My ceramic work is rooted in a deep reverence for the natural world and its endlessly evolving forms. Through abstraction, I explore the intersection of structure and spontaneity, using clay as a medium to express what I observe in the living environments around me. Guided by direct observation, I respond to patterns found in plants, growth systems, and the slow transformations of the land. I document these living forms and natural evolutions through drawing and collage, which inform the shapes and rhythms of my ceramics. Circular forms often emerge—echoes of cycles found in nature such as seed pods, spores, nests, and ripples—reminders of continuity, renewal, and enclosure. I work primarily with handbuilding and slab construction, allowing the material to guide the process. I think of these sculptures as drawings in space—gestural forms built through line, contour, and surface. The tactile nature of clay lets me translate abstract impressions into three-dimensional form. Color plays a critical role: vivid glazes activate the surfaces and bring an energetic presence to each piece. Each sculpture serves as a quiet monument to growth, flux, and resilience. I am drawn to the tension between impermanence and permanence—the way clay undergoes profound transformation, from something soft and temporary to something fixed and enduring. This alchemy reflects the cycles of change in the natural world. Through this practice, I hope to create space for reflection on our place within larger ecologies and offer an embodied, intuitive connection to the earth’s ongoing changes.
Anne Spurgeon is an interdisciplinary artist. Questions about transformation reoccur in her creative practice. Her involvement began through performance, from playing guitar on stage, to creating private video performances about identity and the sense of the public and private self. In the past few years her focus has moved away from the personal consciousness of the body, to the transformation of compositional process and 2D/3D materials. Spurgeon has exhibited nationally and internationally, including work in exhibitions at ISE Cultural Foundation (New York, NY), Exit Art (New York, NY), Artist Space (New York, NY), Riffe Gallery, (Columbus, OH), and The Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus, OH). She is a recipient of professional artist individual grants from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, a collective artists grant from The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The Austrian Cultural Forum, and the Waskowmium. Her work has been reviewed in publications such as The New York Times, The New York Times blog, and Artnet News. She holds a BFA from The Ohio State University and a MFA from the School of Visual Arts.