Statement 2024

I have a BA in art and an MFA from Mills College. I taught ceramics for 14 years and had a 20-year career as a ceramic artist, living and working in my studio, Quicksilver Pottery, exhibiting my work nationally and internationally. I called my pieces “functional sculpture” and was one of the first artists to use slip casting as an art technique. After closing my studio, I worked as an editor at UC Berkeley until vested and then resumed my art career working two-dimensionally using photography and the computer as my art-making tools.

My work has always been about taking the ordinary and making it extra-ordinary. I’m drawn to complex shapes, detail, texture, and color and use my environment as a resource. I’ve been taking photographs around Emeryville for a few years. I notice shadows, reflections, light, the way the familiar can suddenly catch my breath. I manipulate the photograph to bring out hidden colors and to emphasize details. I want to add mystery and convey what I feel when I take the shot. I want the viewer to have an emotional reaction; I want the image to come alive, to not be static.

Currently I’m experimenting with a process that allows me to transfer images to wood. It adds more dimensionality to my work and is an opportunity to bring figures and humor back to my work, elements that were key to my ceramics.

Web: lynneturnerart.com email: lynneturnerart@comcast.net