The photographs of Karl Blossfeldt(1865-1932) were source of inspiration and reflection for the second time at the ceramic class at Tech Amergin Waterville.
Blossfeldt created the photographs during his tutorship at the Royal Academy of Fine Art in Berlin until art gallery owner Karl Nierendorf saw them and invited him for an exhibition.
Nierendorf also suggested to publish the photographs in a book that eventually came out 1928 by the title "Art Forms in Nature". Today one of the 100 most important photography books.
"Art Forms in Nature" became very soon an international success and is still available in bookshops.
The 120 photographs published are detailed images of plant parts but in a controlled studio setting. Blossfeldt saw the photos as a link between the art and nature and used them to show students what natural shapes exist and where they are coming from. Do to the magnification he could show relationships between shapes and grows.
Simple shapes, combinations of different plants on one panel or repeating pattern, the book has a very interesting almost tense dramaturgy in its design of pages.
The images are a manifestation of the vast amount of variations of shapes nature is offering.
This is a second exhibition by students of the ceramic class in Tech Amergin working with Karl Blossfeldt´s photographs. This time the focus was on the ornamental designs of the ceramic pieces and the use of shape as pattern or texture. The exhibition looks at the relationship between three-dimensional shapes and designed surfaces reflecting on Blossfeldt´s photographs.
In addition to the traditional categories in pottery like pots, bowls, containers and tiles a special group project was the work on a hanging mobile.
The inspiration for the mobile came indeed from looking at the work of Alexander Calder.
Calder created art objects by using wire and metal and left them standing or hanging in the space of a room where they would be moved by the air.
The exhibition is open for the month of May during the week from 10-5pm.
©Michael Herrmann 2016
