The Clay’s the Thing for Trio

A new exhibit titled “One Part Paint, Three Parts Clay,” opening Saturday at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, could be aptly subtitled “The Homecoming” for one of the artists.

The show, which focuses on the latest works from ceramic artists Jerry Rothman, Barbara Thompson, Petronella Bannierand painter Sandy Deeks, marks Rothman’s return to Orange County after a two-year hiatus in Northern California.

A leading American ceramicist, Rothman is often spoken of in the same breath as Peter Voulkos, Kenneth Price, Paul Soldner and Billy Al Bengston. These artists radically broke with tradition by making non-decorative ceramics in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s. Rothman continues his work in that vein, anchoring this show with the debut of his series “Bay Views.”

Living in Point Richmond, a small town north of San Francisco, for a couple of years inspired his newest sculptures, Rothman said.

“I was living here overlooking the bay, watching fog, and all of a sudden I was making sculptures of bay views--the formations of clouds, movement of water and the colors of the bay during sunsets and sometimes sunrises,” said Rothman, 67, a former Laguna Beach resident. He moves into his new home in Laguna Woods this month.

In “Bay Views,” a dozen clay sculptures present a genre Rothman is most famed for--his abstract interpretations of landscapes. Like fog rolling across the bay, the ceramic pieces are a series of subtle progressions that move from rough impressions of the sky, clouds, mountains, water or hills to more defined forms, textures and colors. His works, which are as tall as 2 feet, tend to be sensual and figurative.

“They have a certain kind of spontaneity and immediacy about them,” Rothman said. “It’s interesting for people to see a progression from an idea phase to a refined stage.”

Rothman’s work most recently appeared last fall in the extensive “Made in California” exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The piece “Fire and Clay” is a survey of the evolution and transformation of ceramic art, he said. His works are in the permanent collections of museums including the Smithsonian Institution and LACMA. His last show in Orange County was in 1997.

Best known for his baroque vessels and figurative sculptures, the Brooklyn native began his early art years studying industrial design at L.A. City College. There he met Bengston and Price, who introduced him to Voulkos, an art instructor at the old L.A. Art Institute (now the Otis College of Art and Design).

It wasn’t long before Rothman switched to ceramics.

“It was the process, the clay material that I fell in love with,” said Rothman, who graduated from Otis in 1962.

“I like three-dimensional things and constructing things, and clay reflects the artist more than any other material. It’s no more or less than its maker. It’s so plastic; it’s mud. It has no limitations in form or color. Anything you wanted to do with it, you could do. I thought that was fascinating.”

His contributions to the craft of ceramics include shrink-free clay and a technique for combining metals and ceramics in the firing process. These breakthroughs have allowed larger pieces to be fired in more complex shapes. In one of his more commercial endeavors, he designed a dinnerware pattern called Madera, which rivaled the popular Franciscan Desert Rose.

Rothman, who moved to Orange County in 1971, taught art at Cal State Fullerton.

Thompson, a former student of Rothman, will show “Rosas, Beginning and End,” a series about the cycle of life and how beauty changes. Her work is a display of hundreds of ceramic roses that surround a central reclining female figure. The roses, some broken, are crowded together on the floor so people can walk on them.

“It’s just the transitory nature of our lives, that all things die, fall apart and get put in the ground,” said Thompson, whose fingerprint appears individually on each rose petal.

A member and current director of OCCCA, Thompson said inviting high-profile artists like Rothman is a coup for the nonprofit, artist co-op gallery. The organization has been around for two decades and is making its mark just after a year in a new location. OCCCA’s newly renovated 6,300-square-foot gallery is a spacious venue for its 20 members who pay fees, host guest artists, curate and exhibit shows.

Thompson invited Dutch ceramicist Bannier and painter Deeks to exhibit.

Bannier, a visiting professor of art at the University of Evansville, Ind., has invented a unique method of working in clay that involves building a cage-like system with suspended, knotted ropes on which she hangs the clay. This technique, as seen in her installation “The Figure in Clay,” enables her to make large standing figures without having to wait for the clay to firm. Bannier typically creates large, figurative ceramic works.

The “One Part Paint” in the show’s title refers to Sandy Deeks’ “Site Bites.” Her works depict surreal tidbits of life that are quick takes on the interactions between animals and humans. The UCI alumna’s 30 small-scale, mixed-media paintings depict mythological narratives on wood.

SHOW TIMES

“One Part Paint, Three Parts Clay,” an art exhibit featuring works by Jerry Rothman, Barbara Thompson, Petronella Bannier and Sandy Deeks. Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, 117 N. Sycamore, Santa Ana. Opens Saturday with artists’ reception, 7-10 p.m. Free. Live music by the Lloyd Rodgers Group, 8-10 p.m. April 28. Through April 29. (714) 667-1517.