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Ralph and Vera Baney

Exhibition


September 14 - 23, 2010

 

PREVIEW

Vera Baney

PERSONAL STATEMENT ABOUT HER CERAMICS

“I use clay as my principal medium. I make all my pieces by hand building with coils or slab. I can manipulate the clay to make it do anything I want it to do. For me, ceramics is more than making pots. I  make sculptural pots, sculpture and relief which are not meant to be functional but thought provoking and mysterious.

After I had my stroke I was limited to working with one hand so I could only make pots. But I still tried to add decorative treatments in the clay.”

VERA  BANEY – PERSONAL STATEMENT ABOUT HER PRINTS

“When I was making prints I did not make any drawings or diagrams to assist in arriving at the final image. I simply followed my intuition and related directly with the materials to create as I went along making changes and adjustments until I was satisfied with what I saw in front of me. I was mainly concerned with the elements which go together to make a good picture.

As a contemporary artist from Trinidad and Tobago . I felt I wanted  to be on the cutting edge of what was currently happening in art and did not feel bound to the familiar images from Trinidad and Tobago .

That,  I felt, would be too limiting. After all I was now in America . It did not matter to me if my work sold or not. I created the work for myself and if other people liked it then that was fine.“

Diana
stoneware & luster
1993
13.5" h



Poise for Rhythm
multi fired stoneware
1986
24 x 13"

 

A Place of Rarest Purity
stoneware & luster
1975
24" h

 

Ralph Baney

RALPH BANEY - PERSONAL STATEMENT.  2010

As a wood sculptor, my method of work has been to let the material dictate in what direction I should go. I respond to the natural torsions of the wood and cooperate with it rather than fight against it by imposing my own will upon it. In many cases I try to get the ultimate in refinement of the form and surface quality in order to bring out the inherent beauty of the material. I turned to wood because there is an abundance of it in my native Trinidad and Tobago. I feel a very strong affinity to wood. I like its structure, warmth and working characteristics which I find very responsive to the kinds of forms I wish to make. In the final analysis changing forms is what matters to me. I therefore concern myself with the dynamics of how I can get the wood to “move” and come alive. I apply the same principles in my alabaster, bronze and ceramic sculptures.

 

In my most recent work I am exploring combination of stone, ceramic and glass with my wood sculpture. I feel the need to move to another level with my work and find this very exciting because I am not aware of any other wood sculptor doing this.


Mary
Drawing 2009
mixed media
32 x 25" ( framed)

Enigma
walnut wood
ceramic
stone
29.5 x 17 x 11"



The Aggressor
walnut wood
ceramic
stone
47.5 x 10 x 10.5"

 

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