{"id":331,"date":"2023-05-03T17:35:04","date_gmt":"2023-05-03T17:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/uniquetechnique\/?p=331"},"modified":"2023-05-03T17:35:04","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T17:35:04","slug":"featured-artist-gabs-conway-ceramics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fredstories.com\/uniquetechnique\/featured-artist-gabs-conway-ceramics\/","title":{"rendered":"Featured Artist of the Week; Gabs Conway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello Everyone!<\/p>\n

This week’s featured artist is another ceramicist, Gabs Conway. She isn’t just any ceramicist though, she makes these weird little wormy guys and I love them with my whole heart.<\/p>\n

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Gabs was born in Rochester Minnesota, but was raised in Missoula Montana. Attended Undergrad in Menomonie Wisconsin at the University of Wisconsin – Stout, and then moved back to Missoula.<\/p>\n

Primarily Gabs grew up doing ceramics with her father and then got her degree in the medium. Truly beginning to hone her craft when she went off to college for ceramics.<\/p>\n

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I asked Gabs what kept her motivated to create and this is what she said;<\/p>\n

“Honestly, I get really anxious when I\u2019m not creating. For me, I constantly need to be making, in order to feel calm. However, I get artists\u2019 block all the time. Most of my ideas come to me randomly, or when I\u2019m thinking back on memories. When I’m feeling stuck I like to return back to a form I\u2019ve already created and make adjustments to it; refine, rethink the interaction. I\u2019m also currently world building within my work so I return to my forms all the time. I\u2019m currently stuck trying to siphon out a new design, but one that\u2019s not so different from my current forms. I\u2019ve just been slowly paying attention to things I\u2019m interested in and trying to develop from there.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Personally I can relate to this anxious feeling that happens during an artist’s block, I wish I could create more. Maybe creating more would help me through other daily life anxieties.<\/p>\n

Gabs told me that her little worms are inspired by how silly people are, and not taking things so seriously. This shows in the nature of her ceramics work, as I feel that these lil guys are silly, albeit spooky to some people.<\/p>\n

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Although, a lot of people I’ve shown her work to think that they’re a little creepy. I personally find them super interesting to look at, and this lead to me having specific questions about how she creates them.<\/p>\n

I was wondering how Gabs created the ceramic teeth, they look so incredibly realistic and then I learned why. She told me that they are actually press molds of her little sister’s teeth from when she was around 8 years old.<\/p>\n

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I find this use of realistic molds to create realistic teeth to be an amazing technique. Of course they look real, because they’re molded by the real thing.<\/p>\n

Each lil guy takes about 3 weeks to create. Including the drying time of the clay and firing time once completed, she can create about 5 ceramic dudes in a week, she says that’s really pushing it though.<\/p>\n

Gabs really emphasizes artists giving themselves breaks, and listening to your body and mind. Taking care of yourself not just as an artist, but in everyday life as well. I also would like to strongly emphasize this, and think she couldn’t have said it any better.<\/p>\n

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The attention to detail and just flat-out weirdness of her ceramic work is what drew me to interviewing and writing about her.<\/p>\n

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I also hope to see more things like these mugs that she created.<\/p>\n

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I love Gab’s style and hope to see more of these worm guys in the future, as I feel that they truly are unique and not something people see everyday.<\/p>\n