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Carol Fisher prints, Unzicker Brothers Pottery at Sugar Creek Art Center

Sorry this post is coming so late, it has been in my inbox for two weeks now. I will be trying to catch up on some posting from my hotel room this week.



Post by Guest Writer, Liz Margason


Three Thorntown area artists are featured in the April show at Sugar Creek Art Center. Carol Fisher’s large woodblock prints, coupled with the Unzicker Brother’s Japanese inspired wood fired pottery turn SCAC’s main gallery into a warm but modern showcase of local talent.

Carol Fisher’s latest color reduction woodblock prints feature her cats, border collies, and the gentle rural scenery that has dominated her work for the last several years. She has an uncluttered style that uses an interesting palette of minor note colors. Teal, peach, olive, and muted purple and yellow blend harmoniously in this collection of common scenes in a country life.

Fisher’s prints are based on personal experience, and the small editions usually have 7 to 10 colors. The images gradually emerge as she patiently waits for the paint to dry, moving between the carving and printing processes in her home studio.

Tom and Jeff Unzicker have been turning wood fired, functional stoneware for several years in their rural Thorntown workshop. The brother’s impressive work is quite popular, and looks wonderful paired with Fisher’s uncluttered prints.

The flames and ash from the Unzicker wood fired kiln create much of the beautiful surface decoration on their high temperature pots. The technique is most closely related to Japanese tunnel kiln firing (Anagama). The firing takes constant attention, with the brothers taking 8 hour shifts, stoking the kiln every 10 to 15 minutes. The firing schedule lasts 3 days, and then the kiln cools for about a week before it is unloaded.

Many of the pieces in this show are very large, and I can’t decide if it is the striking shapes of the pots, or the beautiful natural glazes that appeal to me the most. The combination of lovely prints and dramatic pots in the century old white sunlit gallery is very nice.

Unzicker Brothers Pottery, 5499W 650N, Thorntown, 765-436-2343, is having an open house on Saturday, May 5th, from 9-5.

Sugar Creek Art Center, 127 South Pearl Street, Thorntown, 765-436-7102, is open Thursday thru Saturday 11–6. This show runs from April 5-28.

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