Take the mystery out of art history
 
Wachs - "Bottle Form" Abstract painted ceramic bottle form (left) and "Untitled Abstraction with Vase" Abstract monotype featuring vase (right)
 
 

Gretchen Wachs • American: 1952-

Bottle Form C: 1989 • Low Fire White Clay 29” x 17” x 7” (Left)
Untitled Abstraction with Vase C: 1988 • Monotype on paper 29.5” x 22” (Right)

Montana has a lot more sky than Maryland. A young Gretchen Wachs visited Big Sky country with her family and fell in love with the West. Leaving her Maryland home she stopped in upstate New York to study sociology at Alfred University, a fortuitous choice given her creative soul. She ended up finding a new way to combine her love of art with her love of helping people. The journey never followed a straight line.

Alfred harbored a bubbling arts scene, with a well-known ceramics program and a rich stew of creative giants, including ceramicists Wayne Higbee, Val Cushing and photographer, John Wood. It was all too much for a young woman whose childhood home was filled with beautiful objects her parents loved to collect.

Soon Wachs found herself in Eugene Oregon pursuing art with the vigor of a woman who wakes up on her 30th birthday and decides she’d better get serious about doing something with her life. Wachs started as a painter, but was drawn to the process of creating ceramics. As a result her ceramic work has a painterly feel almost like canvases for her increasingly abstract art. You can see this effect in two pieces at the Canton Museum of Art. The 2-dimensional print and 3-dimensional ceramic vase share a color palette and abstract composition. Both were created in the mid-1980’s and their shared lineage is easy to recognize. 

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In 1984 Wachs ventured to Santa Fe, New Mexico, attracted by the burgeoning arts scene and a budding romance. The romance fizzled, while her art career bloomed. She was soon invited to join the gallery of Elaine Horwich. Her painterly approach to ceramics created an identifiable style. “The more I painted, the more fluid my ceramics became. It got to the point where I could leave the grid behind. Then my painting began to get more dimensional, even incorporating elements of collage.”

Intrigued by a poster for an art therapy program she pursued a Masters degree. It was a fortuitous choice since severe back issues from working with large ceramics pieces forced numerous changes in her life, including more of an emphasis on her art therapy work. Soon she had her own Art Therapy practice where the twin inspirations in her life are making a difference in the lives of others. In the “circle game of life,” Gretchen Wachs has gone from eager sociology student, to serious artist, and back to sociologist, using art to soothe patient’s mental health issues. It has been a grand journey, without an end in sight.

Canton Museum of Art Permanent Collection • From the James C. & Barbara J. Koppe Collection, 989.2 and 989.3

 
 

4 Ways to Sound Smart When Viewing at The Canton Museum of Art

1.
“Notice how she treats the surface of her ceramics like a painters canvas. She is also a painter and carries that lyricism over to her art.”

2.
“She attended Alfred University, well known for its ceramics arts department. Of course, she went there to study sociology. Predictably, she changed.”

3.
“I’ve heard she went to Santa Fe to chase love, but stayed to create great art.”

4.
“After decades of making large ceramic pieces, some as tall as 8 feet, her back gave out and she now spends most of her time working as an art therapist.”

 
 

Wachs Timeline. Scroll over images to see timeline.