QUICK FACTS

How many years have you been working as a clay artist? Since 2009 so 15 years.

What is your main clay body that you currently use? A midrange red stoneware from KY Mudworks called Sheltowee

What is the primary method you use for building your work? Most of my forms are thrown and altered. 

What is your favorite studio tool? Probably my pottery wheel or my banding wheel.

Do you have any future clay wishes or dreams? to support myself as a professional artist and to sustain a lifelong clay practice.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Since the very beginning I have been captivated by faces. The expression of emotions, the surface of personalities. A smirk or a grimace. A furrowed brow, dimpled cheeks. A lifetime of characters, real and assembled, strewn about in memory, waiting to emerge in physical form. Reflecting on the humor, anxieties and experiences of life, I create ceramic animal forms, that often double as jars, cups, and vases. These “beasties” are meant to be relatable and endearing, pointing to that wild thing within us all and acquiescing to the bizarre reality that is life as a human animal.

Mythology and the animal kingdom greatly influenced my early direction. In fact, I still feel that creature forms work best in conveying the universality of emotion, as well as to remind us of our own species’ truly wild origins. Lately, I’ve been inspired by the most universal of all developments, that of childhood itself. As a kindergarten teacher and art educator, I work extensively with children, who’s pure expressions hide nothing, and have no doubt made their way into my work.

Each piece begins on the wheel. Looking at the overall profile, I stretch and pull the form until I get something I like. Afterward, I develop the expression. Waiting for a character or feeling to emerge, I take risks and respond to what the piece is telling me, solving the problems as they arise. Then I further develop the character through detail work such as surface texture, adding elements like teeth, fur, scales, claws and finally adding color through slips, washes and glaze.

This work is my attempt to process the full range of human emotion, and comes from a lifelong curiosity about people and their stories. My intention is to create objects of beauty that people will want to have and live with. I want my pieces to incite joy and evoke humor.

BIOGRAPHY

BORN: Louisville, KY | USA

Christie Cooper is an ceramic artist, instructor, and owner at Christie Cooper Ceramics in Bloomington, IN. She has taught at Bloomington Montessori School, Bloomington Clay Studio, Kids-n-Clay (Berkley, CA), and Waldron Art Studio (Bloomington, IN). Cooper received her BFA in ceramics from Indiana University Bloomington in 2011.