Frank Carsey

I make ceramic forms of abstract, figurative nature. These vessels may be derived from the torso or from basic bottles.

My work comes directly from the modernist art traditions of the 1920’s and 30’s; my forms are related to the human figure as the Greek Cycladic artists or Picasso or Klee might have understood it. I add my own tension and abstraction, for example buttons, holes, elongations.

In my forms I sometimes use humor or sensuality because they are ways into our consciousness and sources of joy. I want my work to bring about a personal response and have long-term meaning and thus enhance the home environment.

A form's surface is integral and vital to how we engage with it. To achieve my surfaces I fire with wood (working in a local community of accomplished ceramic artists) in a soda kiln or in a Japanese-style anagama kiln, both in Seabeck, WA. These firing strategies utilize the atmosphere of the kiln, the flow of soda ions, and wood ash, at temperatures where the clay reacts with them. These reactions create forceful palettes and fluid patterns with which the artist works on the edge of control. Soda ash, in particular, yields a surface tantalizingly close to human skin in look as well as feel but with dramatic color departures echoing the flow of flame and ash. The firing chemistries result in crystal growth in the glaze, which itself is created from materials in the ash.

I hope you find my forms engaging.