Naomi Teppich
Looking at shells, fungi, bark, and cacti inspire my art. I build small and medium-sized ceramic sculptures. My surrounding environment inspires my ideas. The intention is to lend a feeling of preciousness to these natural objects. I have created enlarged ceramic shell pieces, organic mushroom forms, and wall-hung bark pieces. My clay sculptures sit on cement, wood, metal or stone bases. I also fire them in either an electric kiln, a reduction kiln, or an anagama wood firing kiln, which requires a longer firing and cooling period. Firing my work in these different kilns allow me to explore different results.
I also build human-sized metal sculptures that can be displayed indoors or outdoors. I use a mig welder to weld these sculptures, and add aluminum mesh, wire and color to these forms. For these works I get inspiration from various cacti forms.
I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and received my BA from Brooklyn College 1971, a fine arts major. My welding skills were developed at Pratt Institute (MFA 1975). I studied ceramics at Parsons School of Design in 1995 and taught ceramics and sculpture in New York City for many years. I currently live and work in Damascus, Pennsylvania, and have access to my former NYC apartment. My sculptures have been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions mostly in upstate New York, Pennsylvania, and New York City. I also won a Puffin Foundation grant in 2009 and 2015.
