Artist Update: Nancy VanKanegan

Artist and LSPS-LC Studio Volunteer Nancy VanKanegan has created many thought-provoking works over the years. Most recently, three of her series have crossed over and used inspiration from past work. Here is an overview of what she’s been up to..

Artist Nancy VanKanegan with her “Mushroom Book” made of stoneware, mushroom paper and found hardware

VanKanegan secured an art residency at the Dorland Mountain Arts Retreat in Temecula, California in 2021. The artist hiked the area (at an altitude of 1,017’ above sea level), and took in the buff and green colored slopes. Her work there centered on 2D renditions of local insects as well as using the environment to create installations. After she returned to the studio, the landscape continued to seep into her thoughts. From her impressions, she started to create undulating forms using the studio’s warm, red clay body. Flowing shapes started to build into architectural vessels, with a foot in Brutalism (design driven by minimalist construction, which can yield highly expressive forms) as well as nature. Two years after her initial exploration, a friend suggested she take the pieces to greater heights. This past year she’s managed to create shelters that are more than 2’ tall without cracking or slumping (a feat in itself for hand building!). She’s excited about pushing the limitations of the clay, and also working larger!

VanKanegan’s “Big Shelter” series. Recent piece (shown from three sides)

VanKanegan has taken an interest in the Italian “sgrafitto” technique the past few years, and has experimented with it on different surfaces. By applying glazes or stains on the facade of newly-finished greenware, an artist can carve the top layer off to reveal the color underneath. The results are often quite dramatic, with the contrast of lines creating bold designs. VanKanegan started the process on stoneware, but quickly found the grit in the mixture would break up her smooth lines. Her foray into porcelain came from necessity (the clay is hard to work with, but results are beautiful) to control her design. Some delicate plates with fish and aquatic themes made her think about applying it to the surfaces of her architectural pieces.

An Earlier version of VanKanegan’s sgrafitto work. Two plates with water themes

VanKanegan has always reveled in mixed media projects, combining fiber, paper, found objects and ceramics into her work. Her most recent “Mushroom Book” was created around an antique door hindge. Two heavy clay slabs were formed to create covers. An image search and tutorial about trumpet mushrooms and paper making lead to foraging for the fungus in a local forest preserve. The mushrooms were hard to press, but resulted in very organic edged paper that plays well off of the red clay and blue glazes. Sgrafitto was used to create the swirling patterns on the cover’s surfaces- also a visual homage to a species that is over 700 million years old.

Details of VanKanegan’s Mushroom Book

Sgrafitto, hand building and found hardware all come together for VanKanegan’s new “Porcelain Chunks” pieces the past few months. A porcelain slab with ragged edges was folded into a cuff shape with large anchoring holes at each end. Blue underglaze (matte) was applied in swatches, then carved away to reveal the startling white under layer. The pieces were a culmination of all the techniques and shapes she’s worked on at the studio, and eludes to a variety of subjects just bubbling under the surface. Her use of porcelain is meant to draw a connection to a material used by the wealthy. It was an imported product of colonialism, often seen as delicate and elite. The feminine association with the material is linked to fine tea wares or decorative vases for stately homes. The blue glaze a throwback to the Chinese and Dutch patterns made of cobalt oxide, tin, sand and salt. All of which have a domestic connotation. The found hardware consists of a newer bolt and nut, secured through the ends of the cuff. Friends and fellow artists have picked up several possible meanings; the female cuff constricted by the masculine bolt, the crumbling slab a symbol of trying to keep life together, and the illusion of strength and power (even thought the hefty slabs are actually extremely delicate).

A few examples of VanKanegan’s Porcelain Chunks

VanKanegan is looking forward to exploring each of her three series. Her Big Shelter Vessels have morphed into work with sgrafitto highlights (so far unresolved), her Porcelain Chunk pieces could see the addition of other hardware that connotes restraint. The Mushroom Book has her excited to get into her own home studio to work with paper and other (lighter) materials. The series develops more with each additional work, and all inform and inspire the other. VanKanegan hopes to be able to exhibit the work together at a gallery show in the future.

For now, you can see one of her mixed-media pieces at the Epiphany Center for the Arts in Chicago from November 18th- January 13th, as well as on the display shelves of LSPS-LC.