EARTH • WIND • FIRE

Original Exhibit Dates: January 13 to February 10, 2009

Our second exhibition combined the 2-D paintings and drawings of Sherry Rohl and Hollis Jeffcoat from the East Coast, with the 3-D ceramics of Sheena Cameron and Carol Clamer from the Southwest.

The women in this exhibit have several things in common that may not be evident – they've all been working artists for more than 35 years, and that dedication to their craft has resulted in work of exceptional artistry.

While they grew up and studied in different parts of the country – Clamer in Philadelphia, Cameron in Boston, Rohl in Cincinnati, and Jeffcoat in Ft. Myers – the two featured ceramicists became friends and collaborators in Dixon, NM, as did the two painters in Ft. Myers, FL.

All four artists base their work on nature and create pieces, whether iconic or naturalistic, that contain a palpable energy of the work they love.

Hollis Jeffcoat uses gestural marks, erasures, and pentimento in the charcoal drawings of her Traveler series to capture the frenetic movement of birds on the wing – and amazingly so. Her Traveler paintings, on the other hand, present bird-like forms gliding towards us and holding their place in space – and our imagination.

Sherry Rohl’s passion, sensitivity to her subject, and her exceptional drafting ability enable her to express the power and strength of stallions on the run, as well as the tenderness and vulnerability of colts at rest, in her breathtaking drawings and paintings. More like portraits than anything, these horses look straight on and meet us eye to eye, and Rohl's unexpected composition gives these works an unusual attitude, compelling us to realize that there is much more than just a horse staring back at us.

Sheena Cameron's Messenger Horses are raku, naked raku, or painted, and stand on sturdy masonry nails in positions that evoke both motion and stillness. She creates a compartment within the ceramic bodies of her horses that holds objects like fossils, crystals, or hand-made jewelry, which means each horse holds a secret treasure. The names of the horses and the stories she writes about the symbolism of the materials she uses come to her as she works on each individual piece, and she records the details in each horse’s little book. Cameron’s Messenger Horses are both contemporary and mythic.

Carol Clamer, who passed away in January 2007, was a large, strong, straightforward woman – and her pots are just like their creator. Clamer’s strength enabled her to throw the kind of large pots that most potters would have to hand-build, yet she had a relationship with the clay that infused sensitivity into their massiveness. Many in this exhibit were wood-fired, which requires round-the-clock tending for several days (her friend, Sheena Cameron, often helped her with this process).