TED TYLER
In the Little Gallery
August 26 - October 8, 2023
Reception: August 26, 3-5pm

The Arts Center at Duck Creek is pleased to present, and exhibition of works by ceramicist Ted Tyler in the Little Gallery from August 26 - October 8, 2023. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, August 26 from 3-5 pm.

Ted Tyler began working in clay when he was a high school student in Bethesda, Maryland. He studied ceramics throughout the 1970’s at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, and San Francisco Art Institute, CA. After taking a 30 year hiatus to run a successful textile business, Tyler returned to the medium in 2005, eventually building a studio and shed-sized kiln on his property in East Hampton. The artist creates richly textured and whimsical works from wood and gas firing techniques, in combination with various ash, slip, and glaze applications. Reminiscent of the works of legendary West Coast ceramicist and sculptor Peter Voulkos, Tyler’s sculptures all share a diversity of style, scale and material. 

The works in this exhibition incorporate varied materials such as wood, copper, wax and stone, but they also take their form from artistic influences outside of ceramics. Giorgio Morandi’s stunning still-life paintings inspired a series of vessels that are stripped down to their most simple weighty forms. What is flattened into abstraction in Morandi’s paintings, Tyler draws back into three dimensions, with groups of small pots on concrete slabs placed in straightforward, balanced compositions. These forms break, lean, and bow, and each object’s imperfections are embraced. This approach is particularly visible in the 2023 large-scale outdoor installation titled Grande Morandi. 

In Tyler’s Circus Series we see the influence of painter Philip Guston. The cartoonish forms balance  precariously on thin or bending legs, moving towards and away from each other, with glazed gestures that recall Abstract Expressionist motifs. Here, we also see how Tyler’s process indulges in the precarious nature of the material and process. “Failed” firings create new opportunities to re-envision the original form; broken slabs are repositioned, copper pipes stand in for supports lost in process. Ceramic is a volatile medium with so many potential mishaps. To his credit, Ted Tyler has boldly revealed this aspect of the process with us in these compelling works. 

Ted Tyler (born Illinois, 1953) lives and works in East Hampton, New York. The artist studied ceramics at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (1970 - 1972) and at San Francisco Art Institute, CA (1973 -1976). Ted Tyler ran a successful New York City based textile and wallpaper design company for four decades, and in 2005 began producing ceramics under the name Shadrow Clay. His  artwork has been exhibited throughout Manhattan and the East End, including; 70John, New York,  Longhouse, East Hampton, Romany Kramoris Gallery, Sag Harbor, Surface Library Gallery, East Hampton, Field & Supply, Kingston, NY. His work is held in public and private collections in the US and internationally, including the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum.