Shirley Gromen Ceramics

Meet the Artist

• About This Artist

  Shirley Gromen received her BFA in from MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) and her MFA in ceramics from The Ohio State University. She worked many years as a graphic designer before returning to working in clay. She works out of her studio on Southern Maryland inspired by the ever-changing natural world of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. She interprets different species of birds, fish, and plants on functional and sculptural porcelain forms hoping to bring to the user/viewer an awareness and appreciation of the variety of interdependent life that surrounds us.

• Q&A With This Artist

  Q: Tell us how your work is made.

  A: Using a mid-range porcelain clay body I throw or handbuild my forms. I use carving, mishima (a line is incised into the form which is then filled with a colored slip. The excess is scraped away to reveal a fine line) and sgraffito (the form is painted with a black slip, the image is created by carving away the black to reveal the white clay body.) techniques to create the drawing. After a bisque firing the interior of the forms are glazed with teal, black or clear glaze and fired to cone 6.

  Q: What makes you passionate about the medium and materials you work with?

  A: From the first day I walked into the ceramic studio as an undergraduate student, clay captivated me with the possibilities of combining the 3-dimensional form with 2-dimensional imagery. When I think of my influences and why I love working in clay I see my grandmother’s Limoges china that she carried from Europe in 1914, my mother’s Imari china plates from Japan that decorated our dining room walls and the china cabinet filled with porcelain teacups with saucers.

  Q: What is something unique or unexpected about you or your work?

  A: Growing up in Maryland meant spending summers on the Cheseapeake Bay. Some days I would join my father when he went charter fishing. Rockfish, bluefish, blowfish, and other species might make up that days catch. Seagulls and pelicans were the indicators of where fish might be found. Saturday nights, long hours were spent at the dinner table picking crabs. It is the imagery of these days that populate the surface of my forms.