Artist Annie Koelle has long been known for alluring renderings of subject matter ranging from nudes to watermelons, birds to bananas and for some, perhaps most memorably, her devilishly tantalizing ceramic cakes and eclairs that could tempt even the most austere admirer of her work to look on with mouth-watering, stomach grumbling adoration
By: Faith Adedokun
Koelle’s evocative imagery is bolstered by a playfulness and paradox that flows through her work. A meeting place for both the quixotic and the deeply contemplative. The colorful and the subdued. But no matter the subject, delight is at the heart of it all.
“I cannot get away from delight and curiosity. I think at a point, I did kind of feel self-conscious that I was not a dark, melancholy artist. Or that I wasn’t going to be taken seriously. But I’ve come to accept this is what comes out of me,” she says.
The shift in the focus of her work has happened over time and Koelle has decided to simply trust her subject matter. “If I’m drawn to it and I’m coming to these pictures or narratives, it’s not that I’m special or there’s something there that I can trust that other people won’t be drawn to as well. There’s a reason outside of me that gives it meaning.”
This is beautifully demonstrated in Koelle’s most recent work: a collection of ceramic vessels and plates suffused with bright colored, Matisse-esque imagery of faces, flowers, and pastoral scenes. If the images weren’t conduit enough to experience the inescapable delight of Koelle’s work, it also includes a herd of tiny ceramic sheep.
Beyond their awe-inducing cuteness, the sheep have marked a shift for her creatively as well. “I’m definitely moving more into forms and mark making. With paint, it’s very much about the brushstroke, leaving a trail,” she says. “So, I’m excited about moving into clay which has mark-making as such a huge tradition. Ultimately, I think I’m a mark maker. It’s a record of movement, and there’s something primal about it that feels good.”
Familiar Territory
Ceramics are far from new territory. Koelle has often used her drawings as a reference for ceramics, sometimes turning an image into sculpture and then back again. “My curiosity has been how to turn drawing into clay. How much linework do I do versus how much sculptural work, so I don’t lose the sense that it’s an animated drawing. My reference point to clay is that I know there is an overlap in how I interact with paint and the way it takes up space and in the way it reacts.”
Though painting was Annie Koelle’s starting point as an artist–her 2005 degree focused on the medium–it has been tabled for the time being. “I know I’ll probably paint again someday, but for now, I feel I am able to move deeper into ceramics and learn more about the ceramics craft.”
This is indeed good news, because like every medium she touches, Koelle’s skill in creating wonder, whimsy, introspection, and delight continues to shine.
Photography by Eli Warren
