Artist: Alison Reintjes
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ARTIST BIO
I’m a Montana artist making geometric wall sculptures and functional vessels. I am committed to non-representational, shape-based abstraction and have maintained a studio practice for over 20 years.
I studied glass blowing at Kent State University and the Canberra School of Art before graduating from Northern Michigan University. I moved to Montana in 2001 for a residency at the Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Art in Helena. Montana has been my home and artistic community since that time.
In addition, I have taught art in public schools, led workshops, and exhibited and lectured at universities, art centers, and museums. I have had solo exhibitions at the Missoula Art Museum and the Holter Museum of Art, completed public art commissions, and received the 2017 Montana Arts Council Artists Innovation Award.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Pattern offers calm and solace in its predictability and excitement with its variation. To my mind, you need both. The repetitive nature of pattern relates to spirituality because of its unchanging, limitless quality. Non-representational, shape-based abstraction becomes a type of meditation. I am inspired by architecture, textiles, and the natural world, as well as visual artists who use pattern or directly engage the wall.
My artistic life grows out of my need for order. Rules and structure provide a framework in both my personal life and the work I make. My ceramic work is strongest when I meticulously plan each step while leaving room for spontaneity, either my own impulsiveness or things like the glaze movement that happens in firing. In this way, control and variation are the foundation of my work.