Angela Venarchik
LSPS-LC’s Angela Venarchik is expanding her pottery practice, as well as proudly representing a growing group of Midwestern artists that capture the landscape around them.
Early in her high school education, Angela Pope Venarchik was exposed to the art world outside the classroom. Her AP ceramics teacher not only encouraged her to submit work to shows, but regularly sent pieces to be exhibited alongside professional artists. By setting this tone of professionalism, it was easy for her to enroll at Wheaton College (BFA in Ceramics and Sculpture, 2010) to expand her knowledge.
Venarchik’s college experience became the battleground to figuring out just who she was as an artist, and what she saw as important. The over-conceptualization and complication of the material she loved made her rethink her approach. She realized that the simplicity and truth of clay should function as the jump off point for her process and form. Her senior project was an installation of ceramic dinnerware laid bare on a long wooden table. Titled “Where are your manners?” the piece featured plates, cups and bowls that balanced precariously at angles that made using them impossible.
After her graduation, Venarchik dove into practical yet beautiful pieces that retained their full function. The artist honed her throwing skills at Lil Street Art Studio, and came to LSPS-LC for the calm atmosphere. Here she continued to work on her signature forms and glaze techniques. What sets her work apart is the weightlessness each piece takes on both physically and visually. Her many hours of watching Japanese wheel throwing master tutorials online has given her the ability to produce large bowls and vessels that remain lightweight yet sturdy and long lasting. What makes the work look even more buoyant is the softened curves and angles that remove any sense of rigidity. These are the standards the artist chases in each piece.
It is often difficult for an artist to express why certain colors palettes are associated with their particular style. Venarchik has a good understanding as to why she goes back to earth tone color fields and sky like vistas. After being born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1986, the artist’s family moved to the Chicago area. She spent her childhood playing in the prairie preserve right across from her home. The swaths of earth, water and sky gave her a deep sense of the land, and she manages to capture that on the surface of her work. Venarchik is proud to be a Midwesterner, and is pursuing this identity through each piece she creates. Her current work depicts clean and minimal designs; along with swaths of glaze that somehow capture the mood of the land, sky and water.
Venarchik and fellow LSPS-LC independent student Emilie Bouvet-Boisclair are taking the next step in growing their pottery businesses. The two are joining a private studio in the city so they can expand their production. Venarchik is looking forward to being able to take on more commissions for designers, restaurants and boutiques. Even though she will create dozens more items for a single order, she plans on treating each product as individual and the piece of art that it is…