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Painting in Clay: Carol Zilliacus by Deirdre F Woodward |
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Like a determined tornado, Carol Zilliacus prepares us lunch. "This is good," she says. "Sit down. Don't wait for me, eat." We sit, and finally, tempted by the smell of baked fruit, we dig into our pears, plums, and cottage cheese salad while Carol continues her dervish activities in the kitchen. Lunch is delicious, which should be no surprise considering whose hand made it. Carol Zilliacus, a Silver Spring, Maryland resident, has been dishing out delectible works of art for more than 20 years. First a school teacher, Carol took a watercolor class in the 1980s that revealed to her her artistic side. She hasn't looked back since.
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In the mid-nineties, Zilliacus made the cross-over from watercolors to polymer clay. Her work is clearly influenced by watercolor, and many of the hundreds of pieces of art in her home demonstrate her ability to create a watercolor effect in polymer clay. Her use of pastels and shading lend a subtle and delicate air to dolls, kimonos, and wall pieces.
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However, Zilliacus is inspired by more than watercolors. Memories of her vibrant youth lived in the teeming and colorful neighborhood of Brighton Beach, a love of fabrics learned at the knee of her seamstress mother and reinforced through decades of sewing, a kinship with music and rhythm informed by her days as a dancer and made melocholic by acute back problems that forced her to both retire from teaching and stop dancing all combine into a force that explodes out of many of her projects.
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As forceful as her works is Carol's presence in the polymer clay world. She's been a featured artist in more than 40 shows, including the American Craft Council shows, Embellishments, the Bead and Button Show and Conference, and the Creative Crafts Council. She's been on faculty at The Corcoran School, Ravensdale, Arrowmont, Embellishments and the Bead and Button Conference. Her work has been featured in The Artist's Illustrated Encyclopedia, Jacequline Gikow's Polymer Clay, Dorothy McMillan's Creative Ways with Polymer Clay, Barbara McGuire's Foundations in Polymer Clay Design, and two Polymer Clay calendars. | Click on images for larger picture
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With energy and exuberance to spare, Carol shows us around her home, then takes us to her studio to play with clay. After admiring the many masks that give personality to her studio walls, we get down to the task at hand: making faces. Carol is an excellent teacher; with the right combination of encouragement and advice, she gets me to produce a not-half-bad head complete with human-ish features.
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After several hours of conversation, deep concentration on the task at hand, and a wide-ranging discussion of artistic influences and favorite techniques, we head out to dinner. We settle into a delicious meal at a local Italian restaurant where the conversation turns to allergies and other quotidian matters. After sharing a delicious tiramisu, we call it a day. I leave tired yet excited -- Carol's colorfulness, dedication to her craft, and energy has led me through an energenic day that was thought provoking and inspiring. I recommend you check out that energy in Carol's work, and enjoy her ebullient use of color and form. |
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