about
| Amy Gogarty studied painting at the Alberta College of Art and received her MFA from the University of Calgary. She taught visual art history, theory and ceramics history at ACAD for sixteen years prior to relocating in 2006 to Vancouver, where she works as an independent artist (painting, ceramics) and writer. She is the co-editor of Craft Perception and Practice vol 3 and Utopic Impulses: Contemporary Ceramics Practice, both Ronsdale Press 2007. She has participated in numerous national and international panels and published over 100 reviews, catalogue and critical essays on issues arising in craft disciplines. |
artist statement
I am a painter who makes pots. For a long time, I searched for ways to bring together my two passions. Pots are in essence beautifully packaged pockets of space, and it is the space of the pot that interests me. Since earliest times, potters have painted images of their world on their pots, drawing connections between the space depicted and the space contained. My pots follow in this tradition in that they attempt to bridge the visible world and the secret world of the pot’s interior. I often paint the view from my back porch or garden, or I take pots on my bicycle to nearby city parks, responding to the intimate interface of urban life and nature. I also travel to the countryside to paint mountains, rivers, fields and water meadows. The plein air tradition of painting ensures a sort of mindfulness, a level of attention to the intricacy and beauty of the world, which I try to convey with my work.
