For the month of October, Fringe Gallery is featuring a selection of clay sculpture by Telluride artist Julie McNair. Two recently completed figurative wall sculptures are featured alongside existing standing sculptures as well as a collection of cleverly collaged ceramic swallows and rainbow trout. The artist will be in the gallery during the October Art Walk: Thursday, October 1st, from 5 - 7pm. She is also participating in the Ah Haa School for the Arts' new studio tour event, Artabout, on October 3rd.
Since 2004, Julie McNair's sculpture has been reflective of the natural world and our place in it. Many of the pieces are metaphors of the imbalance between humans and the natural world. Some are psychological studies seeking balance.
The figure has been prominent in Julie's work for more than 30 years. Clay is her preferred medium because it lends itself to her intuitive creative process. Once the form is created and fired, then it is a blank canvas without a clear narrative. It is in the finishing that everything comes together. Julie incorporates some glazing with oil pigments, acrylics, stolen ink (gel medium transfers), graphite, prisma colors, fire and anything that might create an interesting effect. The pieces are titled to assist in the narrative but yet leaving interpretation open.
