Experience coastal ceramic art by Fairhope artist Dawson Morgan
Coastal ceramic art by Dawson Morgan
When you first walk into the coastal ceramic art exhibition, “Splash” shoreline treasures are displayed. Artistic beach finds, palm flower stalks, both male and female and a few choice sticks. Smoky gray Raku Oyster Bowls and brown Driftwood Vessels greet you on shore. Visually you pass through curvy dunes to the surf with sandy matte white centerpieces. Reflections of silty happy-blues are depicted in stoneware with layered glaze flickering with amber in Bay Blue works. Head out to the Gulf, deeper water and experience greens and clear blues like those in Mermaid Bowls. These forms are full of motion as the reflection ripples and rolls across the ceramic work of art.
This ceramic exhibition is created with the mission of bringing attention to the stewardship of coastal Alabama through ceramics. By honoring the beauty and textures of healthy waters, sculpted ceramic forms serve as a reminder of how treasured and delicate our environment is. Some of the art work represents fluid aspects of water where the tide flows across the centerpiece. Or, a stoneware bowl that depicts stillness when the bay is calm. I especially like the artistic beautiful turmoil of crashing waves as they splash and foam on the edges of a centerpiece. Hopefully the work speaks for itself.
The concept dawned on me through a Mobile Arts Council show and Mobile Bay Keepers, themed Art of the Bay in 2017. Their call to artists requested works dealing with sustaining Mobile Bay Watershed and recycled art. I created the first water related work for this show along with my signature sculptures “Recycled Wall Flowers”. Mobile Baykeeper is an environmental organization working to protect the beauty, and health, of Mobile Bay Watershed. Having the ability to fish, boat, swim and enjoy the water is a beautiful privilege. We need to safeguard this legacy now for ourselves and other generations.
I loved creating with water as an environmental muse. Thus “Splash” as an entire exhibition took off.
Eastern Shore Art Center exhibits “Splash” through May 2018,. It will then be exhibited at Mobile Arts Council for the month of October 2018. As always the work is available through Dawsonmorgan.com.
