fine Arts Gallery, Women’t Caucus for the Arts, Kennesaw GA, June 2003.

“Clay”, Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta GA April 2003.

“ Word Made Clay: Clay In It’s Own (W)rite”, Second Place Award, LaJolla CA Feburary 2003.

“Little Things Mean A Lot”, Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta GA. November 2002.

“Thrive”, Georgia Perimeter College Fine Arts Gallery, Women’s Caucus for the Arts, Clarkston GA, September 2002.

“No Agenda But Their Own: A Decade of Work by Women Artists”, Dalton Gallery, Agnes Scott College, Atlanta GA, September 2002.

“Sinners and Saints”, Maze Gallery, Atlanta GA, August 2002.

“National Juried Arts Alliance Show 2002”, Honorable Mention, South Cobb Arts Alliance, Atlanta GA, July 2002.

“The Fetish Show”, Maze Gallery, Atlanta GA, May 2002.

“All Women”, Pentes Artworks Gallery, Charlotte NC, February 2002.

Callanwolde Fine Arts Center Faculty and Assistantship Show, Atlanta GA, November 2001.

“Origins”, Barbara Archer Gallery, Women’s Caucus for the Arts, Atlanta GA, November 2001.

Callanwolde Fine Arts Center Faculty and Assistantship Show, Atlanta GA, July 2001.

“National Juried Arts Alliance Show 2001”, Honorable Mention, South Cobb Arts Alliance, Atlanta GA, August 2001.

“Old Genre/ New South:Perspectives on Contemporary Southern Still Life”, Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta GA, March 2001.

Callanwolde Fine Arts Center Faculty and Assistantship Show, Atlanta GA. November 2000.

“Things That Pour”, Mable House Cultural Center, Mableton GA, 2000.
Callanwolde Fine Arts Center Faculty and Assistantship Show, Atlanta GA, July 2000.

“Art for the New Millennium”, Mable House Cultural Center, Mableton GA. January 2000.

“Art for Arts Sake, Room to Dance”, High Museum of Art at Callanwolde, Atlanta GA, 1999.

Callanwolde Fine Arts Center Faculty and Assistantship Show, Atlanta GA, November 1999.

“Kaleidoscope”, Chattahoochee Valley Art Museum Invitational, LaGrange GA, 1999.

R.T. Roller Studio and Gallery, Invitational Gallery Opening, Carrollton GA. 1997.

“Women and Nature, the Fruits of Life”, Lynne Farris Gallery, Atlanta GA, March 2002.

“Figurative Surrealism”, Pentes Artworks Gallery, Charlotte NC, November 2001.