D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
June 2010
Our Cover Artist
Silver City artist Phoebe Lawrence says, "I lose myself in clay. I find myself there, too." A native New Mexican, she grew up "constructing things out of the sticky mud in our yard." Later, as a single mom in Denver with three young children, she returned to "playing in the clay" as a way of maintaining the family's collective sanity. She taught herself to throw — without formal instruction — and has been a professional potter now for more than 35 years.
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Lawrence's latest work, such as the creations on this issue's cover, will be spotlighted this month in a new show, "Kachinas y Ms," at the Copper Quail Gallery in downtown Silver City. The show opens with a preview on June 4 as part of the First Friday art events, 3-7 p.m., and an artist reception on Saturday, June 5, 3-7 p.m. The show will run through the end of June, and the work will be available at Copper Quail thereafter. Lawrence's kachinas can also be seen this month at the McCray Gallery on the WNMU campus, through June 30.
The artist moved to Silver City in 2003, which she says "has felt like coming home," and is now working toward a BFA in ceramic art at WNMU.
"My work often reflects the Southwestern environment as well as a Native American heritage," Lawrence says. "I've found inspiration from the Japanese and Nicaraguans as well.
"The strength of my work, I believe, is in form and design," she adds. "I explore bold color combinations and interesting surface textures. Through hand-building and slab-work techniques as well as throwing on the wheel, I strive to create new forms, or adapt old ones, that express my sense of independence and a balance between refinement and spontaneity."
Lawrence's work has been featured in juried shows and galleries in Denver, Boulder, Golden, Georgetown and Central City, Colo., in Tucumcari, NM, Minneapolis, San Diego, Philadelphia and Heber Springs, Ark.
Her new work creating kachinas evolved from her native New Mexican and her (three generations ago) Native American heritage. Lawrence first started making kachinas last fall in response to a request for "larger works" for an annual pottery show in Denver. "The kachinas are based, loosely, on the spirit dancers in Hopi (and Zuni) rituals," she explains. "Kachinas can represent anything found in the natural world, organic and inorganic, spiritual or physical, a revered individual, a concept, or an idea.
"My own kachinas are highly stylized, original and personal, and of the earth," she adds. "I can see them as garden guardians, keepers of the earth we borrow. They are made of different types of stoneware clay bodies and colored with various mineral oxides. I use glazes minimally, primarily just for their masks, and the glazes themselves are made from mineral compounds."
The kachinas shown here and on the cover represent figures as diverse as "Raven," "Sun," "Maria" (as in Maria Martinez, the well-known potter of San Ildefonso Pueblo), "Morning Singer" and "El Nio." Other kachinas she's made include "Owl," "Clown," "Sunset," "Fox," "Rain" and "Moon," along with "Earth," "Wind" and "Fire."
Lawrence says, "There are dozens more in my head waiting to be created."
Copper Quail Gallery, 211-A Texas St., corner of Yankie and Texas, in Silver City, 388-2646. Open Tue.-Sat. 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Francis McCray Gallery, 1000 College Ave., WNMU, 538-6517. Open Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.