Peter Olson

Reliquary, The Dead Photographed in Upper Derby PA

2019

[lives & works – Philadelphia, PA ::: b. 1954] Peter Olson is a Philadelphia-based photographer and ceramicist who creates pieces that chemically and conceptually fuse the two medi...

[lives & works – Philadelphia, PA ::: b. 1954] Peter Olson is a Philadelphia-based photographer and ceramicist who creates pieces that chemically and conceptually fuse the two medi...

[lives & works – Philadelphia, PA ::: b. 1954] Peter Olson is a Philadelphia-based photographer and ceramicist who creates pieces that chemically and conceptually fuse the two medi...

For the last six years, Peter Olson has harmonized photography and ceramics, two mediums that have forced their way into fine art. As bands of imagery spin around the thrown and asse...

'April Requiem', 2021, by Sunni Mercer, is a human-scale, Mixed Media, Sculptural Assemblage featuring Clay, Gauze Bandages, Deer Hide, Copper and Paint. The sculpture depicts a fema...

This work from Linda Stein's Displacement From Home series draws from the tradition of wunderkammer/cabinets of curiosities to highlight the glo...

Altar, a ceramic sculpture of high-fired clay pigmented with oxides, is a work by New York artist Harold Wortsman. Altar was recently exhibited at "Harold Wortsman: Time and Space" at the Orange Art Foundation, February-March 2022, New York City. Note the blending of geometric and organic forms in this work – it is characteristic of his practice – warm, contemporary, uniquely crafted, yet speaks to ancient, primitive traditions of art-making that cross cultures and histories. Highly attuned to the art of Africa, the Middle East, India and Asia, his forms are organic abstracts with masculine and feminine attributes that resonate together as a pleasing enigma. They make sense immediately, yet never give up all their secrets. From Harold Wortsman – "With sculpture, my material of choice is high-fired clay. Pieces are first low-fired in an electric kiln. I do not use glazes. Instead, I use oxides applied to the bisqued (low-fired) clay. As with a tattoo, oxides permit the surface underneath to breathe. The work is then high-fired in a gas kiln with double reduction to cone 10. The final temperature is 2,300 degrees F. At a certain point, oxygen intake is reduced to the kiln. Because the fire has reached a critical mass, it needs oxygen and chemically takes it from the clay and the oxides. Like a jazz improvisation, each kiln load comes out slightly different." From Jonathan Goodman, Poet & Art Critic – "Wortsman re-examines ancient and modern traditions in light of what it means to make art." – Tussle Magazine, July 2019. Harold Wortsman is a sculptor and printmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. He “creates forms that bring to mind archaic cult objects and exude a quiet concentrated strength.” (Argauer Zeitung, Switzerland). His work, an edgy mix of freedom and clarity, can be found in public and private collections in the US, including The Library of Congress, Yale University, The New York Public Library Print Collection, The New York Historical Society, Smith College, Indiana University’s Lilly Library, Brandeis University, The Newark Public Library Special Collections Division, and the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum Print Archive. Also in private and public collections in Europe, including the Municipal Collection of the City of Brugg, Switzerland. Harold studied at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, with sculptor George Spaventa...

My work is concerned with the relationship of humanity and nature. I conceive of an expanded concept of “Nature” as embodying all existence, both the seen and unseen, socio-politica...