Rimas VisGirda
Lithuanian-American Ceramist

ithuanian born American ceramic artist Rimas VisGirda's characteristic drawing style developed in the late 1970's and early 1980's. At the time, VisGirda observed the increasing corporatization and in a sense 'flatness' of American society. He tried to express these observations and concerns in his drawing, which resulted in a caricature style imagery. This was further influenced by US West Coast underground cartoonists such as Robert Crumb and S. Clay Wilson, as well as sub-cultural movements in London, in particular the rise of Punk Culture. In his imagery, VisGirda takes a critical look at fads and fashions, especially fringe areas outside of everyday culture. His imagery may be socio-critical, sometimes playful, sometimes even alluding to eroticism.

VisGirda uses a number of techniques to arrive at his end product. He favors coarse, high fired stoneware and works with line and color. VisGirda first draws the outline of an image with a conventional pencil on greenware. The surface is then brushed over with a thin layer of water based wax resist. On drying, the pencil marks are still visible through the translucent wax resist. The lines are then scratched into the clay with a sgrafitto tool. Black engobe or stain is then painted into the grooves.

Next Page > Applying the Color > 2

More Artists of the Week