Colleen Quigley received her BFA in Sculpture from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and her MFA in Printmaking from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in Tokyo, Japan. Her current work covers a broad range of media and includes sculpture/installation, ceramics, encaustic, and painting. Her work has been exhibited in Italy, Japan, Singapore, the United States and the UAE. Check Colleen’s instagram https://www.instagram.com/onibabachan/?hl=en and website https://www.colleenquigleyart.com to see her work.
Featured Artist Interview with Sophie Ellefson in the Romero House Potters 8/2019 Newsletter:
Have you always been an artist? What did you make as a young person?
As a young person I was encouraged to experiment with various materials including paper folding, drawing, painting and clay. The first thing I made with clay was a bowl made by placing a slab of clay over a large smooth rock and then removing it after the plastic form became leather hard and then carving designs on it. I enjoyed the process and having something tangible afterwards, a kind of record of the process and experience. That was in grade school. I have been hooked on clay/art ever since.
What was your bachelors degree, and your advanced degree, and where did you earn them?
I earned my BFA in Sculpture at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pa. My main focus was figurative sculpture but I also balanced this with abstract welding and forging. I completed my MFA in Printmaking at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in Tokyo, Japan (Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku) where I focused on contemporary Japanese woodblock, using traditional tools and materials but in less restricted, unconventional ways.
Since your formal education, what other mediums have you worked in over the course of your career?
In addition to sculpture and printmaking, my work encompasses a diverse range of media including encaustic, kiln forming glass, painting, and installation. Clay has often been present as a medium. I have used it in installations, object making (sculpture), printmaking, and with my encaustic mixed media pieces in which I either embed ceramic into encaustic or encaustic onto ceramic.
I’d love to hear about your time overseas. Where/what did you teach?
I taught visual art for 14 years at Zayed University, a national university for Emirati women in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. My classes included Ceramics, Painting, Sculpture, Senior Project and Art Foundations.
What was your favorite thing about living in another country?
Living abroad is a transformative experience and broadens your perspective in life. I can say that it has developed my art practice in the most wonderful way, exposing me to new ways of looking and making and forming wonderful friendships with professional artists from all over the world.
What has it been like moving back to the states?
Moving back to the States has been an adventure - the beginning of a new chapter in my life. Tucson has been the biggest surprise for me. My partner and I chose Tucson for its climate, landscape, relatively small population, large university environment, close proximity to Mexico, and very chill atmosphere. I can now add RHP to the list. We love it here.
What is your favorite aspect of working with clay?
There are countless possibilities - from hand building, to throwing, to slip casting…and you can take all these processes and combine them to form a new kind of hybrid. Clay allows you to be experimental and take chances and it is relatively affordable compared to other mediums I have used. I love that I can explore the materiality of clay while employing the basic elements of art - texture, shape, volume, and color for example. Clay allows you to be aggressive or gentle with it and to challenge its boundaries…it can be run through a slab press and be flattened or thrown on a wheel to form a cylinder - it encourages you to test its limits.
What have been your frustrations with clay?
Frankly, clay is the least frustrating of the various mediums I work in - I find it more entertaining than frustrating. I guess this is why I keep coming back to it.
What inspires your ideas for clay or other artworks?
My own research and areas of interest include post modern strategies of art making in relation to themes of originality, materiality, popular culture, and the trans-cultural flow of objects and memory. My current body of work focuses on the natural world, specifically the various forms you find in the desert landscape which I re-translate into new hybrid sculptures. The main medium for this new body of work is clay. My work can be viewed at colleenquigleyart.com
Do you see crossover between clay and your other mediums?
Yes. I have often combined mediums of laser cut acrylic plexiglass, encaustic, and collage with ceramic to explore ways in which these surfaces/materials can interact and create a visual perception and reaction from the viewer.
What do you enjoy about working at RHP? The welcoming environment. RHP is a wonderful community that provides a creative space in which artists of diverse backgrounds can come together to create, learn, inspire, share, and deepen their passion with clay.
Colleen Quigley
COLLEEN’S CLASSES:
HAND BUILDING I
Fridays, 1:30 - 4:30 pm
Four weeks.
$140.00 members
$160 non-members
All levels