500 Animals in Clay: Contemporary Expressions of the Animal Form

500 Series

by Suzanne J.E. Tourtillott (Editor), Lark Books

No other volume has ever presented such a diverse and captivating collection of contemporary animal-themed ceramics. Juried by distinguished artist and educator Joe Bova, this magnificent gallery includes pieces from an international group of artists; the beautifully crafted works range from the representational to the abstract, from artful realism to provocative surrealism (including animal-human hybrids). Ann Marais’ image of a waterfowl painted onto a porcelain dish has a restrained, Asian quality. Sharkus’ painted and smoke-fired stoneware turtle could easily be mistaken for the living creature. Bova provides astute and illuminating commentary overall, with selected artists’ notes.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Animals

424 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 2006

About the author

Suzanne Tourtillott was born in post-war Germany but lives and works, happily, in Asheville, North Carolina. After studying and then teaching fine art and commercial photography, she turned to writing arts journalism for periodicals and, ultimately, to writing and editing craft books. Suzanne has edited more than 50 titles in jewelry, ceramics, needle crafts--even poetry. Her business/Twitter is @editorious; see the site at http://editorious.org and tweets via #editorious. you can follow Suzanne's visual interests on Pinterest (pinning as username suzanne33).

Reviews

[Judy Lindow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another beauty I never store and have never read (flipped through or really 'looked through') cover to cover. Animals and Clay combine two of my most favorite things in life. I literally gasped when I found this book. Hugged it right up to my bosom. Anyways. The book is beautiful in it's simplicity. Beautiful color plates labeled by artist, title of piece and year. Included are the dimensions and how the pieces were created - the technical details that are available. For example "Modeled and thrown stoneware; electric fired, cone 6, chin paint, etc. Another might just say: porcelain. The collection includes a broad variety of animals, styles, techniques, types of clay, glazes, firings. They range from fine art to more craft and utilitarian. Simply put, it's a beautiful collection and well presented.

There's a short index by artists and description of the juror at the end of the book. Other titles in this series include 500 figures in clay, 500 teapots, and 500 Bowles.

The book reminds me of the delicious show I saw at the Denver Museum: Stampede
Animals in Art, September 10, 2017–May 19, 2019. I covered 2 floors of the museum and I think I remember hearing it was somewhat impromptu as they needed storage space due to renovations at the time.

[Edie Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

These many impressions of clay animals give viewers a chance to find favorite works whatever their taste. While looking through this book I discovered a few stunning sculptures. However, at the same time I cringed at the majority of them. I’m sure others will have completely different opinions and this wide selection gives them the opportunity to find pieces that suit their taste. But there was just not enough there that I personally found worthwhile.

I also didn’t care for the text either.

[Clare O'Brien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only liked ~30/500 and most were repeats from the same artists.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am an art teacher, currently subbing in high school, looking for my first full-time position. I have already worked a project off of this book. I became a big Beth Cavener Stichter fan, and a few other artists in there were really impressive- I loved the variety and the minimal text...the work spoke for itself. It led me to look up several of the artists on line, and I showed my students pictures of some of them at work. So yes, I really loved the book. Will it hold up in years to come? I think by virtue of variety it will.

[Kathryn Dechairo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased this book for the visuals and it more than exceeded my expectations. A stunning catalogue of 500 animals in clay form. An inspirational book with such gorgeous creations and photos. Looking forward to owning more of the 500 series.

[Allie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kelly Connole on the cover!