Works in Smithsonian gallery

 

Beth Cavener Stichter of Portage, Ohio is one of four artists exhibiting in the 2007 Renrick Gallery in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. Lloyd E. Herman the gallery said: “Stichter extends the long tradition of figurative clay sculpture and celebrates the tactility of clay in her energetic and lively animals.”

The artist has individual vision and it is strikingly evident in her mature works with a defined focus. Her clay sculptures involve animals that relate to human psychology. She has been able to better understand the human condition through the simplicity of animal behavior.

     Animals have primitive instincts that are outside the reasoning power of mankind, but Beth relates that people may come to understand our own aggressive moments, desires, fears and isolated times through animal observations.

     “My larger pieces may take four to five weeks to complete. It usually takes one‐eighth of my time to sculpt, but the other seven‐eights is in the hollowing out process.”

It takes great effort for her to use almost a half‐ton of wet clay to form the animal. She strikes the clay mass with wood chunks for the expressions, and then hand digs into surfaces to create finer details. “Animal emotions become more evident as I slam more clay around various surfaces.”

Artist Stichter has given enthusiasts many mysteries of the human condition to ponder and to find answers.

Editor’s note: All or some portions are reproduced from AAPJ’s Potter’s Shed Section 2007-08 Fall/Winter print edition.