Exhibition | Tim Rowan “Transitions” at Lacoste Gallery, Concord

“I am slowly transitioning with some new clays and the construction of a new work space. I am more keenly aware of my age and growing older. The work process is one of transition. Clay goes through transition from one state to another.

“Things are not fixed entities but exist along a continuum from one state to another. Part of my frustration with trying to conceptualize in a linear direction is what motivates me to create in the first place. My work is not about words or meaning. I make out of desperation to exist, to find a path and direction in a fragile and uncertain system and a safe way for me to communicate.” — Tim Rowan

This fine collection of contemplative ceramics we have for you today comes to us from Hudson Valley artist Tim Rowan’s exhibition Transitions (Concord, Mass October 15 – November 12) at Lacoste Gallery. The gallery states of the exhibition:

This is an exhibition from an innovative period of the artist’s life brought about by a new studio and use of different clay bodies fired in his wood firing anagama kiln. This period of time is reflected in a maturation of his work. Soaring forms and rich color washes are the result of this transition.

Tim Rowan is unique among current ceramic sculptors. He has a deep understanding of ceramic making traditions, yet is constantly transforming and seeking new ways of expression through the clay medium. Concerned with the overly stimulated “social media” generation, he seeks a contemplative visual aesthetic with thought and substance. With this exhibition he has solidified his position as a master of clay for form and visual expression.

Rowan’s life and work have been consistently about creating his own artistic language. After an apprenticeship with the inventive Japanese artist Ryuichi Kakurezaki, Rowan went on to get his MFA at Penn State under Chris Staley. He currently lives and works in Hudson Valley. Lacoste Gallery has represented him for sixteen years, having immediately recognized his talent and that his aesthetic philosophy mirrors our own. TIM ROWAN|TRANSITIONS is his sixth solo exhibition with us. He has also participated in many group shows and we have taken him to numerous art fairs. He is also represented by Erskine, Hall and Coe in London UK and Gallery Sokyo in Tokyo. He won the first Janet Mansfield Ceramics Award, given by the International Ceramic Magazine Editors Association in 2013.

“The driving force behind my work is not about words or meaning. I make art out of desperation to exist, to find path and direction in a fragile and uncertain system and a safe way for me to communicate.” – Tim Rowan

Tim Rowan, according to his biography, was born in 1967 in New York City and he grew up in Connecticut along the shore of Long Island Sound.  His art education began during college, receiving a BFA from The State University of New York at New Paltz before journeying to Japan for two years to apprentice with ceramic artist Ryuichi Kakurezaki. Upon his return he worked briefly in studios in Massachusetts and New York before receiving his MFA from The Pennsylvania State University.

He established his kiln and studio deep in the woods of the Hudson Valley in 2000, where he lives with his wife and son. He has worked as an artist-in-residence at several studios, including the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, MT, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Newcastle, ME, and the Fuping Ceramic Art Village, Shaanxi Provence, China.

Text (edited) and images courtesy of the gallery and the artist.

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