Artist’s Statement
I’m interested in pots that evoke the power and mystery of the natural world. Pots that reference aspects of that world connect me to my own history and to the world around me, and in so doing they open a portal between the ordinary and the sacred. A simple pot can remind us, often just beyond consciousness, that we are all connected. That we are bound to each other and to the world that sustains us.
I make functional pots to animate those same connections and my own history. A carved platter references the forces of wind and rain on stone while simultaneously providing a sense of communion when it is piled with food. A large, big-bellied pot compels regard as a viewer move around it, just as water must acknowledge a boulder as it makes its way downstream.
I employ a variety of techniques to express these and other elements of the natural world, chief among them being wood firing my work. I use different clay bodies and place pots in different parts of the kiln depending upon the colors, textures and feelings I seek. An unglazed porcelain vase placed low in the kiln bears the mark of flame and ash, a record of the fire’s violent forces. Oxides echo simple patterns seen on the skin of sea creatures. A slim, irregularly shaped vase brushed with slip hints at the surface of a tree.
I value work that is balanced without necessarily being symmetrical, evocative without being representational. The pots I respond to have a sense of movement, always, whether they convey excitement or a sense of peace. I often use smooth clays, soft, curved forms, and lush surfaces that invite being touched. I may decorate the inside of a pot to lure the viewer into considering the relationship between exterior and interior space. At other times I add sand and coarse feldspar to my clay to produce a raw feeling of rock and earth.
In these ways I anchor my work in aspects of the world that hold meaning for me. Making pots feels joyful and profound. Being a maker reminds me of my our shared history as animals and human beings and allows me to create make art can serve functional as well as aesthetic purposes.
About the Artist
I grew up in Hawai’i, the child, grandchild and sibling of artists. I had no formal training in art, but it was all around me, at home and in the galleries where our father showed his sculpture. Our house was filled with Japanese pottery and artifacts from around the Pacific rim – canoe prows from Micronesia, a kava bowl from Fiji, rubbings from Angkor Wat, in Cambodia. Weekends were spent snorkeling on the reef. The forms that surrounded me growing up continue to inhabit my dreams and echo in my work.
Clay first cast its spell in 2014 at a studio ceramics class. Four years later, a two-week workshop with master potters Randy Johnston and Ken Matsuzaki opened the world of wood firing. I like the contrast between making and firing; making pots is a solitary pursuit while firing requires teams of potters. There’s nothing like the thrill of wood firing. The kiln belches flame from every crack; inside, it’s hot enough to melt bronze and the incandescent pots are like stones to the river of fire that must flow around them in its race towards the chimney.
I work out of my studio in Washington, DC. Most of my pots are fired with Maryland potter Jim Dugan in a three-chambered wood-fired noborigama, a type of kiln based on traditional Japanese design, or in a single-chambered anagama with Jack Troy, in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and Kevin Crowe of Tye River Pottery, in Virginia. Learning to fully exploit the rich complexity that flame and ash can bring to surfaces will be a lifelong process.
Representation
Charlie Cummings Gallery https://charliecummingsgallery.com/represented-artists-a-c/shannon-brownlee.html
Starworks School House Gallery https://www.starworksnc.org/school-house-gallery-online-store
Group Exhibitions
2024 Strictly Functional, David MacDonald, juror, Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster, PA
2024 Southern Miss Ceramics National, Juried exhibition, Elaine and Tom Coleman, jurors, Southern Mississippi University Museum of Art, Hattiesburg, MI
2024 Firefest Exhibition, Invitational exhibition, Starworks School House Gallery, Star, NC
2024 The Art of Coalescing, NCECA Concurrent Exhibition, Richmond, VA
2024 TableTop 2024, Juried exhibition, Naomi Clement, juror, Art League, Alexandria, VA
2024 Labor Day Art Show, Juried exhibition, Glen Echo Park, Bethesda, MD
2024 Exquisite Forms VI, (invited), Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, FL
2023 Exquisite Forms V, (invited) Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, FL
2023 Cohorts Art Show, Invitational, Good Earth Pottery Gallery, Bellingham, WA
2023 Earth & Fire, Juried exhibition, Jen Allen, juror, Stifel Fine Arts Center, Wheeling, WV
2023 TableTop 2023, Juried exhibition, Lindsay Oesterritter, juror,Art League, Alexandria, VA
2023 34th Biennial Exhibition, Juried exhibition, Jaimianne Jacobin, Lynda Smith-Bugge and April Wood, jurors, Creative Crafts Council, Washington, DC
2022 Exquisite Forms IV, (invited), Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, FL
2022 Animalia, Juried exhibition, AnneMarie Cooper, juror, Good Earth Pottery Gallery, Bellingham, WA
2022 Labor Day Art Show, Juried multimedia exhibition, Zoma Wallace, juror, Glen Echo Park, Bethesda, MD
2022 Bethesda Row Arts Festival, Juried art fair, Bethesda, MD
2021 11th Annual Intl. Juried Ceramics Exhibition, Workhouse Arts Clay Center, Kevin Snipes, juror Lorton, VA
2021 Annual Popcorn Gallery Show, Juried exhibition, Jeff Kirk, juror, Glen Echo Pottery, Bethesda, MD
2021 Inspired by Malcolm: A Passion for Shino, Juried exhibition, Matthew Hyleck, juror, Sandy Spring Museum, Sandy Spring, MD
2021 33rd Biennial Exhibition, Juried exhibition, Aldeide Delgado, juror, Creative Crafts Council, Bethesda, MD
2021 Women of Woodfire Show, Juried exhibition, Eutectic Gallery, Portland, OR
2020 Kindled Spirits, Juried exhibition, Simon Levin, juror, Good Earth Pottery, Bellingham, WA
2020 Wild Things (multimedia), Juried exhibition, Cape Cod Cultural Center, Truro, MA
2020 Annual Popcorn Gallery Show, Juried exhibition, Jeff Kirk, juror, Glen Echo Pottery, Bethesda, MD