Medway Cultural Council's February 2021 Artist Spotlight - Celeste Falcone
Welcome to February’s Installment of The Artist Spotlight!
Each month, the Medway Cultural Council will ask a Medway resident artist questions to understand who they are, what they do and how they do it.
This month we will put the spotlight on Celeste Falcone, a local ceramics artist.
Tell us about your art:
I am a ceramics artist. I primarily work with terracotta clay to make functional ware (bowls, plates and cups), as well as sculptural vases-vessels and wall pieces. Terracotta is known as earthenware; it is a clay that is fired at a lower temperature than porcelain or stoneware clay, it is essentially the material from which commercial “flower pots” are made. It has a lovely warm reddish brown color.
Ceramics is the art of making objects with pliable clay, that are then “fired” or heated in a gas or electric kiln.
I use commercially prepared materials; but some artists also work with clay that is dug up directly from the ground to create objects. This is a very, very old tradition. My clay comes in 25 pound blocks, smooth and ready to use.
I have an electric potter’s wheel to form my bowls, vases, etc.; this is known as “throwing”. I also “hand build”, rolling clay out with a rolling pin, into “slabs” to drape over or in molds, or to form into objects. There are two other hand building techniques, “pinching” clay to form shapes, and coiling, which is building forms with coils -long clay ropes that are rolled out and joined together. At different times, I use all of these techniques. I decorate my work with underglazes.
My most frequently used underglaze process is to create a background, usually antique white, to “draw on”, and use a very sharp needle tool to draw designs and illustrations. I sketch directly, often developing the design as I go. I then “paint” using underglazes.
Next, I very carefully take my work from my home studio to Mudflat Pottery Studio where it is fired. This first firing is a bisque firing. After the pieces are bisque fired, I glaze the pieces with clear glaze, which is non-toxic and food safe.
There is a lot to ceramics, the clay, the glazing, the history, the craft, the firing processes; it involves design, craftsmanship and technical knowledge of chemistry and firing.
I do not make my living as an artist. My career has been as a public school K-8 art teacher and school librarian, from which I am retired. Since retiring, I have taught both general arts & crafts and ceramics in community education settings, including at Community Kiln in Framingham and the Hopkinton Center for the Arts. I have stepped out of teaching since the covid19, but hope to return to that as soon as it is safe. I am fortunate to have a very functional basement studio for throwing on the potter’s wheel and hand-building.
If you are interested in “getting into” ceramics, a good place to start is by taking classes at a community studio, like Community Kiln in Framingham.
I glaze and fire my work at Mudflats Studio in Somerville, which is a very special community and facility with inspiring, knowledgeable teachers, artists who rent studio spaces, and students of all levels. You can find more info here: https://mudflat.org/
What inspires you?
Nature and gardening, the beauty of plants, birds, insects, flowers, my own desire to create, to explore and express ideas, the clay itself, and the work of other artists, designers and craftspeople, here and around the globe. I often visit museums and galleries.
I am inspired and humbled by my fellow clay artists and teachers at Mudflats.
How did you get started making your art?
I connected with drawing, painting and creating things from a young age and was lucky to have an artistic older sister who encouraged me. I lived in a neighborhood community center that offered high quality art classes. I took every possible art class at my Fort Worth high school and was encouraged with winning awards in city wide art competitions for drawing, painting and ceramics. Studying art at UT, Austin, was a good experience, leading to teaching art in the public schools. Teaching art is a great profession that necessitates gaining broad knowledge and proficiency in many art areas, but I have always been drawn to painting and ceramics.
What drew you into the field?
I love the physical nature of clay and enjoy making art that people can hold in their hands and use as part of their everyday life.
While working as the school librarian at Prospect Hill Academy in Somerville, I discovered Mudflats, a studio down the street and started taking classes. It had been many years since I had focused on clay and it was great to find such an amazing facility and community of artists. Since retiring from public school teaching I have been able to allocate more time to making ceramics.
How long have you lived in Medway? What drew you to this town?
We moved to Medway five years ago so my husband, a plant biologist, could be near his work
for Crop One Holdings-Fresh Box Farms in Millis. He is “the head of lettuce”, hahaha.
We found a house which appealed to our gardening, foodie natures: raised beds, blueberry bushes, apple trees and a pizza oven! Our neighborhood is pleasant, and I love to ride my bike to Choate Park.
How can people experience your work?
I have a website page at http://falconeceramicspace.weebly.com/ which includes a gallery of my work and has a “contact me” form to request to purchase work or comment.
I participate in the biannual Mudflat sales. The most recent sales have gone very well; I sell some from my website, and some from “word of mouth”. I do give my work as gifts, and have traded with other artists. I would consider finding a local outlet for my work, but selling is not my primary focus, as I do not want the pressure of having to maintain a large inventory of work. My pieces have been in a few group shows, including “No School” at the Julie Heller Gallery in Provincetown, the Millis Library, the Hopkinton Center for the Arts and the Mudflat Challenge Exhibits.
Describe your favorite meal?
One of our favorite meals to make taps into my Texas roots: chicken or turkey enchiladas, mole or Verde, hand made tortillas, guacamole, drunken beans, pico de gallo, and pecan pralines for dessert!