Amy Evans McClure Vajra, "thunderbolt, diamond..."
...horse, dog, cat sheep, rabbit,
bird, pig, cow, rooster, pheasant,
quail, deer, mouse, wasp, bee, spider,
lion, Galapagos tortoise, snake, loud zoo birds,
monkey, ape, shaking hands with a chimpanzee —
pre-school age animals…
farm girl with a granma living 2 blocks from the city zoo...
memories flood through clay under my handsPhoto of my father holding me up on my mother's tall horse at age 6 months; memory of Cinnamon, a rich red-brown and white pinto, my pony with a head too big for his body, with a striped mane that sometimes stood straight up.
Three years old, feeding my first carrot to Cinnamon by myself, hand stretched back, flattened out of fear that a fingertip might disappear behind huge equine teeth. Red pony cart with big wheels like bicycle wheels, watching dad train a new pony to the cart after watching Cinnamon die age thirty-five plus. Too big to bury, Mr Frock came in his smelly truck to take him away for "glue and candles" — Mr Frock's head surrounded by the flies that followed his truck everywhere. Light a candle, light a horse spirit — I believed then and maybe still do a little bit.
Much later, art school on the other coast, discovering and falling in love with abstract painter-sculptors a la Joan B., Nathan O., Manuel N., etc…. Later, much later: finding it, in a new studio, in dialogue with clay, a new form emerging, figure of horse, head of horse; clarity, memory, thunderbolt, sword of consciousness striking down the guard at the gate with the flaming sword (me). Then I hop, jump, walk, float, ride, fly, pinch clay into another realm — the boundaries are lies; the form is the whole of it; eyes, ears, nose, touch, body, mind; form is not eye candy nor clever trick of image for the mind. form is it. form is empty. it is empty. empty is it. empty is where it all comes from, where formless form moves and breathes.
Vajra: one translation says "thunderbolt" or "diamond" — clarity of a diamond in the flash of a thunderbolt....
Click on a thumbnail to view a larger picture of these "Vajra" sculptures
E D U C A T I O N
San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, graduate work in sculpture, 1987
California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA, BFA, 1986
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 1982–84
Penland Mountain School of Crafts, Penland, NC, 1981
S O L O E X H I B I T I O N S
2005 22 Clay Canvases, An installation at The Magic Theatre, San Francisco, CA
2003 Amy Evans McClure & Ancient Art, John Ristow Gallery, Kentfield, CA
2002 Seven Sculptures in Situ, San Francisco Zen Center, San Francisco, CA
2000 Ten Sculptures, An installation at Marin Technology Center, San Rafael, CA
1999 Bad Company, Embarcadero Center SkyDeck Gallery, San Francisco, CA (with photographs by Larry Keenan & Dale Smith)
1998 A Forest of Figures, Kennedy Art Center, Holy Names College, Oakland, CA (with sculptures by Carol Setterlund)
1996 Turning to Flesh, Joan Roebuck Gallery, Lafayette, CA
1995 Field of Forms, Joan Roebuck Gallery, Lafayette, CA
The Figure, Ohlone College Gallery, Fremont, CA
1993 Amy Evans, Sculpture, Berkeley Store Gallery, Berkeley, CA
Sculptural Environment, An installation of 10 sculptures, Shattuck Hotel, Berkeley, CA
E X H I B I T I O N S
2007 Creatures of Magic & Myth, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA
2006 CCA Ceramics 1950–2005, Oliver Art Center, California College of the Arts, Oakland, CA
2005 Narratives in Clay, V. Breier Gallery, San Francisco, CA
POETRY and its ARTS, The California Historical Society, San Francisco, CA
30 Ceramic Sculptors, California Conference on the Advancement of Ceramic Arts, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA
Opposition, Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland, CA
2004 The Figure In Art, CFA Gallery, San Anselmo, CA
30 Ceramic Sculptors, California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art, John Natosulas Gallery, Davis, CA
Decorator Showcase, a benefit for SFU High School, K Kimpton Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA
2002 Being There: 45 Oakland Artists, The Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
Being There: Selected Artists, Oakland International Airport, Oakland, CA
2002 Installation for Collectors, The Oakland Museum of California Collectors Gallery, Oakland, CA
A Figurative Show, Virginia Breier Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2000 From the Fire: Figures in Ceramic, Bedford Gallery, Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, CA
Ceramics: A Survey, A New Leaf Gallery, Berkeley, CA
Alumni Exhibition Series #4: 101 North, Marin Technology Center, San Rafael, CA
1999 CCAC Alumni Exhibition Series # 3: Sculpture, Oakland City Hall, Oakland, CA
1997 Milestones, Wiegand Gallery, College of Notre Dame, Belmont, CA
Imag-IN Clay, Wax, Plaster, Concrete, Joan Roebuck Gallery, Lafayette, CA
1996 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Rental Gallery’s 3rd Annual Artists’ Sale, San Francisco, CA
1995 California Artists Juried Exhibition, Women Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Ways with Watercolors, Joan Roebuck Gallery, Lafayette, CA
1994 In the Company of Light, collaborative show of painters and poets, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
1994 The Alphabet Show, Okeanos Press, Berkeley, CA
Thirty Ceramic Sculptors, California Conference on the Advancement of Ceramic Art, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA
1993 Youth to Maturity, Giorgi Gallery, Oakland, CA
Thirty Ceramic Sculptors, California Conference on the Advancement of Ceramic Art, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA.
