Erik Scollon—a fixture of the Bay Area’s avant-garde ceramics scene—invites us to reconsider that most conventional ceramic object: the bead.
In recent years, lockdown restrictions forced Scollon to practice on a new, more intimate scale, leading him to create thousands and thousands of ceramic beads. Slowly and meditatively, bead after bead was rolled by hand, pierced, fired and glazed. Then, through slow repetition and accumulation, they were strung and knotted into macramé panels. The resulting compositions are riotous fields of color and texture that scramble viewers’ perception of scale, distance, and resolution; inviting multiple modes of engagement and shattering conventional distinctions between painting, sculpture, and ceramic art.
About the artist
A committed educator, Scollon is an Associate Professor and Chair of the First Year CORE Studio Program at California College of the Arts. Moving between ‘sculpture’ and ‘ceramics,’ functional objects and aesthetically autonomous objects, social engagement and recorded performances, he investigates issues of education, access, taste, class, gender, and queerness.
Born in Rochester, Michigan, Scollon received his BFA from Albion College, and an MFA in Ceramics along with an MA in Visual and Critical Studies, both from California College of the Arts. His work has been seen at museums, galleries, craft fairs, design blogs, and gay biker bars. He is represented by Romer Young Gallery and he currently lives and works in San Francisco, California.
