I am Midnight, This is My Story

Anne Koszalka Artist Statement:

I am primarily a hand builder making functional work and have always been interesting in exploring surfaces. My most recent pursuit was making hundreds of tiles to create illustrations for a graphic novel about a shelter dog. This is a true story about a dog named Midnight who was found tied to a pole. This story is close to my heart because I love and worked with this amazing, resilient, creature. The inspiration for my work comes from my love of animals and especially dogs. When making my pieces I use a technique called sgraffito to create images on the clay. I use a red clay body painted with white underglaze, scratch through to create a thin line, add color and finish with a clear glaze. This technique allows me to create a detailed portrait with a painterly quality. I somehow feel connected to every dog I paint. I have had the privilege to care for dogs for the last 25 years, both my own and also shelter dogs. In 2017 I began volunteering at ACCT Philly, the city’s open intake shelter and two years later at New Leash on Life. NLOL is a nonprofit prison dog program that is dedicated to saving at risk dogs and improving the lives of inmates.
 

Bio: 

(b. 1964) Anne Koszalka is a Philadelphia clay artist who fell in love with clay in the mid 90's. As a kid she spent most of her time doing art and digging in the dirt. Eventually clay rose above all other mediums and she began pursuing classes, workshops and other opportunities in clay. Anne was lucky enough to take one of her first classes at The Clay Studio classes with Leroy Johnson and would go on to assist him with The Claymobile. She often borrows his words of wisdom while teaching her own classes. In the late 90's Sandi Pierantozzi and Neil Patterson, of Neighborhood Potters, took Anne under their wings. It is in their studio that she learned all aspects of being a clay artist. She has assisted them for many years in different capacities including a spring concentration at Penland School of Crafts. Anne currently teaches at Neighborhood Potters and has been instructing students of all ages since the early 2000's. It is around this time that she began painting animal imagery on clay. Anne’s other passion is to work with dogs in animal welfare. She currently volunteers with New Leash on Life and has spent 5+ years with them.