Picture yourself deep in the forest. You haven’t seen a sign of civilization for miles. There’s a strange quietness only interrupted by
the sound of your own footsteps. Suddenly, you stumble upon a modern sculpture that is corroded and oxidized. It appears to be
from the future but also the past.
The work of Brian Evans revolves around this tale and the idea of found objects. A balance of hand building and wheel throw-ing
crafts futuristic creations that are anything but an average vase or pot. Sometimes the glaze is an accent, while in works like
Neptune’s Palace it is the main character.
42 march 2022
WBM
“In Neptune’s Palace, I
thought I was going for one
message, but it changed
completely after the glaze. I
added a mineral to the glaze
to make it bubble, that was
one of Hiroshi’s influences,”
says Evans. “Hiroshi was a
potter and sculptor; he was
good at throwing and doing
loose alterations. I take his
teachings then go beyond
that. I’m trying to think of
the wheel as not a means of
making an entire piece, but as
a tool I can add to get to the
end result.”
Evans studied sculpture in
college. Later, a course with
Dina Wilde-Ramsing intro-duced
him to hand building
and his first wheel throwing
lesson. While his mind has
since fought between the two,
he’s learning a happy medium
that he’s passing on to his
students.
“I’m trying to look at things
that don’t relate directly to
clay to form new ideas. I
taught a whole session on pots
inspired by origami and did
one inspired by fabric and
leather objects,” Evans says.
“I’ve always had multiple
personalities when it comes to
pottery. I’m trying to merge
all of those together and form
a cohesive whole. I’m just
letting it happen and it’s start-ing
to show in my work.”
A Post-Modern World
Brian Evans combines two forms to create futuristic objects
ALLISON POTTER