Contemporary Research 

"My work in ceramics is an intersection of my experiences in architecture, sculpture, and animation. I sculpt soft, unspecific forms that are as inspired by natural phenomena and geometry as they are by comic book clouds and cartoon creatures. I pursue the glossy, playful, and vibrant in my pieces, in great contrast to the earthy, tactile, and voluptuous nature of the material" (Janny Baek) She continues to explain how her pieces are animated forms captured in a moment of flux. This shows the suspended state of the transformation connecting the existence between the space of familiar and strange. She says she loves to show humor and have people ponder the meaning of her works

Janny Baek


Janny Baek was born in Seoul, South Korea, and raised in Queens, New York. She received her BFA (in Ceramics) at the Rhode Island School of Design. She worked as a sculptor in animation and toys while completing her degree at Harvard.  She says this heavily influences her work in craft, pop culture, and architecture. Janny works as a partner at McMahon-Baek Architecture (in New York). As of 2019, she returned to making sculptures in Brooklyn and Paris. 

Recently she has been inspired by the technique of pattern and structure making (mostly in textile design), which is now considered another gendered craft in ceramics rather than an art form. Her interests mainly lie in the graphic qualities of surface patterns and natural form. She likes to embody intricate/robust amorphous which entails expressing joy, strange, and pleasurable objects. A lot of her technique is focused on space, form, and shape. She looks like she likes to create forms that are more design-based for decoration, not necessarily function. Her use of color is very intentional which makes the piece look intricate and valuable. I'm sure she used some sort of wooden tools to mold the ribs of her works as well as small paintbrushes in order to get small spaces of colors. 

Patty Bilbro

Patty Bilbro has been working with clay for well over 30 years while holding an Associate's degree in Applied Science in Clay production from Haywood Community College Craft School as well as a Master's from Hood College. She has been a resident at Odyssey Center in Asheville, North Carolina(where she grew up) and Baltimore Clayworks in Maryland. She currently lives(and works) in Madrid, NM. Playing, Creating, and Meandering through the desert as much as she can is a noften occurrence. Over time she has expanded her works through sculpture, film, illustration, performance, and traditional work. 

Bilbro's works illustrate an interesting meaning. While some of them are functional other works are decorative. They all give off similar color pallets using browns, tans, whites, and blacks. She says 

" To free fall….

Terror as the world zooms past, plummeting towards inevitable pain and death. Twirling in the chaos.

Eyes closed, turned inward, being present, feeling the peace of floating, not falling. Listening to the deep calming silence inside.

Eyes open, scanning the horizon, reaching, touching, connecting, with the bodies falling with you.

Repeat." 

I think this must connect her mind to her work in a time that is stressful or chaotic. The intricate detail she uses shows her time and effort in her work. This must be an escape as well as a coping method. She says she tried to capture the terror and peace all in one. Meaning in her works she's representing the good and bad spiritually and physically. Her use of functional and non-functional pots shows the differences in meaning in each one. Sometimes they are supposed to show more of a story while the plates and other kitchenware look more useful and geometric and intended for a specific use.   

Bilbro looks like she uses many different techniques. While achieving the earthy, thoughtful, and uplifting mood, she must use different ways of creation for different objects. For her useful objects, like plates and cups, it looks like she uses a wheel to spin her clay. her more decorative pieces look like they are either coil or pinch techniques due to their interesting and unique shapes and forms. Although these shapes and forms unify her pieces, the color helps bring them all together. She uses usually the same tones and colors to achieve more monotone pieces, often not shiny. Although her details ares intricate, they are also simplistic. Her use of lines and dots creates small patterns which also help bring unity to her collection. Another technique it looks like she uses is a small paintbrush to complete the look of the small details in every work. 

I chose Janny Baek because of the pieces she creates. I love the way she uses her clay to make it look like layers and create different moods. It feels like there is a deeper meaning to each of her pieces. I also like how her collection of these pieces mix together. They all have different colors and slightly different textures but all have a similar shape and form overall which brings the pieces together. They all bring the same geometric feel which brings a unifying mood. 

For some pieces her color is plain and for others, her colors are more complex like ombre or small parts of color. For some of her pieces, her ribs are larger while for other pieces they are smaller. Sometimes the ribs all move together and in one direction and sometimes the ribs move perpendicular to each other. I like how they are all more decorative pieces with different feels to them because of the color. This can allow for different rooms to feel different ways when incorporating this decor. 

I chose Patty Bilbro because of the way she unifies her pieces. Her forms are similar although not the same, but the mood created with the color pallet is very helpful in connecting all the different pieces. I like that some of her pieces are meaningful while others are more representative or geometric. 

All of her pieces look very simple but effective, another reason why I chose this artist. I liked the way they achieve similar roles to play in the same collection, usually mat and intentional. While different from Janny's collection Patty's is more unified by the color pallet and Janny with her design and form/shape

Although both are unified is different ways there are also some similarities. Some of both of their works are representative and more decorative than useful. Their techniques in creating each one also helps bring together their collection, for Baek the shape, for Bilbro the color pallet. I also like the use of intentional placement of color. This helps add the effect of cleanness and simplicity. It brings ease to the eye and creates a likeable piece. It looks like the very much used their paint brushes in certain ways to achieve the look.