Sculptural artist – Allison Newsome

Allison Newsome’s detailed and intricate sculptures and ceramic reliefs address issues of the environment and how humans interact with it. Locations where she has resided such as the redwood forests in her native Northern California, Mexico and Prudence Island at Narragansett Bay have been sources of inspiration for her sculptural art. Her works all reflect an intimate connection with the elements. Clay-Ojai-Harvest, Shell Tree Gotto, Clay-Woman-Digging-Steamers typically traverse her ongoing themes of sustenance and the wilderness. Her body of work has explored the fundamental, utilitarian, methods implemented on our land and water and how our landscape and human psyche have changed from the wilderness to the agrarian, into the industrial / post industrial. Highly textural pieces combine with earthy palettes and splashes of colour to express her unique narrative. In addition to clay she also utilises other natural elements such as branches, shells, and flowers to create ephemeral sculptures.

Alison Newsome’s ceramic sculptures are in the permanent collections of The RISD Museum, the Newport Art Museum, Mobile Museum of Art in Alabama, and The Beatrice Wood Museum. Her artist residency at the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts in Ojai, California resulted in a strong body of work and a video http://www.beatricewood.com/allisonnewsome/newsome_video.html

Allison Newsome received a MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA from Chico State University.

Shell figure in a grotto

runnels and rivers

Bronze Woman Mining – Allison Newsome

Amphora workshop

Allison Newsome sculpture

Well shaft cups sculpture

Shell Tree Grotto

( The Cove installation )

Post Pre-Pottery Figurine Workshop - Thursday – Sunday, October 24 – 27, 2013

The Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts
Tel: 805-646-3381 or email us at artcenter@beatricewood.com.

Neolithic pre-pottery figurines (5,000.00-3,000.00 BC) as a metaphor and point of departure for clay sculpture.

Ojai Orange Pants collection

Pink Blossom Branches

Sespe Mountains

Shell tree in the grotto

High Tide

( On Island exhibition )

Factory Garden Folly

Clay Salt Marsh with Reclining figure

( Agrarian series )

Clay Orange Skirt

Clay Ojai Harvest

( Agrarian series )

Clay Nun Buoy with Pelican

( Aquatic series )

Clay Mid Channel Buoy

Clay Lighted Bell Buoys in progress

Apple blossom branch skirt

As in nature Allison pushes the extremes of her materials. Her combination of glazes heightens the drama and lustre of each work, giving life and motion to the sculpture.

The Harvard Amphora and the Figure workshop was a multi-disciplinary collaboration with University of Rhode Island’s Inner Space Center and included Amphorae research from Black Sea Byzantine shipwreck discoveries. The Amphora shape has long been associated with the human figure as it not only contains fluids, but makes figurative reference to the foot of the pot, the shoulder, the neck, and other aspects of the body.

Almonds Harvest

Sculpture from The Cove series

Water, rocks, clay and corn

Images of corn feature in Allisons sculptures. ( a universal symbol of connection to the Earth and ruled by the Earth Element – you can smell the earthiness in fresh corn )