Gail Altschuler Press Statement

Gail Altschuler – Press Statement

Observation and experimentation sit at the heart of Gail Altschuler’s practice, where she blurs the line between art and craft.

Working by hand in porcelain, she draws on everyday life and art history, using sketchbook studies made in museums and galleries. For example the ‘mother and child’ or ‘madonna and child’ images that are evident in different periods of art history, are drawn studied and given a modern, current, reinterpretation as an image, on a porcelain plate or vessel. Her figurative imagery — musicians, friends, and families, are inspired by Mary Cassatt, Japanese prints or Cubist paintings that becomes part of a personal visual language.

Her vessels begin with familiar cup and beaker forms, then shift into sculptural objects with added feet and necks, often functioning as bud vases.

She also creates plates designed as wall-based artworks.

Surface plays a central role. Through Mishima inlay, sgraffito, and soft underglaze washes, she builds layered narratives filled with pattern, colour, and line. Her figures whimsically reflect the complexity of human relationships.

Each piece reveals itself gradually, changing as it is turned or viewed from different angles. Whether vessel or plate, her work invites both close looking and quiet reflection.