Inspired by visits to Henry Mercer's Fonthill in Bucks County, PA, Christopher
Russell began producing architectural ceramics in 1991, first for his own loft
and then for private clients. His custom tile projects have been featured in the
New York Times, New York Newsday, Food & Wine, and Tile and Stone. His sculptural
ceramics have been exhibited at the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY; the Clay
Center, Philadelphia, PA; and Greenwich House Pottery, New York, NY. He participated
in the Kohler Arts Center Arts/Industry Residency Program in Sheboygan, MI, and
was a visiting artist at Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Edgecomb, ME. Christopher
Russell received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University in 1983.
He lives and works in New York City.
Russell’s most recent project, After
the Golden Age is comprised of multiple components including fruit, birds
and obelisks. The elements have historical references to European decorative arts
and monuments as well as natural history. Russell is using a new glaze that mimics
the feeling of stone.
Presently Russell is completing a commission for
the Metropolitan Transit Authority's Arts for Transit who selected his design
proposal for the 9th Avenue Brooklyn Station. The commission includes cast bronze
ornamental gates and finials in the shapes of magnified, bee-covered honeycombs
and flowers. The motifs of bees and birds and thistles have been carried over
from his earlier ceramic work shown here in 2009 and at Wave Hill in 2008.
Survey [view
images]