Sally Bowen Prange

Sally Bowen Prange is one of the most important and influential ceramic artists in the Southeast today. She is beloved by collectors and fellow artists alike and the seventeen museum collections that house her work are a testament to the lasting value of her vision. After fifty years, Prange continues to push the boundaries between form and function. “I consider porcelain to be an aristocratic clay in all of its temperamental characteristics,” writes Prange. “Its smooth, white texture is sensuous. The purity of the clay is absolutely necessary for the glazes and decorative techniques I use. I remain in awe of the profound ceramic practices developed in the ancient kilns of China where porcelain beauty reached its apex in the Song Dynasty.”

Prange’s involvement with procelain is linked to a long running interest and concern with Chinese culture. Her parent had lived in China for five years and they planted the seeds of interest in the young artist. Sally’s affinity for this exotic culture grew as she made Chinese friends, read about China, and finally travelled to China in 1978.

The current works by Sally Prange fall into separate series, each representing unique directions of thought. “The variety enriches me and my work manner,” says Prange. “For each different piece I have intimate and distinct feelings as I work, sometimes a narrative in my mind.” Form is foremost, and the altered rim is ever-present but the surfaces vary with the whim of the artist. There is the "barnacle" surface, derived from Prange’s underwater experience as a Scuba Diver. There is the vibrant lustrous colors, worked abstractly on the surfaced of some vessels and inspired by the hues of corals, sponges, anenomes - the sea life of the underwater world. “The lyrical interplay of color and texture is unique to my palette as a ceramic artist.”