Modernist painters celebrate the flatness that is their picture plane, but I argue that the process of painting is not necessarily flat and a surface should not be considered only as flat picture plane: two-dimensional. Ceramic work bridges the gap between sculpture and painting. Painting is something that not only can be used in conjunction with ceramics but can elevate both disciplines, making both more than the sum of their parts. Ceramics can bring about works that come off the wall to be seen and felt in the round, and they can also be painted to enhance the creation, to bring the planar into spatial life. This paper will discuss the works of Hans Hofmann, Lauren Mabry, Connie Kiener, Henry Moore, and Grace Sheese. I will also discuss the writings of Paul Scott and Clement Greenberg.

In my thesis work, I begin with form. I create utilitarian cups in the primal elemental shape of the vessel. I use the alchemy of the glaze, relying upon the secrets of color and fire. I apply the painting techniques wrested from recalcitrant clay, together seeking to express not merely an image, but a plane transitioning to space. A shape to experience with touch and sight, physical, vibrant and tactile.