Wheely Talented

Give them a wheel and these artists make the most beautiful ceramic art.Gerald and Kelly Hong join forces, minds, aesthetics and hearts to bring you breath taking, museum-quality ceramic art. Their work first blossomed at an art show where they both exhibited their individual ceramic pieces. These artists both have two different looks: Gerald’s work is very strong and solid in its form and is decorated with geometric patterns. Kelly’s work is fanciful in design and has images that are inspired by nature. Together they found similarities to bounce off of and work off of the Asian aesthetic they both have in common when it comes to their work, which is ancient yet new at the same time. This beautiful oxymoron is the main theme that is portrayed in their gorgeous artwork. Two other things that they share are smoke and fire. Gerald fires his work in a process called Raku, which is traditionally hand shaped instead of thrown on the wheel. It is fired at low temperatures and is colored with lead glazed. Pieces from the kin are removed while they’re still glowing hot and cooled in open air. Kelly fires her work in multiple processes with the final firing a smoky sawdust firing.The couple married in 1996 and kept working individually, although they enjoyed working collaboratively and had much success by doing so. Their work cobines into one great piece that wouldn’t have come together had it been done individually. The motto “there’s no I in TEAM” definitely applies to this artistic duo. Gerald and Kelly each make a part of the respective piece where they input their own executive decisions and designs. They either throw, slab build, or sculpt their part, and the design is impressed, incised, or taped.  Sometimes, Gerald is the designer and Kelly airbrushes or inlays the glaze before they are fired in the Raku process.Info source: www.geraldandkellyhong.comPhoto source:www.mowensolinskygallery.comwww.geraldandkellyhong.com