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Susannah ISRAEL
Oakland , California-
United States
Ceramics-
Social Commentary
website:
www.SusannahIsrael.net
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Artist Blogs
Remembering Bill Lassell
2010-01-26
On Jan 23rd we gathered at Bill's estuary for a walk to the bridge. A year ago today, Bill died peacefully in his sleep, leaving a gigantic hole in our community and our lives. It was a very special weekend in every way. Todd took this pic when we went for a walk with Jonah on Sunday. Bill is everywhere!
Sky Boat in progress
2010-01-21
Working on this elegaic piece during the winter break from school. Still a hugely difficult course to chart without Bill's presence, and much help came from Saadi Shapiro and Michelle Gregor, as always. The piece is in 3 sections, coiled and thrown, and will be surfaced with slips and engobes after the first firing.
from perception to realization
2009-12-17
My artwork records the constantly shifting set of my responses as an artist to my world. My subjects are all images, in clay, of pieces of my life. Human experience starts with our perceptions; our experiences are set into memory, which itself then changes and is utterly subjective. The work is at its best for me when it is your story too. The figure takes the center stage, as narrator, actor and symbol.
I use everything, including nontraditional materials in clay - paint, metal, found objects, - when they serve the work best. I use everything in the ceramics toolbox, too. Slipcast, press molds, hand built, and wheel-thrown methods all have relevance in my approach. Temperature ranges and firings from low-fire to raku and glossy polychrome meet wood-fire, stoneware and layered slips in my work. In class I tell students "Use all your options," and I actually do take my own advice.
about the artist
2009-12-17
Susannah Israel's seminal work is widely shown and appears in private and public collections around the world, such as the American Ceramics Collection of the Mint Museum. Israel has received a Virginia A. Groot Foundation grant, an NCECA Resident scholarship to Archie Bray, and a Distinguished Faculty service award for curriculum, among many honors. She remains the only artist from the USA ever to win the Fletcher Challenge Premier Award for her dynamic piece, Lobo California, now in the permanent collection in New Zealand.
As a working artist in an urban setting, Israel engages the viewer in her gritty yet passionate view of humanity. Humor and struggle are always part of the message. Technically, she is known for her expressive working methods with clay, and signature glaze color and texture. Recent work with vividly colorful theatrical contemporary costumes can be seen in the Yingge Ceramics Museum in Taiwan. Israel holds an MFA in Ceramics from San Francisco State University and currently teaches for Peralta Colleges in Oakland.
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