Bio
Sandra Byers is a Wisconsin ceramic artist known for her small organic translucent porcelain. She was an artist-in-residence at the Kohler Co. Pottery (1982 and 1986) and has work included in Arts/Industry: Collaboration and Revelation as well as numerous other books. Byers has shown her work at the Smithsonian Craft Show, the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, and the American Craft Exposition (Best of Show, 2013). Her work is in numerous museum collections including the Racine Art Museum, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, and the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York. Her porcelain has been part of many solo and group exhibitions across the country including two solo shows at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, The Nature of Things (1982) and A Gentle Nature (2000), as well as Sandra Byers: The Nature of Things at the James Watrous Gallery of the Wisconsin Academy (2015). Byers grew up in upstate New York and received her BS in Design from Cornell University. She currently lives and works in an old school building, sharing a studio with her husband, Win.
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Artist Statement
The ridged curl of a dry hibiscus leaf
The gills of a forest mushroom illuminated by a shaft of sunlight
The many textured blooms of a coral garden
The twists and turns of Möbius forms
The time etched ripples of a Yosemite rock face
They amaze, fascinate, and inspire me. Lines and shapes in nature flow gracefully while maintaining a feeling of tension. Forms and surfaces are unified. In porcelain, I am trying to catch the delicacy as well as the strength of nature’s details. Those small details do not shout but still deserve our attention. Like the walls of a shell or the petals of a flower, translucent porcelain forms come to life in the sunlight. I am not trying to recreate nature but only capture a feeling, hoping to stimulate those who see my work to stop for a moment and observe the richness of the world around them.
Sandra Byers, Smooth Twisted Loop, 2024, Porcelain, 1.5” h. x 3” x 1.625”
Sandra Byers, Open Pod, 2024, Porcelain, 1.75 “ h. x 4.25” x 1.25”
Sandra Byers, Klein Flower, 2024, Porcelain, 3.25” h. x 2.25” x 2.25”
Sandra Byers, Perforated Life, 2024, Porcelain, 2.75” h. x 3.75” x 1.25”
Sandra Byers, Bend, 2024, Porcelain, 2” h. x 3.25” x 1.375”