Gina Lee Robbins

Works in Clay

Gina Lee Robbins has been handbuilding sculptural ceramic work for 18 years.  She works primarily with stoneware, fired in a gas kiln to Cone 10, but experiments with firing temperatures, techniques, and clay types.  She has exhibited and participated in workshops in North Carolina, Florida and the greater Chicago area.  She lives outside of Chicago with her husband and two children, but spends as much time as she can on the wooded ridges of Brown County, Indiana.

About My Work

I am drawn to simple organic forms that reveal rich texture and irregularity upon close examination:  a bursting seed pod, creeping lichen or the patterned skin of a reptile.  These details in nature, and how humans respond to them, inform my work.

I enjoy handbuilding with clay because although I begin to control the direction of a form, the elements involved can always render a completely unique and surprising result.  I assemble and manipulate forms, testing gravity and the clay's plasticity.   I pinch and carve away until something pleasingly familiar almost breathes in my hands.  Finally, upon releasing the work to the fire of the kiln, it is transformed again.  The entire process reflects both the fragility of life and the rule of chaos in nature.  The challenge of working with these metaphoric obstacles is exhilarating to me.