About
Kate Tremel received her MFA in ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BA in Spanish and sociology/anthropology from Middlebury College. She has been teaching ceramics at the Stamps School of Art and Design since 2013 and now holds the rank of Lecturer II. From 2019-2019 and 2010-2011 Kate taught ceramics at the Residential College at the University of Michigan. Kate has taught at Eastern Michigan University and Washtenaw Community College. In 1998 Kate founded a community art center, Good Dirt, in Athens, GA that served more than 1000 students annually. She was a gallery assistant at the Atlanta College of Art Gallery from 1997-1998. Kate has taught classes and workshops in schools, colleges and art centers around the country since 1988. She has participated in international residencies in Peru, France, Japan and Denmark and exhibits her work both nationally and internationally. .
Process
I have returned to the rhythmic repetition of the Peruvian paddle and anvil technique I learned many years ago. My recent pieces are slowly raised by beating, turning, and drying the clay repeatedly until the walls are thinly stretched and the form is filled with breath. There is a deliberate blending of the village pottery paddle and anvil and fine porcelain open work tradiitions. I think of this as a kind of leveling of the hierarchies of material and techniques, a way of bring together the high and low. I pierce the fragile, unfired walls of the vessel with a tapered tool and then painstakingly carve the holes with a thin blade. The piercings give visual access to the interior of the form and create a tension with the fragility of the ceramic material.When the pot is illuminated the light fills the vessel and physically embodies the energy that it contains. When the light spills out from the pierced openings of the vessel's wall it is like the pot’s first breath. The piercings allow this energy to flow beyond the walls of the form and into the surrounding space. The soft patterns of light are an exhalation, filling the dark room with a sense of quiet repose away from the loud noise of the world.
Press
