Liz
Fletcher
288 Marcel Road
Mason, NH 03048
(603) 878-2539
Making art and protecting the environment have been
the two strong threads of my working life. Since graduating from Massachusetts
College of Art in 1970, I’ve been working in clay as a sculptor, potter,
and teacher. For seven years (1974-81), I worked full-time as a studio potter
in the New Hampshire woods, selling my work around the northeast. Then concern
about human impacts on the land led me back to school for a Masters degree in
Resource Management at Antioch. For the next 15 years I worked part-time with
the Nashua River Watershed Association, doing open space planning and
coordinating their wonderful Greenway program to protect the rivers of the
region. In recent years my environmental work has been focused locally as a
member of the Mason, NH Conservation Commission. We’ve enjoyed some
success at protecting wild lands.
Always I have continued my clay work on a limited
production basis, concentrating on my first love, clay sculpture, combined with
teaching at regional art centers in NH. As I do in my own work, in my teaching
I encourage students to surprise themselves by tapping into their own
imaginations.
I’m a juried exhibiting member of the NH Art
Association and the League of NH Craftsmen. My work has been exhibited in New
England and as far as Georgia, Texas, and the state of Washington. I’ve
won prizes in several regional exhibitions: Fitchburg Art Museum, League of NH
Craftsmen Annual Juried Exhibition, and Sharon Arts Center Juried Exhibition.
Through the NH Arts Council’s Percent for Art Program, I created a clay
mural for the Health and Human Services Building in the state capital.
Artist Statement
The wonders of the natural world inspire me, as do the
absurdities of the human condition, which is often not beautiful but sometimes
humorous! People often sense a narrative quality in my work -- the images
speak, telling stories.
Life forms fascinate me. I love to shape clay into creatures
and strange beings whose combinations of human, beast, and bone embody the
interpenetration of the natural and human worlds, of geologic time and daily
life. We’re all in it together -- voyaging in this great mysterious
universe.
Techniques and Materials
I love to work with my hands and have never quite grown out
of playing, so clay is a perfect material. It’s wonderfully responsive to touch, yet when fired
firm as a stone. Fragile yet
enduring, clay embodies the paradoxes of life that inspire me.
Since I often make outdoor sculpture, I chiefly use
stoneware clay for its strength and imperviousness. Color is vital – I
use a variety of glazes, slips, paints, and oxides to get the tones I need. For
sculptural work, I form the clay with hand-building methods – slabs,
modeling, pinch-building. For functional work I use the potters wheel and often
combine wheelwork and hand-building in the same piece. I fire my work in a large gas kiln, to
stoneware temperatures (more than 2200 degrees F) for durability and resistance
to weathering. I do not use lead or other toxic materials in my clay or glazes.
My studio is in my home.
Care and Display of Work
Fired clay is fully washable and weather-proof, except
in winter when it is best to cover complex forms that remain outside so snow
and rain does not freeze in any crevices of the forms.
Special Orders
I would be happy to work on special orders, especially
ones that involve natural forms.
Due to the large size of my kiln, it can take about 2 months between
receiving an order and completing it.
I can be contacted by mail at 288 Marcel Road, Mason,
NH 03048, or by phone at 603-878-2539, or FAX at 603-878-0547.
LIZ SIBLEY FLETCHER
Clay Sculptor
Education
1970 Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Mass. B.F.A. in Ceramics
1983 Antioch New England, Keene, NH. M.S. in Resource Management
Exhibiting Member, New Hampshire Art Association
State Juried Member, League of New Hampshire Craftsmen
New Hampshire
Potters Guild: President, 1998 - 2000
1998 New Hampshire Council on the Arts Percent for Art Program, Health and Human Services Brown Building Cafeteria Mural “Pick Your Own”, Concord, NH.
1998 The Artist’s Valentine Grant, Kalliroscope Gallery, Groton, MA.
1996 Best in Show, 19th Annual Juried Exhibition of the Sharon Arts Center, Killian Gallery, Sharon, NH
1995 Public Choice Award and Hitchiner Clay Award, 20th Annual Juried Exhibition, League of New Hampshire Craftsmen, Thorne Sagendorph Gallery, Keene, NH.
1995 Sheffield Pottery Award, BIG, NH Potters Guild Biennial Exhibition, Art Center, Saint Paul's School, Concord, NH.
1993 First Prize, 58th Regional Juried Exhibition, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg.
1992 Juror's Choice, 17th Annual Juried Exhibition, League of NH Craftsmen, Saint Anselm's College, Goffstown, NH.
1990 Hollis Arts Society Award for Excellence, Knossos Exhibition, Opus 71 Gallery, Hollis, NH.
1990 E.W. Poor Award, Lassonde Memorial Juried Exhibition, NH Art Association, Manchester, NH.
2006, 2003-01 Juried Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Millbrook Gallery, Concord, NH
2006, 1999,98 Lassonde Memorial Juried Exhibition, Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, NH Art Association, Portsmouth, NH.
