Laura Hohn
Form & Surface

March 3 - April 23, 2022
Opening Reception March 4, 5-8 PM

In the Ameristar Gallery, Foundry Studio artist Laura Hohn presents Form & Surface.

Any potter will tell you that opening the kiln is an apprehensive moment; there is always a level of uncertainty about what we will find when we lift the lid. As Laura’s skills have grown, the results of firing have become more predictable. She started to feel like she had lost some of her curiosity and spontaneity while making.

In the past, Laura wanted wheel-thrown forms to be very precise with impactful, colorful glazing. For this new body of work, she wanted to embrace a more intuitive and organic method of making work by asking, “What happens if I...?” and seeing where that leads. Laura wanted to allow for improvisation, inspiration, and even failure in order to encourage movement and change in her work.

For this new direction, she experimented with various materials such as foam, acetate, vinyl, and fabric to create textures, patterns, and resists. Laura has enjoyed designing stencil patterns that were both scalable and repeatable to fit multiple forms, but still give some boundaries and consistency to the surface design. 

Using these stencils, Laura was able to form imprints and reliefs resulting in physical and visual textures. Settling on favorite patterns, she then experimented with slip transfer, and resists, creating both positive and negative versions of the same patterns and then repeating them across various forms – from simple cups and vases to ornamental teapots, platters, and basket forms. 

When Laura opened the kiln for the first time in this new series, she was delighted to discover how the patterns showed through the glaze in different ways. Some of the techniques yielded a strong, bold result, but other times a softer reiteration occurred; a quiet surprise that the viewer will discover over time.

About the Artist

Born in O’Fallon, Illinois, Laura Hohn has been in love with clay since she was nine years old. After seeing someone throw on the wheel, she bugged her mom until she got a bag of clay and a book about beginner projects. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BFA from Illinois Wesleyan University, and has been a resident artist at the Foundry Art Centre since 2006. She has shown her work in numerous art fairs across the Midwest and is in many private collections both in the US and internationally. 

Laura enjoys the immediacy and tactile nature of clay and is constantly reminded that so much of the process depends on timing. She believes that both in ceramics and life, learning any new skill requires patience, perseverance, and sometimes joy in the unexpected. She delights in dance parties in her studio when no one is watching, reading, cooking, or hiking with her dog and fiancé. 

Form & Surface will be on exhibit through April 23rd in the Ameristar Gallery, the home gallery of the Foundry Art Centre’s studio artists.