Ceramic artist Bowie Croisant demonstrates his innovation and serious potential in an intriguing exhibit at Red Star Studios, which is also featuring work by Stephanie Kantor.
Capping off his three-year residency at Red Star, Croisant’s show presents two distinct bodies of work: cast-porcelain vessels duplicating cut glass, and geometric-inspired sculptures for which he uses computer-aided drafting software to help realize the form.
The vessels range from small and midsize bowls and jars to large, dazzling vases cast from molds of intricate glassware he finds at thrift stores.
“I’m looking for a pinnacle of what I can do with a vessel,” Croisant said at Red Star. “I try to make the most elaborate, intricate form possible that emphasizes geometry in a way that refines the angles and technical complexity.”
Croisant uses soda firing, a vapor-glazing process, which allows for a range of surfaces and extraordinary patinas that accentuate the angled forms. The rich layers of russet, ochre and blue that shine from crevices — the product of an underlying flash color slip — are complemented by a layer of metallic-like glaze on the vessels’ outer edges. The combination produces a gorgeous, luxurious opulence.
Croisant intuitively composes his sculptures from cast porcelain geometric elements. These forms are indicative of the technological, architectural and minimalist inspirations that are pivoting his work in new directions. He uses CAD as a design tool for these sculptures.
“I like integrating technology into the work process,” he said. “Using CAD helps me to quickly visualize things.”
An interest in drafting began in high school and developed at Kansas State University, where he began as a computer science major but completed his undergraduate work with a bachelor of fine arts in ceramics in 2007. He then spent one year as a special status student at the Kansas City Art Institute in the Ceramics Department before launching his residency at Red Star.
A series of unconventional, abstracted teapots are a pivotal body of work. Early on, Croisant designed a teapot in the CAD program. He referenced the “birds-eye view of the angles” as seen by a hay bailer from his youth in southeast Kansas.
“I feel these are my best work,” he says, adding, “The teapot has many parts and is ideal for tackling the challenge of continually reinventing form. It is open for interpretation.”
A symposium in 2010 at the Guldagergaard International Ceramics Research Center in Skaelskor, Denmark, paid for by an inspiration grant from the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City, proved to be a turning point for Croisant.
Photographs of architecture and angled perspectives of roofs and skylines he took in Copenhagen and Berlin during his visit became source material for work he created at the symposium, furthering a movement into abstraction already made evident in the teapots.
Exemplifying this shift is a series of colorful zigzag vases Croisant created in Denmark, several of which are displayed at Red Star. He realized the design on CAD by tracing the contour of a roofline. He then extruded the line to form the zigzag silhouette of the vessel.
Some of his architecturally inspired porcelain sculptures are left white, implying through titles such as “untitled sketch” that they are maquettes. Others seem more realized, with dynamic layers of hollow, boulder-like forms with textured surfaces of brown and gray invoking welded metal. Their architectural qualities make it easy to imagine these constructions as large sculpture.
Croisant’s urban photographs and his thrift-store searches for cut-glass vessels represent a process of gathering source material and inspiration applicable to all of his work. Each quest satisfies Croisant’s interest in discovering the potential of an object or image by way of examination, deconstruction and re-evaluation.
As a result of recent projects, including his participation in the “Between Thee and Me” show at Rockhurst University’s Greenlease Gallery in September, Croisant is thinking more about content and delving further into sculpture while continuing to actively market his vessels.
Now transitioning into his home studio from Red Star after a busy year of work and shows, he is hoping to secure his first solo exhibition and also is investigating programs like the Arts/Industry Residency at John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboyan, Wis., which would enable him to experiment with large, industrial molds and take his work to the next level.
Croisant’s ceramic work is included in the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts exhibition, “Uncommon Ground: Impact and Influence,” on view through Nov. 13 at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities in Arvada, Colo.
To learn more about Croisant’s work, check out his Third Thursday Visiting Artist Program lecture at 4 p.m. Nov. 17 at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art at Johnson County Community College.
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