2005 Solo Show, “Voyaging” Conant Gallery, Lawrence Academy, Groton, MA
2005 Clay on the Wall, Clay National 2005, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
2005 Invitational Sculpture Exhibition, St. Paul’s School, Concord, NH
2005, 1999 Biennial Regional Juror’s Choice Competition, Thorne-Sagendorph Gallery, Keene, NH
2005 The Art of Peace, NH Art Association Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH
2004, 2003 NH Art Association Annual Juried Exhibition, Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH.
2003 NH Arts Biennial, New Hampshire Institute of Art, Manchester, NH.
2000 Crazy for Clay, Millbrook Gallery, Concord, NH. Three person show with clay sculptors Jane Kaufmann and Al Jaeger.
2001 - 1998 Art in the Yard Outdoor Sculpture Show,
Hole in the Wall Gallery, Raymond, ME.
1999 Solo Show, “Laughing in the Dark”, Taylor Gallery, Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, NH
1999 Clay on the Wall: Fourth National Ceramic Exhibition, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
1997 Clay on the Wall: Third National Ceramic Exhibition, Forum on the Visual Arts Gallery, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas.
1997 A Second Decade of Winners, Killian Gallery, Sharon Arts Center, Sharon, NH.
1997 Family Pictures, Chapel Art Center, Saint Anselm's College, Goffstown, NH.
1995 Masterworks, Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH
1993 Clay on the Wall, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA.
1993 That's About the Size of It, Killian Gallery, Sharon Arts Center, Sharon, NH. Exhibition focused on large scale artwork.
1991 Dependent on the Earth, The League Gallery, Concord, NH. Sponsored by NH Visual Arts Coalition as part of The Artist and The Environment Project.
1991 Figurative
Clay, Georgia State University Art Gallery, Atlanta, GA.
1990 Nudes and Animals, Opus 71 Gallery, Hollis, NH.
1989 Peace, Kerygma Gallery, Ridgewood, NJ
1986 The Human Touch, Worcester Craft Center Gallery, Worcester, MA.
1981 Sculpture New Hampshire, state-wide exhibition: Saint-Gaudens Memorial, Cornish, NH; Thorne-Sagendorph Gallery, Keene State College, Keene, NH.
l981 Jubilee 50, League of NH Craftsmen Golden Anniversary Exhibition, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
1977 New Hampshire’s Creative Women, Plymouth State College, Plymouth, NH.
1974, 1975 Northeast
Regional Craft Fair, American Crafts Council, Rhinebeck, NY.
Teaching
2000, 1999 Artist Mentor, NH Allstate Arts Festival, Currier Gallery, Manchester, NH.
1997- present Clay
sculpture teacher, Sharon Arts Center, Sharon, NH.
1983-present Clay Sculpture Workshops, League of NH Craftsmen’s Fair, Sunapee, NH
Continuing Education
2005 North Country Craft Conference: Paper Sculpture with Mary Merkel-Hess
2005 Sharon Arts Center: Monotype with Celeste Wyrosdic
2004 Haystack Mountain School of Crafts: Sculptural Paper with Lynn Sures
2003 North Country Craft Conference: Mining Inspiration Workshop with Arnie Zimmerman
2000 Haystack Mountain School of Crafts: Clay Sculpture with Bill Daly
1999 North Country Craft Conference: Dinnerware as Sculpture Workshop with Eddie Dominguez.
1998 Gerry Williams Workshop, NH Institute of Art.
1995 North Country Craft Conference: Clay and Myth Workshop with George Kokis
1992 Plymouth State College, Plymouth, NH. Under leadership of sculptor Elspeth Woody, designed and constructed part of multi-form clay sculpture for outdoor amphitheatre of Silver Cultural Center.
2005 The Monadnock Moose, August 2005, “Hands On” article by Lynn Tryba
1998 Ceramics Monthly, October 1998; “Laughing in the Dark” article on my clay sculpture work by Peg Lopata.
Employment (partial
list)
1996-98 Open Space Planner, Dunstable Conservation Commission, Dunstable, MA.
1993-96 Watershed Planner, Nashua River Watershed Association, Groton, MA.
1981-92 Greenway Coordinator, Nashua River Watershed Association, Fitchburg, MA.
1974-80 Designer and Manager of Fletcher Pottery Works, a small-scale production studio
Volunteer
1987-present Mason Conservation Commission Member