ARTIST STATEMENT
The variety and beauty of animal forms fascinates me. I grew up on a farm in coastal Oregon, and animals have always been part of my life. I drew my horse hundreds of times, as I later did my seals in Hawaii and fish in Alaska. Now I let them live again on pots. I like to celebrate the little guy—the unknown, the prey, or the ordinary. Creating them via Raku or other primitive firing methods is especially poignant, because it is a quick process that can reflect the high mortality of the real animal world; sometimes with a “crack” from thermal shock a pot is extinct, but that makes those that survive the process all the rarer and more cherished. Each surviving pot is special. The fast-firing process encourages a more organic gestural look, where unintended marks from the firing are celebrated. It is just pure fun to fire them with friends, celebrate the survivors, and then release them into the world.
BIO
Doris Alcorn is a ceramic artist in Auke Bay, Alaska. Animals inhabit the one-of-a-kind pots that she sculpts or throws on the wheel. They reflect her travels and 30-year work as a field biologist in California, Hawaii, and Alaska. She has an MS degree in Biology from California State University East Bay, and BA from University of California Berkeley. In addition to undergraduate art classes (including scientific illustration at UC Berkeley and ceramics at UAS), she has taken workshops with figurative ceramicists Beth Cavener-Stichter; Christina Cordova, Lisa Clague, and Kelly Rathbone Garrett; and Bernadette Curran. She worked with Nicaraguan potters during the “Potters for Peace” 2018 brigade, decorating pots via smoke firing and building primitive brick kilns. She fires a range of temperatures—depending on what kilns are available; like her animals, she adapts.
EXHIBITIONS
2018 6th Annual Cup Show, Jansen Art Center, Lynden, Washington. Juried show. People’s Choice award and Most Innovative Cup award for flipped zebra cup
2018 to present University Artist Display, Juneau international Airport, Juneau, Alaska
2017 Kissed by Fire, group raku show, Juneau Arts and Humanities Council (JAHC) Gallery, Juneau, Alaska
2015 Clay National X, Ceramic Color- The Endless Pursuit, Carbondale Clay Center, Carbondale, Colorado. Juried show (Josh DeWeese)
2015 University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) Student Art Show, Baranof Hotel, Juneau Alaska
2008 Making Waves, JAHC Gallery, Juneau, Alaska. Two-person ceramics show with aquatic theme
2005, 2006, 2007, 2018, and 2022 UAS Student Show, JAHC Gallery, Juneau, Alaska
1986 Great Valley Museum of Natural History, Modesto, California. Solo exhibition of illustrations from the field guide Freshwater Fishes of California First Edition, UC Press
1980 California Species: Biological art and Illustration, Oakland Museum, Oakland, California. Juried group show. Shark drawing selected as the show poster
1982 California Species: Biological art and Illustration, Oakland Museum, Oakland, California. Juried group show.