Creatures from the Fire – Joe Mariscal

Creatures from the Fire
Ceramic sculpture by Joe Mariscal

June 8 – July 29, 2017
Opening Reception on Thursday, June 8, 2017, from 5 to 7pm

Gallery Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 and by appointment

Beasts, birds, fish and bugs, Joe Mariscal serves up a menagerie of wildlife in this exhibition of his recent ceramic sculpture. Imbued with a gritty sense of power and wry humor, these pieces are intriguing in the territory they occupy. Beautifully crafted and bold, the work references folk art and clan totems with a nod to the long history of Bay Area figurative ceramics and a strong dose of anthropomorphism thrown in. Mariscal is a veteran of ceramic sculpture, as he says, he has “slabbed, coiled and burnished clay for over 40 years.” His deft touch and fierce connection to the medium are evident in the work. Having lived in Mexico and traveled extensively, most recently to Vietnam, Mariscal expresses his feelings and experiences of the human condition through its animal nature as in these works.

Categories: 2017, Exhibitions