ARTIST: bIANKA gROVES

Bianka Groves is a potter in New Mexico and has studied ceramics all over the country, along with teaching pottery at Baltimore Clayworks, Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, Santa Fe Clay, and is currently teaching at the University of New Mexico as a graduate student. Her work is thoughtfully functional and has the ability to complete the elegance of any interior space. The polished compositions of her designs are an ode to the simplistic repetition and studies of minimalist design, architecture, and landscapes. When she’s not making pots out of her backyard home studio, you can find her hiking in the desert with her dogs.

Working primarily in porcelain, throwing on the potter’s wheel, Bianka’s surface designs are part of an inlay technique similar to tattooing. A pattern is gently carved into the surface of the freshly made unred pot using acupuncture needles, tattoo needles, or Xacto blades. Once the outline is complete, a black slip is applied to the clay body and sinks into the cut drawings. Most of the excess slip is cleaned away, leaving the inlaid design. Once the pots are red to about 2350 degrees, the unglazed porcelain is polished to a silky smooth matte finish.

opening Reception

July 4th 5-7pm

Flash Gallery | 209 W Broadway, Silver City, NM 88061

Artist: Miranda Howe

Ceramic artist, Miranda Howe, grew up in New Mexico and comes from a family of artists.  She received her BFA from Texas Tech University, studied at the Aegean Center for Fine Arts in Greece, and completed her MFA from Montana State University in 2002. 

Miranda has been accepted into art residencies at Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, LH Project, Roswell Artist-in-Residence and Kohler Arts/Industry Program. Coming full-circle in returning to New Mexico, Miranda established her studio, Bone Springs Art Space, in a renovated historic warehouse in Roswell. Through the ongoing development of Bone Springs, she extends her love of teaching and community involvement by providing youth and adult classes, gallery exhibitions, event programming, and maintaining a retail gift shop featuring artwork by local and regional artists .

Artist Statement:

My ceramic work moves in two directions- one satisfies a need to create utilitarian pieces that easily become incorporated into one's daily routine, while the other explores interests in larger sculptural forms.  Though very different in scale, idea, and purpose, both continually run parallel to and echo one another.

Travels abroad have influenced the decorative and ornamental qualities of my work.  Patterns, textures, and colors are often reminiscent of crumbling walls, inlaid marble flooring, tightly woven textiles, and ornate mosaics.  These decorative elements propagate a rhythm and cadence, lending themselves to meditative qualities. I explore the properties of this rhythm, as well as highlight the breaks or voids which interrupt that flow.  Geologic elements such as fault lines, crevices or fissures are used to disrupt the predicted regularity of the decorative, exposing the information beneath the surface and providing glimpses into the secret spaces within.