Mysteries of the Selkies/Ceramics With Earth Colors/ CELTIC MYTH

Rabbit Man of the Sea

1992

blue gray and red earthen oxides on white clay

by Eric Whollem

Private Collection

                   
RABBIT MAN OF THE SEA

This work was inspired by meeting an Irish gentleman named

George, who related to me in Mendocino that he had lived on

the beaches of Ireland, and was well aquainted with the lore

of the selkies, or the mermaids.

He told me that the term Selkie means Shifter. The selkie is

legendarily able to take on any life form. George told me

that in fact he was going to come back as a rabbit in his

next life--"to aid the people." It could be that George was
referring to the Hare of Irish lore.

The Hare in old Ireland was called Gearr,  considered the most

adept of animals at shape shifting. The hare symbolizes Intuition
and Balance. As well  the Hare is a representative of the 
Spirit of Grain and the two equinoxes. Gearr was a sign of
Rebirth and Abundance.

In Celtic lore all the spiritual creatures dwelled in Emania,
the Otherworld, typified as a mystic ocean. Gearr is
thought to move in and out of the Otherworld at will.

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     Three Goddess Figurines by Eric Whollem 1992
     Private Collection

                      

ON THE COLORIZATION OF MY CERAMIC SCULPTURES

I have followed the New World, or Mesoamerican tradition in the

pigmentation of my ceramic sculptures. I began making paints

from raw natural earth, sand, ash, charcoal and clay in 1973. These

I apply to my fired clay pieces much as a Peruvian ceramic artist

might do. The colors are painted on (usually with a binder of

polymer emulsion). Buffering by hand gives the pieces a modest gloss.

Ceramic glaze was first invented by Korean potters. Their idea spread

all across the globe, following the caravan routes across Central Asia

into Europe. In the Americas glaze, a melted glass coating, was never

used in pottery.

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The clay I use is usually Laguna or Imco Sculpture Mix. Sometimes I 

apply commercial ceramic oxides or carbonates to my work. Infrequently

I have utilized raku glazes.

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My work could be described as earthenware. Many of my pieces

are terracotta.

I originally began creating in clay in 1977, but it was not until 1988 that I

began in earnest to explore ceramic sculpture. Subsequently I have

made many hundreds of sculptures, figurines, beads, wallpieces, masks

and hangings.

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