Baby Bird, 2003

Ryan Wilson Kelly

White earthenware

10 in H x 7 in x 7 in

Written Signature

Add a touch of wit and curiosity to your collection with this distinctive sculpture by Ryan Kelly. Cast in low-fire white earthenware from a vintage toy chicken body and topped with a hand-modeled macaque head, this playful yet thought-provoking work perfectly captures Kelly's signature blend of humor, craftsmanship, and subtle memento mori. As a Resident Artist from 2006-2011, Kelly infused our community with energy and whimsy.

The piece was featured in the 2003 Ceramics Monthly announcement for Kelly's solo exhibition, Cerama-Lama-Ding-Dong, at Baltimore Clayworks, making it a notable and delightful example of the artist's imaginative approach to ceramics and a memorable addition to any collection.

Artist Statement

My work comes into being through a great deal of half-hearted research, tangential explorations and an abiding love of the object, the well made, properly made, appropriate object-leaving room for the appropriateness of the immediate, the unrefined and the crude.

The form my work takes, and the subject matter I work with are in a looping dialogue. Often I evoke archetypal domestic or theatrical spaces. I borrow characters from history, popular culture, decorative arts, literature and vernacular myth making. These serve as an entry point for viewers, and a jumping off point for myself into allegories for my own internal struggles and observations.

Kelly says about the piece "At the time, I was embracing the kitschy side of ceramics. The gallery at the Baltimore Clayworks is broken up into multiple rooms and long hallways. I created different themes for each room. The main entrance had low, satin upholstery topped platforms with large slip-cast piggy banks cavorting and enjoying each other's company. There was a 1776 room with an enormous bas relief Ben Franklin and a number of commemorative objects, and finally there was the Non-denominational holiday ornament and tchotchke room. This is where the piece in question was displayed. In this room there was a ceramic chandelier hanging above a tiered circular pedestal topped with a large ceramic basket brimming with slip cast tchotchkes."

Artist Biography

Ryan W. Kelly holds a BFA in Ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from The Ohio State University. His work ranges from performance and video to object based installations. He draws inspiration from American mythology, historical inaccuracies and the curious story telling that finds its way into our material culture and decorative arts. He celebrates the myopic strangeness often preserved in our souvenirs, monuments and commemorations.

Currently Kelly is a Professor of Ceramics and Foundations at Western Washington University. Previously he was a Visiting Professor at The Ohio State University in Ceramics and Foundations. Prior to that he lived and worked in Philadelphia, where he was a resident artist at The Clay Studio; a recipient of an Independence Foundation Fellowship, and a co-curator at Practice Gallery. His collaborations in dance and theater include credits in the Green Porno series by Isabella Rossellini.

This piece was donated by the Family of Marge and Phil Kalodner.

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