Neighbor News
Flowery language is translated into clay forms
The symbolism of timeless florals inspires imaginative clay art as Torpedo Factory Art Center artists offer up dishware and sculpture
Blooms provide creative groundbreaking as florals offer depth to artistry in a ceramic "Flowery Language" show at the Torpedo Factory Art Center's Scope Gallery.
Class up your abode with a noble thistle-incised, boat-shaped centerpiece. Dishware and serving pieces painted with Virginia dogwood express resilience and faith.
Roses speak traditionally: Red is for love, yellow for friendship and pink represents endurance. Any bud which would be positively classy in a handmade vase, whether crystalline, textured or hand painted.
Spring blossoms mark the conclusion of Winter and serve as a traditional foundation for a Japanese ikebana floral composition in a handmade vase. The delicate harbingers of the season also float, hand painted on serving platters, tea trays and soap dishes.
Aquatic lotus flowers are a symbol of purity and perfection their classic shape mirrored in notched forms. Irises represent hope, carry the purple hue of royalty and are elegantly stately in contemporary vase forms and geometric wall hung pocket vases.
Find an intimate flared vase for a ruffly carnation, said to express a mother's everlasting love, or a mini bud vase for a daisy, a bloom of innocence or a flowerpot for a cyclamen which expresses sincerity.
Following the floral vocabulary makes for a conversation piece and provides layers of meaning this Spring.
The "Flowery Language" Kiln Club show at Scope Gallery runs April 4 to May 1. Hours are Monday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with Thursdays open until 9 p.m. The gallery is located at 105 North Union Street, ground floor Studio 19, Alexandria, VA. 22314. For further information, call Scope Gallery at 703-548-6288, visit scopegallery.org, torpedofactory.org/galleries/scope, www.kilnclubwdc.org and 'Scope Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center' on Facebook; follow @ScopeGallery on Twitter.
Pictured above: Handpainted Virginia dogwood server by Suan Ying of Vienna, Va. Photo by Guy Zoller.; High-fire stoneware platter brushpainted with wisteria, symbolic of being adventuresome, and Spring hummingbirds by Tracie Griffith Tso of Reston, Va. Photo by Guy Zoller.; Green crystalline-glazed porcelain bottle with calla lily-inspired spired detail; the lily represents virtue by Lorraine Colson of Alexandria, Va. Photo by Guy Zoller.; Ebony and alabaster ikebana vase with iris, a symbol of hope by Klaudia Levin of Silver Spring, Md.; Lotus-inspired fluted vessel by Larry Bowring of Alexandria, Va.
Kiln Club is an organization of more than 90 Washington D.C. area artists working in the clay medium. Juried members exhibit themed shows every other month at the cooperative artist-run Scope Gallery in Alexandria's Torpedo Factory Art Center.
