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Walter Drohan: Towards Perfection
Neil Liske: Out of Extremes
This exhibition features the works of two respected ceramic artists. Both were born in Alberta. Both received their training in Alberta, and lived, worked, and exhibited in this province. Both also drew their inspiration for their art from their natural environment. Beyond that, however, the similarities are few and far between.
Walter Drohan (1932-2007) was the type of person who could gain an understanding of the universe through studying a grain of sand. By contrast, Neil Liske (b. 1936) would gain an understanding of that grain of sand through his physical involvement in the larger universe. It is this difference between them that makes for a better understanding of these two artists and their works.
 Walter Drohan is an Alberta artist, whose full range of artistic achievements should have gained more formal recognition before this time. However, as was his nature, he said little about himself, his work and his artistic accomplishment. He would have the work speak for itself. Those closest to him recognized his skill, sensitivity and artistic dexterity. For many others – because of his inward thinking – Drohan has remained an enigma. An enigma in spite of a 29 year history of remarkable achievements in ceramic art, an 18 year history of involvement in painting, with 19 solo exhibitions and his works held in major art collections of 29 corporate, public and government institutions. The Triangle Gallery would like to set the record straight concerning Walter Drohan, hoping that this shared presentation will be the catalyst for a full scale review of his artistic and educational achievements.
 Neil Liske discusses the influence of oriental philosophy, environment (especially his ‘extreme’ outdoor sojourns to the Rocky Mountains) and several formal/technical aspects in his ceramic work. He describes environments with prairie flatness set against big skies, or with mountains appearing on the horizon’s line: two key elements, which have been a source of inspiration for nearly 40 years of his career as a ceramic artist. Looking at some of Liske’s work it is hard to separate them from the environment that they have been conceived within. Said Liske: “where I go and what I do becomes an integral part of my creative process”. Neil Liske is widely recognized for exceptional technique and mastery of ceramic objects. The shapes of his objects are strong, well thrown and balanced. Over the years he has also gained a reputation for his large ceramic installations in many private, corporate, and public collections throughout Alberta, including the Sir Alexander Galt Museum in Lethbridge, the Medicine Hat Hospital, Foothills Hospital and the Tecumseh Naval Base in Calgary. This shared exhibition is Liske’s first major cohesive overview of his ceramic works showcasing a broad spectrum of artist’s styles, goals and studio practices.
By placing the work of these two artists together in the same exhibition arena, we can see what is similar between them. That which is similar reinsures and reinforces. Conversely, by exhibiting the work of the two artists together, we can also see the differences, which are equally important. It is in the differences that we see what is unique and individual in each artist.
Les Graff
Guest Curator
Les Graff is an Alberta-based artist, educator and independent curator. Graff is also former Director of Visual Arts Department, Government of Alberta.
Aspects of Modernism in Alberta Ceramic Art: Notes
 The Canadian prairies have produced more world-class ceramic artists that any other region in this country. The leading role in contemporary Canadian ceramics has been played by the artists from Alberta. Their art consists of more than pots, mugs or bowls; their works have embraced aspects of painting, sculpture and even architecture for decades. Their innovative technical methods combined with conceptual elements and visual vocabulary articulated in their works, have won many Albertan ceramists a well-deserved place on national and international scene.
Over the years, Modern Ceramic Movement has played a critical role on the development of new aesthetic and formal trends in Alberta ceramic art. The Movement itself had been shaped by three dominant influences:
- The English Arts & Craft Movement which, in general, provided a philosophical base for an artist-potter;
- Bernard Leach’s amalgamation of an Eastern (mainly Japanese) and Western aesthetics in ceramic art and presented in his revolutionary “A Potter’s Book”, which later inspired a new generation of ceramic artists;
- The Abstract Expressionism Movement, which initially begun in painting, and subsequently affected ceramic art through Peter Voulkos and his experiments at the Otis Art Institute in Oakland, California and other centers in West Coast from 1954 to 1958 (a counter-movement to Leach aesthetics). Voulkos began to punch and squash his form into shapes, minimizing symmetry and equilibrium. The form of the pots was no longer directed completely toward function. Utilitarian concerns were pushed aside and process became the key principle. The clay finally became a medium for creating shape rather than being manipulated according to preconceived notions of form. Although Voulkos’ radical approach only had a few followers, it opened up this medium to unknown possibilities. Voulkos’ radical approach, though short-lived, offered American and Canadian ceramists new directions in experimenting with clay as a medium: technically, formally, conceptually, and contextually.
 The California-based “Funk Movement” led by Robert Arneson came into prominence in the mid 1960s with its depiction of the banal objects in modern life as vehicles of social commentary in their ceramic objects. Done were the earth tones, impressions, holes and wrinkles of the 1950s statement. They were replaced with bright colours, highly finished structures, as well as realistic and surrealistic figures. Thus, ceramics moved closer to sculpture, and further away from traditional pottery.
The 1980’s saw a ‘return to a vessel’ approach as the vehicle of artistic expression, emphasizing an over 6,000 year old tradition. The revival of this old tradition could still offer artists unlimited possibilities with functional or contemplative objects.
These were major trends and directions in modern ceramics: the oriental philosophy of Leach, the abstract expressionism of Voulkos, the funks ceramics of Arneson, the super objects of the 1970s, vessel and abstract pottery, and in influence of Scandinavian ceramics with clean, hard, geometric forms and rich glaze treatment.
Walter Drohan and Neil Liske were one of the Alberta ceramic artists associated closely with Modern Ceramic Movement and the major proponents of that aesthetic and formal direction.
Jacek Malec
Director/Curator
Triangle Gallery of Visual Art
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