During the month of September, the Bennington Arts Guild is delighted to feature new works of three of its members, Joshua Primmer, Arline Mayer, and Marie DeVito—with a comprehensive and varied show of Functional Ceramic Art. During the past year,
    Joshua Primmer focused his efforts on creating a functional line of work, concentrating on drinking vessels and their accessories,and flower
containers, all of which acknow- ledge his masterful adherence
to simple, elegant form.
Joshua continues to collect inspiration from the collision of industry and nature occurring around us, especially from the fungi that have exploded in reaction to the abundance of rain this year. All of his forms still originate from the wheel -- and he has begun to explore porcelain in addition to stoneware.
    Of his new pieces, Joshua says, “My new work has been in a more functional vein than my previous efforts. I have been really concentrating on drinking vessels and containers, interacting with them in everyday life.” Joshua received his BFA from Maine College of Art in 2001.

Arline Mayer enjoys clay because it brings art into everyday life. Her art is a celebration of the small, simple, special moments in life.
     Arline draws her inspiration from the beauty and symmetry of nature, using a variety of hand-building and throwing techniques to create forms that are then layered with slips and carved through to create the images and textures in the clay. She then applies texture to enhance the simple shapes and add depth to the surface.
    Arline Mayer comes from a family of artists in the New England area. She started studying art at age 6, eventually earning a BA from Bennington College in Visual Arts. She currently teaches pottery to all ages of enthusiasts at the Vermont Arts Exchange.

Ceramic artist Marie DeVito likes boxes, and they appear frequently in her art – in her geometric plates, or her unusual quilts. Her newest pieces take this preoccupation to a new level.
    “As a purely functional form, a box is hard to beat. It is useful in 3-D, certainly. But as a design element, it provides stasis and balance due to its regular shape, yet allows for whimsy and movement with the right color choices,” says DeVito.
    DeVito has painstakingly hand-painted myriad box shapes on her hand-formed platters and plates, in a variety of palette- and palate-pleasing color combinations, to create heirloom pottery pieces that are also quite utilitarian.
    Also included in her September exhibit are her “Splatter Platters” – a series of brightly colored hand-painted ovals and squares that are as free in their own way as her “Boxes” series are precise. “These plates are the antidote to the boxes,” explains DeVito. “They start out looking as though someone has already had dinner on them.”