JANE KELLY MORAIS
Ceramic Sculpture
Berkeley Springs, WV / Baltimore, MD
"As my sculpture has evolved during the past few years, I have discovered that I have been working with within a number of artistic traditions. There is first the investigation of shape and meaning of the female form. The Venus of Willendorf as well as classical, neo-classical and tribal sculpture, have all depicted woman in powerful visual terms. Figures from the past speak to me and influence my sense of form today. I have also been led to explore the decorative clay surface. Ancient techniques using incising, stamping, slip painting and glazing, have survivied the test of time and continue to be experimental within contemporary ceramics. A layering of these techniques has allowed me to achieve a depth of surface which sugests age as well as texture. Drawing and painting on wet clay surface has also engaged me. I have always loved to draw and clay responds to my hand in a direct and sensuous way. Through my reading, I have learned that other artist have turned to clay as a surface for drawing and painting for the same reasons." - Jane Kelly Morais
An artist with studios in Baltimore, Maryland and Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, Jane Kelly Morais studied at Skidmore College, where she graduated in 1957. Morais received her MFA in 1962 at Indiana University. She was a professor at Catonsville Community College in Baltimore from 1972 to 1999. Morais has exhibited her work widely in many one-person shows as well as in invitational group exhibitions, including "People Figures" and "Sewn, Stitched and Stuffed" at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York, New York; "New Works on Paper" at the David Adamson Gallery in Washington, D.C. and Artscape in Baltimore, Maryland.
Ice House Artists' Co-op * Independence and Mercer Sts. * Berkeley Springs, WV * 304-258-2300