1992 California Small Works, California Museum of Art, Santa Rosa, CA
Figurative Expressions, Claudia Chapline Gallery, Stinson Beach, CA
Thirty Ceramic Sculptors, California Conference on the Advancement of Ceramic Art, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA
1991 Sculpture in the Garden, Claudia Chapline Gallery, Stinson Beach, CA
1990 Auburn Arts 39, Auburn Arts Center, Auburn, CA
Small Sculpture Exhibition, Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino, CA
4th Annual Artists for Amnesty International, a benefit exhibition, Natsoulas-Novelozo Gallery, Davis, CA
1986 BFA Exhibition, Eccles Ceramic Center, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
Juried Exhibition, Isabelle Percy West Gallery, CCAC, Oakland, CA
Metamorphosis, CCAC Gallery, Oakland, CA
1985 Winter Fire, Eccles Ceramic Center, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
1984 Drawing Exhibition, Isabelle Percy West Gallery, Oakland, CA
Clay AZ Art, University Art Gallery, Flagstaff, Arizona
Couch Off: Handmade Paper, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona
1983 No Place Like Home, The Glass House, Flagstaff, Arizona
Drawing on Clay, University Art Gallery, Flagstaff, Arizona
C O L L A B O R A T I O N S
1994 In the Company of Light, collaboration of painters and poets, benefit event for Visual AIDS of San Francisco, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
1983 Founded with 2 other artists, The Glass House, an alternative exhibition space in Flagstaff, Arizona
R E L A T E D W O R K / H O N O R S / C O M M I S S I O N S
2006 The Bancroft Library at the University of California Berkeley, Awarded commission to create the signature sculpture for the Tebtunis Papyri Center, the largest collection of papyrus in the western hemisphere, in the new Bancroft Library scheduled for completion in 2008.
2004 Calif. Conference on the Advancement of Ceramic Art, slide show and talk, Davis, CA
2002 Oakland Museum of California, gallery talk and public discussion, Oakland, CA
2000 Bedford Gallery, Center for the Arts, slide lecture, Walnut Creek, CA
1997 Dominican College, lecture with slide presentation, San Rafael, CA
1995 Oakland Museum Members Lecture, presented at my sculpture exhibition, Lafayette, CA
1994 California College of Arts and Crafts, slide lecture, Oakland, CA
1993 Calif. Conference on the Advancement of Ceramic Art, slide presentation, Davis, CA
P U B L I C A T I O N S
"Narratives in Clay," Ceramics Monthly, October 2005
"Amy Evans McClure," 30 Ceramic Sculptors, John Natsoulas Press, 2005, p.44
"Amy Evans McClure at the San Francisco Zen Center" by Jack Foley, Lummox Journal, January 2003
"Amy Evans McClure at the San Francisco Zen Center" by Jack Foley, The Alsop Review, November 2002
"Something of India: A Time Morph," Poems by Michael McClure with "Glimmers of India, Clay Canvases" by Amy Evans McClure, Big Bridge: A Webzine of Poetry and Everything Else, Vol. 2, No. 4
"Some Bay Area Artists," Foley’s Books: California Rebels, Beats & Radicals, by Jack Foley, Pantograph Press, 2000, pp.133–134
"Amy Evans McClure: Art," Big Bridge: A Webzine of Poetry and Everything Else, Vol. 1, No. 4,
"Amy's Chalices," by M.C. Richards, broadside published by Tangram Press, San Francisco, 1998
"A Silent Conversation," by Jack Foley, ARTSbeat: East Bay Express, April 30, 1993