For almost 20 years, local potter Laura Vik has been creating ceramics — and her latest exhibit “A Study in Texture” is now on display at the C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery on the Downtown Mall. Her works include hand thrown vases, bowls and cups as well as ornate olive oil containers and other ceramic works that express her creative personality and artistic style.
Vik tends to create her work by throwing her pieces on a pottery wheel, and said she especially enjoys using texture to draw the viewer to her work. Most of her works are matte with natural colors, and she said she prefers creating texture by carving it directly into the clay, rather than using a patterned stamp to make an impression on the surface. This technique distinguishes her artwork by experimenting with the apparent age of the piece, giving each work a worn, vintage composition.
“I like to have a little bit of tension going on in a piece,” Vik said. “It's not smooth, it's not perfect … I like things that look a little worn, that don't look brand new, even though they are new.”
Before becoming an established ceramic artist, Vik's first exposure to pottery was on her father’s wheel as a child. While she said she never created anything particularly complicated, years later she said she found herself disappointed upon learning that he had given away his kiln. After losing access to the kiln, her husband gifted her with ceramics classes at Piedmont Virginia Community College, and she has been making ceramics ever since. Many of her ceramics have appeared in local art shows dating back to 2011.
Some of Vik’s pottery at C’Ville Arts is inspired by designs she developed in one of her first classes at PVCC where she carved three small notches into a bowl thrown on the wheel. At the advice of one of her teachers, Vik keeps a notebook of all of the pieces she has created, so she will often revisit those old works to see if she can make them again. Only this time, she can look upon her older designs with more years of experience, fully realizing her original artistic visions. On display at the exhibit, there are a number of large, wide bowls that Vik said she attempted years ago — and recently revisited with more success.
In her exhibit, located at the front of the gallery, Vik said she wanted to emphasize texture because of the way it can help a viewer form a connection to the piece.
“I've always been drawn to texture, whether it's changing the shape of an object or adding a visual or physical texture,” Vik said. “I really feel like it pulls me — and whoever the viewer is — into the piece.”
The pieces — including a naturally-textured bowl with branches stemming from its base and a squat, three-sided brown and white vase — feature a variety of earthy colors, more typical ceramic shaped bowls, as well as unique, irregularly shaped pieces. Most of her work is made on a pottery wheel, giving it a smooth, rounded appearance. Additionally, there are pieces on display that look as if the clay was stitched together, with different colored and textured sections with small clay rods that appear similar to cross stitching or sewing.
Vik spoke about one of her favorite pieces in the exhibit — a large deep green vase, with a rectangle cut out and clay rods over the hole at the top of the vase. She said that this piece demonstrated her overall artistic vision of the rich, layered textures at the heart of the exhibit. Vik said the juxtaposition of the smooth, painted clay that was thrown on the wheel and the detailed intricacies of carved rectangles and dark, molded rods creates a unique visual effect.
“I kind of think of [the vase] as the natural and unnatural world getting connected,” Vik said. “I just like a little bit of tension.”
Vik said that many of her favorite pieces from throughout her career are those in which the clay is almost stitched together, creating a cohesive piece of art through the combination of several smaller components. Vik said she sees these new pieces as her moving from the material to the natural world.
“Moving on to this more natural, more earthy texture, as opposed to texture that was more material and more put together is exciting to me right now,” Vik said. “I want to poke holes. I want things to break a little bit, you know? I like that part.”
Vik elaborated on the fact that, at its core, ceramic art is both deeply personal and creatively challenging. On Vik’s website, she explains that her favorite part in the creation process is when the clay is leather-hard. At this point, the clay has been sculpted, is still just a bit moist and a warm brown. However, it has not been fired yet, making them easily breakable and unfinished. Vik remarked that she wished someone would create a glaze that gave finished pieces the same appearance as works in this part of the process.
“You can't capture that warmth. … You feel like it's living,” Vik said. “It's just such a beautiful time in the clay.”
As an artist, Vik said that a significant part of her job is to transform a creative idea into a tangible work. From her journey as a potter, she said the most important thing she has learned is to follow through on her ideas to the end.
“As you start building a piece … there's a point where you feel like this looks really good. This wasn't what I was expecting, but it's not your idea yet,” Vik said. “The temptation is to stop where you are because you like what you see, and you have to push through to the end.”
Vik’s exhibit at C’ville Arts is a demonstration of thoughtful, technically advanced artistry and mastery of ceramics. In the style of her artwork itself, the exhibit weaves its way into the local community and arts scene, enhancing the work of local potters. She has a table at C’ville Arts year round, and her work is available to view on her Instagram and on her website.
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