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Author: La Mano

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Doug Rochelle's ceramic sculptures and masks, as well as his Subway Drawings, will be on view in the gallery May 5–27. The opening reception will be on Friday, May 4th from 6–8 pm.

About the Artist
Doug Rochelle came to New York in 2001 from Kansas City and got a job as a waiter, working nights. Doug joined the LaMano Pottery Studio in August 2001. After work, and inspired by what he calls "the madness and mayhem of working the graveyard shift... where fights, barf, homeless and drunks cyclone the edge" Doug would decompress at the studio by creating his haunting ceramic images until the wee hours of the morning.

As he describes his process: “I smash two 25 pound blocks of clay together, then I draw, dig, scoop and poke. The sculptures take about one month to create and four to eight months to dry. The faces/heads are then bisque fired in the kiln, glazed and then high fired. Hopefully they survive..."

His imagery, which began when he was 13, with doodles over the Yellow Pages while on the phone with his girlfriend, has continued to develop and grow. "I did try all the isms -- Abstract Expressionism, Impressionism, Fauvism, and Surrealism, but I was always drawn back to the doodle figure/head. I like sculpting heads. They are made of abstract shapes yet easily recognizable. The masks also express my search for the truth which, in theory, can be better seen by looking at something from different points of view.”

 

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Artists-in-(New!)Residence

Group Show: March 8–April 30
Reception: Friday, March 23, 6–8pm

Annabelle Bascou-Fonte
Kate Burns
Brady Candell
Melissa Chow
Peggy Clarke
Ali Epstein
Nicole Donnelly
Rivkah Feldman
Joahua Fraoili
Melissa Green
Julie Hadley
Nonna Hall
Bonnie Hanna
Martin Hanna
Danica Holoviak
Deborah Hunter
Bri Johnson
Sacha Jones
Stuart Kabakoff
Jessie Lazar
Daniella Lekach
Pei-yu Lin
Marge Lurie
Robert A. Pesce
Doug Rochelle
Joanna Shaw
Richard Stauffacher
Barbara Stone
Diane Waller
Jacob Cannon Wilson
Mimi Young
Joseph Zwechkenbaum
 

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The new space at 110 West 26th Street officially opened its doors on Monday, January 16th. Stop by and say hello!

Please note that the start dates for all classes were moved by one or two weeks. Check the classes page for details. We apologize for any inconvenience, but we wanted to make sure everything was in order before classes got underway.

Thanks to everyone who has been helping with setting up the new space! It's a lot of work, but we know it's going to be worth it.

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At various times over the past 13 years the idea of a bigger and better space has crept into our conversations about the business. We all saw the potential for something better...and we made inquiries here and there, but then just kept on making pots.

Then one day, this past Spring, a nice space just two doors down had a "For Rent" sign. We rushed to see it and that got us started again. We asked the broker to show us some comparable spaces and did the big spread sheet with all the pluses and minuses of each place we saw. We finally came to one that fit a lot of our criteria-with lots of space, about 2.5 times what we have now. Plus, when we walked into that storefront, we saw a huge cord hanging from the ceiling with a tag on it that said "220V 3 phase"-just what we wanted for a new big kiln. It was a sign! This was it.

Our new address will be 110 West 26th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues. It was a totally raw space when we leased it, but has been under renovation for the past month and we are expecting it to be done really soon!