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Coiling together thin, serpentine ropes of porcelain, American artist Cheryl Ann Thomas begins her sculptures with one of the most traditional techniques of pottery. Used by Pre-Columbian, Native American and West African peoples to hand-build large storage jars, coiling has a rich history in the ceramic world. Traditionally the coils were smoothed together and integrated, but Thomas leaves the twists of clay exposed, and imprinted with the mark of her hand. Speaking about her work, Thomas asserts that “relics or artifacts are the remains of a human intervention. These sculptures form a permanent record of my interaction with the material.”
Once she has constructed tall, thin vessels of coiled porcelain, Thomas fires them, and the weight of the clay causes the works to collapse and fold in on themselves unpredictably. Her early works were the outcomes of this process, while more recently the artist has begun combining these forms and firing them for a second time, creating assembled sculptures of greater scale and power. After firing her pieces and leaving the results to chance, “the resulting forms are exquisite and very delicate, richly open-ended in their associations,” according to Constance Mallinson for Art in America.
Thomas’s work is frequently noted for its allusions to the transience and delicacy of existence. Although the heat of the kiln is what causes the collapse of her forms, it also gives the porcelain she uses its durability and strength. In this way, the artist notes that her work “is not a metaphor, but a real and distinct experience of creation and loss.” Thomas has recently expanded her output to include works in bronze and stainless steel, which continue her meditations on fragility.
Cheryl Ann Thomas graduated from the Art Center College of Design in 1982, and has emerged as a ceramic sculptor within the past 13 years. She has been featured in solo and group shows in New York and Los Angeles and her work is included in the collections of the Long Beach Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the Gardiner Museum in Toronto.
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Education
1978-82 BFA, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California
Museum Collections
American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California
Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard, California
City of Ventura Municipal Art Collection, Ventura, California
Frankel Foundation for Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Massachusetts
Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, Canada
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota
Mobile Art Museum, Mobile, Alabama
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Museum of Ventura County, Ventura, California
Selected Group Exhibitions
2015 Nature, Sculpture, Abstraction and Clay: 100 Years of American Ceramics,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
2014 Summer, Danese/Corey, New York
Three Ceramic Artists, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Décors å vivre, Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France
Le Pavillon des Arts et du Design, Mouvements Modernes, Paris, France
2013 High Low Art Exhibition, Irvine Fine Arts, Irvine, California
Mesmerized, Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Art, Springs, Texas
Precious Objects, Museum of Ventura County, Ventura, California
2012 IHOC: Frank's International House of Ceramics, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa
Monica, California
Art in the Age of Globalization, Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, Minneapolis,
Minnesota
Repetitive Nature, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Primed, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Journeys: Westmont Alumni Artist’s Invitational, Ridley- Tree Museum of Art,
Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California
Studio Channel Islands Alumni Now, Studio Channel Islands, Camarillo, California
2011 Contemporary Ceramics, Danese, New York
Overthrown: Clay Without Limits, Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, catalog
No Object is an Island, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, catalog
Exposed: Sculpture and Promised Gifts from Permanent Collection, American
Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California
Collectors Council Exhibition, Museum of Ventura County, Ventura, California
2010 Ceramique: Fables Contemporaines, Galerie Dutko, Paris, France
Basins, Baskets and Bowls: Women Explore the Vessel, Minneapolis Institute of
Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Fertile Ground, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2009 Transformation: Wouter Dam, Richard DeVore, Satoru Hoshino and Cheryl Ann
Thomas, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Gallery Artist Group Exhibition, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York
Adventures of the Fire, World Contemporary Ceramic Exhibition and World Ceramic
Biennale, Icheon, Korea (catalogue)
2008 Celebrating Ceramics, The Frieda K. Bradshur Collection, Long Beach Museum of
Art, Long Beach, California
The 8th International Ceramics Competition, Mino, Japan
Celebrating California Clay, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, Alabama
2007 Black and White, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
SOFA New York, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York
SOFA Chicago, Jane Sauer Thirteen Moons Gallery
One Work/One World, Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts, Ojai, California
2006 SOFA Chicago, Jane Sauer Thirteen Moons Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Beatrice Wood Ceramic Annual, Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts, Ojai, California
City of Ventura Grant Recipients, Artist’s Union Gallery, Ventura, California
2005 Made by Heart, Defined by Desire, Xiem Clay Center, Pasadena, California
Supervisors Select, Ventura Government Center, Ventura, California
2004 City of Ventura Grant Recipients, Artist’s Union Gallery, Ventura, California
Ink & Clay 31, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California
A Classic Competition, First Place, Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard, California
One Vision, Buenaventura Gallery, Ventura, California
2003 Dust is also Buddha, California State University Channel Islands, Camarillo,
California
Ink & Clay 30, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California
President’s Show, American Ceramics Society, Millard Sheets Gallery, Pomona,
California
2002 Ink and Clay 29, Presidents Purchase Award, Toby Camp, California
President’s Show, American Ceramics Society, Second Place, Judson Studios,
Highland Park, California
1999 Annual Student Awards, Daisy Hassel Memorial Award, Ventura College,
Ventura, California
Small Images Competition, First Place, Ventura College, Ventura, California
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2014 Hap, Danese/Corey, New York
2013 Soft, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2011 New Work, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2008 Relics, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Cheryl Ann Thomas, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York
2006 Recent Work, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Cheryl Ann Thomas, Jane Sauer Thirteen Moons Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2005 Cheryl Ann Thomas: Featured Artist, Del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2004 Vessels, Ventura County Museum of History and Art’s Albinger Museum, California
2003 Conflicting Evidence, Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard, California
2002 Showcase, Ojai Center for the Arts, Ojai, California
2001 Jungle Music, Buenaventura Gallery, Ventura, California
2000 In Progress, The Upstairs Gallery, Ventura, California
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