tiffany adams
Tiffany Adams’ studio is in Exeter, RI. A native of Los Angeles, California, she studied ceramics at the Universidad de los Andes (ULA) in Merida, Venezuela, and then moved to Rhode Island. She furthered her education at Rhode Island College (Fine Arts) and Rhode Island School of Design, along with taking workshops across the country. She built her studio in 2005.
Adams is an elected exhibiting artist member of The Art League of Rhode Island and The Providence Art Club. Her work has been selected in many juried and invitational exhibitions throughout Rhode Island. She has won many awards including in 2016 Juror’s Choice at Attleboro Art Museum, 3rd place at Providence Art Club “Big Show” and 2nd place at the regional “Earthworks 43rd Annual Clay Exhibition.”
Her artwork was published in the 2013 edition of American Art Collector. In 2015 she received an artist grant and artist residency at MASS MoCA through their Assets for Artists Program.
Tiffany’s work has just been accepted into the 2017 national juried exhibit of contemporary woman artists at the Providence Art Club “Making Your Mark,” juried by Kat Watson, Curator, of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC.
artist statement
My ceramic sculptures are organic in form and inspired by nature. My inspiration is wide ranging and includes my environment, memories of my travels and love of the ocean. I feel drawn to forms found in nature and to nature itself. The found objects I draw my inspiration from are: bones, shells, rocks, coral, seeds, driftwood or fragments of these found treasures. I observe the round and wavy curves and also the jagged sharp edges that influence my work. I contemplate their existence. How long it took to become smooth, weathered, warped, bleached, corroded, crusty or cracked. That is what excites me about the raku finish. I can take a fresh, new piece of clay and give it a look of aged existence. I try to give each of my pieces that same feeling of age, as if the object has been sitting on the bottom of the ocean or buried for some time allowing the viewer to ponder. Some of my work is void of color. It makes one wonder from where this form came; land or water; animal or plant? This body of work is my ‘Coral Series.’ I use copper blues, metallic, and lithium greens to achieve and mimic the colors I remember while diving through coral reefs.
The gestural movement and rhythm of the cylindrical forms seem as if to be growing out of the ocean floor.
All of my sculptures in this series are hand built, one of a kind, and made of stoneware clay. After creating the pieces, I bisque fire in an electric kiln, then glaze, and fire once again in a raku kiln. This is how the crackle surface is achieved. What I enjoy most about this glaze and firing technique is the varying end results. Each piece is unique and can never be duplicated. It is always a thrill to open the kiln and see what awaits. This keeps me motivated and excited to continually experiment with this process.