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 E. 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.

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