Shows & Events

Opening Reception: Old Implements - Fresh Clay by Polly Whitcomb
Friday, December 28, 5 - 8 pm
Stowe Craft Design Center
34 South Main Street
Parking at Stowe Craft Gallery

Polly has returned to Vermont bringing her found metal wall sculptures. The public is invited to meet Polly and see her latest works.

After my growing-up years on a Vermont farm I lived elsewhere for 50 years--24 years- near Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 2011 I moved back to Springfield, Vermont, where I have a studio. I studied art in college (University of New Hampshire), and later took classes in pottery. Then there were several years at a Zen Center in Rochester, New York, followed by a move to New Mexico. There I had a small studio and shop in Santa Fe, and later at my home in Ribera, 40 miles outside Santa Fe.

While living in New Mexico I began to collect old rusty things from arroyos and old dumps, and then construct assemblages with them. Drawing on my years working with clay I incorporated clay shapes, which add color and interest.

Now that I am back living in Vermont I am continuing making these pieces, getting material in scrap metal yards, and from friends. I try to remain open to the possibilities of each old thing I come across. From the heap of collected stuff I make a selection that combines with the clay pieces into a satisfying whole. Each completed piece is different and is partially determined by the nature of the "find". The process is a partnership between the elements chosen and what I bring to it. Some pieces fall into place with startling ease, and others need considerable fiddling and redoing. The various components are wired together.

I find beauty in each of the found objects and delight in the contrasts and harmonies between them and the clay. I love the juxtaposition of deteriorating materials that are being eaten away by time and weather, and the seed-like new life of the clay forms.