Tapping our memories, Barbara Tipton returns to familiar themes to investigate fundamental forms and expressions on and of cups and saucers, through various means. Her sculptures are stick thrown, hand built and assembled with multiple slips glazes.

Most of my sculptural objects center around the idea of the cup and saucer. These works originated as wheel-thrown forms, altered and assembled, but this evolved into drawing on the surface of paper clay slabs and forming them intuitively into three-dimensional shapes. Many of the works retain their visual identity as cup and saucer; others retain those origins only marginally as various implied narratives take over. Whatever the outcome, my aim is not to be too specific, and I’m pleased when a certain amount of ambiguity creeps in.

Over the years I’ve discovered there’s quite a lot of freedom in working around a single theme. With a central image in mind I can press thick slabs by hand, employ marking tools, bisque press molds, or form thick shapes and join them. As the clay changes, I attempt to catch it at the right moment; I’m constantly on the lookout for something that seems to ring true as an expression, a sidelong glance, a dim remembrance.

Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Barbara received a BFA in Ceramics from Memphis College of Art where she studied under Thorne Edwards and Peter Sohngen. Further studies at The Ohio State University resulted in an MFA in Ceramics, and she stayed on in Columbus, building her studio practice. In 1986 she moved to southern Alberta after marrying the British/Canadian ceramist John Chalke RCA (1940-2014). Since that time she has maintained a studio and taught at both the University of Calgary and the Alberta College of Art + Design.  She retired from teaching in 2013 and lives on the West Coast.

Barbara exhibits across Canada as well as internationally.  Her work was included in “Unity and Diversity,” an exhibition at the 2009 Cheongju International Craft Biennale in Cheongju, South Korea. In January 2010, her work and other elements of that exhibition appeared at the Museum of Vancouver as part of the Cultural Olympiad activities for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Her work has received substantial recognition, with multiple inclusions in such publications as 500 Cups by Lark Publishing (2004), Soda, Clay and Fire by Gail Nichols (2006) and The Ceramic Spectrum by Robin Hopper (revised edition 2001). Her work Delft Extract was featured on the cover of the Clay 2010 catalogue (AFA, Alberta Craft Council).

Many public and corporate collections contain her work, including the Nickle Galleries (University of Calgary), Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Canada Council Art Bank, Glenbow Museum, San Angelo Museum of Art (Texas), Harrison Museum of Art (Utah), among many others. Her work is collected privately across Canada, the United States and England. She was awarded project grants in 2008 and 2003 from Alberta Foundation for the Arts Project Grant and Canada Council respectively, and in 2006 was nominated for an Alberta Craft Council Award of Excellence.