Ceramic vessels by Rick Martell
ceramicvesselsri.com 401-862-4558
I’ve long possessed a refined, tactile appreciation for the sea, the woods, and the farm. My approach — after sailing boats thousands of miles offshore, encountering other cultures, hauling veneers to the mill — is muscular, and hands-on. Pivotal to my craftsman’s sensibilities was my time as a young man in Hawaii, apprenticing with a Japanese carpenter.
After I was discharged from the U.S. Army in 1967, I spent a brief period in the ceramics program at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, R.I. This experience remained with me, and I took my interest in clay work further by spending time in the studio and studying with Jane Ford at Bennington College, in North Bennington, Vermont, ultimately completing a tutorial in 16th century Japanese art with focus on ceramics in 1979 and establishing my own creative space.
From 1985 to 1990 I taught visiting students at Bennington, exhibited, and owned galleries and a studio in North Bennington, as well as in Williamstown, Mass. I also taught a winter’s study term at Williams College, Williamstown.
I’ve done workshop study with John Katoulia, Paul Soldner, Warren McKenzie, Regies Brodie, Toshiko Takaezu, and Bruno LaVerdiere.
I’ve exhibited at the Park McCullough House, North Bennington, Vt.; Schenectady Museum, Schenectady, NY; Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass.; Bizen Gallery, New York City, NY; Philadelphia Craft Museum, Philadelphia, Pa.; Helen Drutt Gallery, Philadelphia, Pa.; Potters Wheel, Williamstown, Mass., and Naples, FL; Rhode Island College, Providence, RI; and The Craftsman’s Gallery, Scarsdale, N.Y.
More recently I was a member of the Ceramics 2019 show at the Guilford Arts Center; I participated in “Transformed by Fire” public ceramics exhibit at Salve Regina University; the annual members’ juried exhibition at the Newport Art Museum; “Natural Rhythms” at the Deblois Gallery, Middletown, R.I.; Spring Bull Gallery, Newport, R.I.; and at the South County Art Association, Kingston, R.I.
Artist’s statement
My focus is surface and colors. I like to work clay by stretching and pulling it almost to its breaking point. Round, large forms allow me to use the stretching and pulling process to its fullest.
I prefer simple shapes so I have a surface where I can lay on color and glaze in a painterly way. My focus is both wood and Raku firing, which allow me to become more involved with the piece through completion. My pots can be funny with colors light and airy, or serious with colors of the Earth’s changes — reds and blacks of volcanoes, white ice of glaciers, the yellow of the sun and the blue of the sea.