And a Smile

Craig Clifford

porcelain, glaze
4 1/4"W x 12 1/2" D x 4 3/4"H

Originally created for The Clay Studio's 2012 Small Favors exhibition, this fanciful work by Craig Clifford defies expectations and the boundaries of its container. Each work submitted for Small Favors must fit into a 4" square display cube. While Clifford's sculpture does meet this requirement in width and height, the work extends out from the display and enters the viewer's personal space. Composed of a long blue tower-like textured with a variety of slip-cast objects that create a search-and-find guaranteed to capture the eye. This monochromatic structure culminates in a gathering of kitschy animals: red birds, chubby white bunnies, and a fawn. Alternately contemporary and retro, you won't want to miss your chance to bring home this unique piece!

Artist's Biography

Craig Clifford received his BFA from California State University Long Beach in 2000 and his MFA from Louisiana State University in 2003. He exhibits his work nationally and internationally and has been included in the 2007 and 2009 World Ceramic Biennial in South Korea as well as, Ceramic Top 40, and is a past artist in residence at The Archie Bray Foundation, in Helena Montana and c.r.e.t.a. Rome, in Rome Italy. He is currently in the studio working for upcoming solo exhibitions in 2020 at Tennessee Tech University's, Derryberry Gallery, in Smithville Tennessee. He has taught ceramics and art at California State University Long Beach, USC, Mississippi Valley State University and is currently the head of the ceramics program at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.

Artist's Statement

I am interested in where high and low culture intersect, how the objects that I make become image-like and how those images carry meaning. My work is an exercise in the transformation of the mundane. As well, it is an investigation into how context, expectation and gaze affect our experience with the objects and images that perhaps go unnoticed and yet surround us throughout the day.
Ultimately my finished ceramic pieces are made from the assemblage of hundreds of slip cast kitsch or low art memorabilia found in commercially produced molds made for the weekend handy-crafter market. I am very interested in building a visual density that confuses the eye and detracts from the original intention of the individual objects. I cut, graft, arrange and rearrange forms that start as one thing and become something quite different by the time I am finished. I will generally work until what I am making is only distantly related to it's origins in things that we know.

Donated by the Artist - Craig Clifford

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