Skaneateles Artist Demonstrates How She Creates Beauty from Broken Ceramics

Skaneateles Artist Demonstrates How

She Creates Beauty from Broken Ceramics

Perhaps it's her gift of being an artist that allows noted Skaneateles ceramicist Terry Askey-Cole to see the potential for a special beauty to be created from the remains of ceramic pieces that either didn't measure up to her expectations out of her kiln or were otherwise broken in production. Either way, Terry sees new life in broken pieces or shards . . . a vision she will demonstrate November 2 from 5 to 8 pm at Gallery 54.

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Her artistic bent isn't new. “My mother would paint over my childhood drawings on my bedroom walls to give me fresh surfaces to draw and paint on, she recalled recently.” With a fine arts degree from University of Akron and a career as a graphic designer and illustrator she credits her lifelong interest in art for her initial motivation to create a mosaic as the centerpiece of the kitchen she and husband Larry were remodeling in there Skaneateles home in the late 1990s.

Terry had collected ceramics and studied under the late Central New York ceramic artist Lauren Richie for several years at that point. Her kitchen remodeling seemed a natural opportunity to put her education, her passion and the bags and boxes of ceramic shards she had collected to good use. A new interest in the creation of ceramic mosaics was born.

When Gallery 54 was first opened in July of 2009 she immediately began showcasing her work in ceramics and mosaics. “I love creating something from nothing,” she says adding, “and hopefully something that will survive me.”

Besides getting to see how Terry creates her beautiful mosaics, visitors to Gallery 54 will enjoy seeing (and maybe even purchasing) mosaic creations that typically incorporate elements of a ceramic pot, a garden motif and the lake her home overlooks. Her demonstration will cover the process and techniques she has developed through years of experience as a mosaic artist.

As is the tradition at Gallery 54, the evening will also offer visitors light refreshments along with music by Jane Zell.

Gallery 54 is situated at 54 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles.

Regular gallery hours are 10 am to 5 pm Sunday through Thursday and 10 am to 6 pm Friday and Saturday.

The gallery also offers an online store at www.Gallery54CNY.net