2905 San Gabriel, Ste 101  /  Austin, Texas 78705
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Observations on the Work of Bonnie Lynch

View the artist's work

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The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts has examined the work of contemporary American ceramists for nearly a quarter of a century. It is from the perspective of directing this museum that I make these observations. It has occurred to me that much of the writing and critical review of art that I see often makes only the vaguest reference to the artist and has a preoccupation with the object. Art is created by humans and for me there is a powerful imprint of the individual who made it. In the studio space of many ceramists one observes what I consider to be a spare and uncomfortable environment of often hard surfaces, rugged equipment and the omni presence of clay dust. Bonnie is organized and maintains as orderly a space as is possible. To me, it seems there is quite a distance between the romantic notion of the creative independence of the studio potter and the reality of a life of rugged physical work with delayed and risky outcomes. Bonnie seems to love it.

Bonnie Lynch is a slender and elegant woman with the lovely countenance that would be the envy of any fashion model. This is not a frail woman however. She is wiry and strong in physique and spirit which bespeaks her far west Texas ranching heritage. She is an educated and well-traveled person but when she is able to, she always gravitates back to the land and the ranch where she grew up. The open sky and the flat and endless stretches of land with the Guadalupe Mountains looming up nearby, provide a deeply spiritual context from which she draws inspiration. Her work is not figurative nor in any sense illustrative but you can clearly see reflected in it this inspired sense of place.

Bonnie has her city studio but is happiest when working at her ranch studio. The physical challenges of her process are subsumed by the endless hours of contemplative absorption in making art. And what of this art? Scale is important to her and for her medium she creates inordinately large but deceptively delicate objects, built carefully using primarily the ancient coil process. Most are round or ovular in shape and suggest the possibility of function though they are essentially sculpture. They have the earthy and touched-by-fire finish of the saggar and pit firing processes. These techniques result in a varied and unexpected pattern that emerges from each firing. A ceramic critic I know told me he can't make a final judgment about an object until he picks it up and feels it. One doesn't easily pick up Bonnie's work and the artist herself often requires assistance as she loads the kiln and moves the pieces. Her work clearly has a tactile quality that makes you want to touch it. Although her unglazed surfaces will last potentially for thousands of years there is still a delicacy to them and I would not recommend touching too often. Her love of space and "uninterrupted time and thunderstorms" is vividly expressed in the work. The engulfed space of the interior relieved by an opening, and the vast space around the form is a vivid part of experiencing this work. Bonnie has declared that she is interested in beauty. She sees it in nature, in spareness and in the often unobserved richness of simplicity. When she works she seeks the clarity of spirit and mind, and in the way that only a true master can do so, brings that quality to life. Her art is clearly a reflection of her vision but she also revels in the unknown and the unexpected that emerge from the material and the process. There is a depth and sense of gratification that is vastly more rewarding the longer one engages this art. She has achieved beauty.

Howard Taylor, Director
San Angelo Museum of Fine Art

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