Chandra DeBuse
Chandra DeBuse[edit]
Chandra DeBuse is a ceramic artist making functional pottery. She incorporates a feeling of play and amusement in her work by using narrative imagery, patterns and forms.[1]
Early career[edit]
DeBuse is originally from a small town in southeast Nebraska where she obtained a degree in psychology.[1] Her decision to become a full-time studio potter developed over the course of twelve years.[2] The discovery of her love of pottery happened after taking a community ceramics class. In 1998 she enrolled in the beginner’s wheel-throwing class at Down Under clay studio in Nebraska.[2] The class was a cathartic outlet for her emotionally exhausting job.[3] Her job at a shelter for abused women and children created stress and isolation in her life. As DeBuse moved from working directly with people to an administered role at the shelter her stress levels lowered. Ceramic value in her life went from being a stress relief to becoming an obsession.[2]
Work[edit]
DeBuse’s pottery is functional with narrative imagery, pattern and forms to amuse and delight the user, imparting a sense of play. The approach in creating her work reflects make-believe imagination, characters and landscapes of leisure. She uses bouncing lines, candy colors, low relief and hand-drawn elements. She wants to encourage a sense of discovery and exploration.[1] For example some of her work incorporated sculptural pockets for holding spoons that she created. To DeBuse her work is like a landscape where “human fingers are invited to roam alongside my hand-drawn character, each seeking out their own morsel of delight.”[4] She knows her pottery is successful when someone laughs at a character she’s drawn, spills their drink as they investigate the bottom of the cup or finds joy in discovering a plump spoon nestled inside a pocket.[1]
Development of Work[edit]
Because of the tragic loss of her father, her training in psychology and the experience working in the shelter helped support the ideas of what she wanted her pottery to be. She knew she had to steer clear of tragic and sobering topics in her artwork. She wanted her ceramics to reflect uplifting moments and contribute to a person’s positive outlook. It was a struggle to find her voice, she researched the idea of play, including the psychological and social benefits in both animals and humans. This topic gave her solutions to the questions about function, form and surface. Play held her attention as it was something she believed in. It had been witnessed it at the shelter when residents used the act of play to overcome adversity. DeBuse herself had sought out her own playful escape in the form a pottery class.
Working with loose narratives allows her to express personal commentary on the human experience. DeBuse’s drawings of squirrels are metaphors that conjure up strong reactions in people. Some people cannot get passed their personal negative encounters with squirrel invasions in their attic, chewing up electrical wiring. “Others see themselves as the squirrel, grasping for that just-out-of-reach prize or resting upon their large winnings with one eye open. I love how powerfully relatable a metaphor can be.”[2]
Education[edit]
· 2010 - Master of Fine Art
Ceramics University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
· 2007-08 – Post Baccalaureate Studies
Ceramics University of Nebraska–Lincoln ,Lincoln, NE[5]
Honors and Awards[edit]
· 2012 – Emerging Artist
National Conference for Education in the Ceramic Arts
· 2012 – Emerging Artist
Ceramics Monthly
· 2011-12 – Trabue Professional Scholarship for Women
· 2011-12 – Artist-In-Residence
Arrowmount School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
· 2010-11 – Artist-In-Residence
Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, FL
· 2009-10 – Albert K. Murray Fine Arts Educational Grant
· 2009 – American Craft Council Conference Scholarship
Acc Conference 2009: Greeting a New Craft Culture, Minneapolis, MN[5]
Exhibitions[edit]
2012
· Containment III, The Nesting Instinct
Invitational Crimson Laurel Gallery, Bakersville, NC
· NCECA Emerging Artists Exhibition
Expo Hall Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, Wa
· Sweet Treats Invitational
four-person group show Red Star studios. Kansas City, MO
· C.U.P.S. Ceramics, Utilitarian, and of a Personal
Scale Invitational Blue Spiral 1 Gallery, Asheville, NCE
· 8 Fluid Ounces
group show Invited Artist, Juror Kristen Kieffer Glassell Gallery,
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
2011
· Playscapes
Online Solo Exhibition of New Work
Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, FL
· Barrett Clay Works 3rd National Cup
Juror: Adam Welch
Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY
· Beyond the Brickyard
Juror: Paul Mathieu
Archie Bray Foundation, Helena MT
· Red Lodge Clay Center Juried National Exhibition
Juror: Brad Schwieger
Red Lodge Clay Center, Red Lodge, MT
· Small Favors VI
Invitational The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
· Pairings
Invitational group exhibition
Carbondale Clay Center, Carbondale, CO
2010
· Table Manners
Invitational group exhibition
Lark and Key Gallery, Charlotte, NC
· Seventh Annual Marge Brown Kalodner Graduate Student
Exhibition Jurors: Marge Brown Kalodner, Jeff Guido, Michael Moore
The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
· 2010 NCECA National Student Juried Exhibition
Jurors: Erin Furimsky and Matt
Long Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
· Currents Contemporary Ceramics
Juried group exhibition Jurors: Linda Arbuckle and John Byrd
University of Florida Focus Gallery, Gainesville, FL[5]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 DeBuse, Chandra (2006–2018). "Statement". Red Clay Lodge Center.CS1 maint: Date format (link)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 DeBuse, Chandra (May 2015). "Just Beyond Grasp: Chasing a Life in Clay". Ceramics Monthly: 37, 38, 39.
- ↑ "Everyday Humor on Functional Pottery by Chandra Debuse". Ceramic Artists Now. 2016-02-02. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
- ↑ Hatch, Molly (2015). New Ceramic Surface Design: Learn to Inlay, Stamp, Stencil, Draw, and Paint on Clay. Quarry Books. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-63159-028-3. Search this book on
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Blurb Books". www.blurb.com. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
External links[edit]
- https://jenallenceramics.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/potter-of-the-month-chandra-debuse/
- http://debuse-on-the-loose.blogspot.com/
- http://chandradebuse.com/home.html
- https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/clayflicks/glazing-decorating-techniques/sketch-stretch-chandra-debuse/
- https://cerberagallery.com/portfolios/chandra-debuse/
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