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Michael Robinson – Exploration of a Form
Rock Creek Helzer Gallery
January 2008
Michael Robinson combines his love of ceramics with practical employment as the lab technician for the art studios at Portland Community College’s Rock Creek Campus. He attends to the special needs and projects of the art instructors while performing duties that range from firing two large kilns; procuring and installing new equipment as well as helping students solve technical and artistic problems.
Robinson first came to Rock Creek 10 years ago to pursue a career in aviation mechanics. In the course of those studies, he took a ceramics class as an elective and soon gave up the planes for a potter’s wheel. His main emphasis has been on functional wheel-thrown ceramics using traditional and contemporary high-fired glazes.
Although his work remains grounded in functional ware, he has also pursued more sculptural forms, including a series of representational towers. These works were influenced by the Renaissance buildings of Verona, the guard towers of Dachau and the Red Fort in Agra, India. The towers represented man’s struggle against his inner turmoil and the pressures that government and religion place upon him.
For this exhibition, “The Exploration of a Form,” Robinson has returned to functional wares, presenting a variety of large and small plates and platters. Making the pieces has been a two-fold exercise. First, presenting examples of various shapes and surfaces to his wife was the first step in satisfying a promise made some years ago for a set of dinnerware. Second, making the pieces has given him valuable information on glaze reactions and firing consequences. More importantly, perhaps, is Robinson’s ability to find mystery and beauty in a vital yet common form. He sees the plate as a window in which to view places not yet traveled. Through the works in this show, he hopes to engage the viewer with possibilities that lie just on the other side of that window.
