ELEANORA EDEN -- ARTIST'S STATEMENT

A one-person studio artist since 1970, my current work is polychrome earthenware. This is underglaze decoration on a white clay body. The underglazes, pigments combined with fluxes and/or clays and gum binders, are applied at various stages before and between firings, applied in conjunction with resists and carvings. The glaze is applied to the entire piece which is supported on some arrangement of stilts in the glaze firing.

The influences bearing on my work are at once the most ancient and the most avante garde.

I was electrified by the prehistoric and early Chinese urns I studied as an undergraduate. The thrilling dynamic of the fullness of form enriched by culturally significant decoration became my own measure. The enduring satisfaction that I find in my vigorous design inventions is firmly connected to the idea that I am augmenting this body of work, this eternal concern, with the freshness of my particular experience and cultural background.

I was also inspired by the Minoan and other early ceramics. That thrilling dynamic of the fullness of form enriched by culturally significant decoration became my own measure.

Another great influence was my childhood in the family of an exceptionally versatile and creative craftsperson who was an enthusiastic follower of the Bauhaus school. "Form follows function" is not something I heard only in college. I saw the world through this concept from an early age.

Still another important influence was Pete Voulkos, and some of the fine artists who gravitated to him. Pete was my teacher. He is, in my opinion, as Picasso is to painting, the unapproached master of ceramics in this century. Peter Voulkos took Abstract Expressionism and wedded it to clay in an explosion and none who witnessed could remain unchanged. Pete's every utterance taught integrity of materials and the primary importance of an individual's personal and honest connection to his/her work.

The importance of Bauhaus and of the Abstract Expressionists is not something I question. These days, when all values in art are seemingly up for grabs, I feel securely grounded. I am confident that I inherited ideas that are still valid and useful.

These influences combine to set the stage for the dance of my creative life. As rhythms and movements are the forms and their decoration. The various decorative motifs are for me the dancers on the stage, weaving on and off the scene, combining and recombining, evolving, challenging, refining. The forms provide the substance and coherence as well as the vigor and strength.

The devotion of a lifetime to creating elegant vessels is in itself a statement of hopeful conviction. Dedication to the development of my creative gift using the demands and requirements of the ceramic craft as a vehicle has allowed me the illumination and enhancement of humanity's most enduring connection with the earth as well as the enrichment and inspiration that this connection has provided.

I received my BA in Ceramic Design from UC Berkeley and MA in Ceramic Art from San Jose State U. I am represented in both public and private collections.

I live and work in a house I designed in the hills of Southern Vermont.

Eleanora Eden Paradise Hill, Bellows Falls, VT 05101 - (802)869-2003

email: eeden@vermontel.net                 Click here to see my full resume.