Exhibition | Anne Currier Evolves by Degrees with “Anamorphosis” at Lacoste Gallery

“My process for discovery and making has been a layered and organic pursuit. The interior and exterior curves of cylinders and cones in concert with the angles and directions of edges and planes – these elements are infinitely connectable and interchangeable in time and space.” — Anne Currier

CONCORD — Lacoste Gallery’s recent showing of Anne Currier: Anamorphosis (March 12 — April 2) saw the artist working with cubist forms that could adopt any angle or plane from now into infinity. The Alfred Ceramics professor chose the name for her show from a biological term that means a gradual, steady change to a higher form or type. The contemporary ceramic art takes its color from the tones Currier noticed around her home in Allegany County, New York in the winter. We don’t get a sense of cold through these forever-shifting shapes, but we do get the muted, sometimes somber mood of winter carrying through.

Above image: Anne Currier, Push, 18 x 20 x 7 inches

Currier focuses on the interplay of dichotomies – such as mass and void, light and shadow, absence and presence. The different angles, planes and curves of her sculptures create an infinite interchange with view, time and space.

Her process for discovery and making has been a layered and organic pursuit. The interior and exterior curves of cylinders and cones in concert with the angles and directions of edges and planes are elements she finds infinitely connectable and interchangeable in time and space. The artist, previously inspired by the tension and dynamics found in Greek and Buddhist temple pediments, is here intrigued by the structural flatness and synthesis of planar shapes in Cubist still life painting.

Subdued color— slate grays, deep rusts and cool tans, found in the hues of winter in upstate New York are the artist’s palette for sand-like glazed surfaces which direct the focus to other issues and create ambiguities about visual and tactile perceptions.

Anne Currier received her BFA, 1972, from the School of the Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois with her MFA, 1974, from the University of Washington, Seattle and has been recognized as a major figure in contemporary ceramic art since the 1980’s. In 2012 she was honored with the American Crafts Council College of Fellows career achievement award. She has received several major grants including those from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Virginia Groot Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additionally, Currier is highly regarded as a teacher and is a Kruson Distinguished Professor at Alfred University, twice selected by students and faculty to receive the Joseph Kruson Trust Fund, an award for teaching. Anne Currier is the Chair of the Division of Ceramic Art at Alfred University.

Text (edited) and photographs courtesy of the gallery.

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