Terrace Studio: Reform School for Clay

By Jocelyn Geboy in Arts & Entertainment on May 10, 2006 4:23PM

Clay. Bedrock of the earth. We like to play around with it sometimes, even though our efforts at making something out of it have never been that successful. We tried; both at the grade school level and the college level, when we took a ceramics course and found out that it was not a course for the lazy and stoned. (Can you say D?)

However, there is someone in town who is quite handy at the wheel and creates all sorts of items. We were at a show of hers recently and decided we'd find out a little bit more about Sabrina Tongish and her Terrace Studio.

Chicagoist: How did you start in ceramics?
Sabrina Tongish: I was about 11 years old when I was introduced to clay. It was a required art class at my grade school. We learned to make pinch pots from the soft clay and I was forever hooked on this craft that allowed me to make a three-dimensional useful object out of a piece of earth.

Chicagoist: What interests you about the art of ceramics?
ST: Fire, water, earth, and air. It is from the earth, yet man made. I love to create functional pieces of modern forms while using an ancient craft.

Read more about Sabrina and Terrace Studio after the jump.

Chicagoist: Did you do something before this?
ST: I have a career in Industrial Design: Product Development. I worked professionally in that field for eight years before opening Terrace Studio.

Chicagoist: Is having a woman-owned business any different than having any other kind of small business?
ST: I don't know. I've never had a male owned business... (smiles) In the fine art field, there are many more women than men, which is opposite of my career of product design which has many more men than women.

Chicagoist: What inspires you? Nature? Anything man-made?
ST: My mom and my dad. They are both big kids who never stop learning and creating. Nature - yes. Some colors and shapes in nature are incredible. Architecture. Jazz musicians. Sculptors such as Rodin and Brancusi.

Chicagoist: Did you mentor with anyone?
ST: Well you could say my ceramic teacher in Pasadena was and still is my mentor, but I never worked in her professional studio.

Chicagoist: You recently did some work in California. Can you tell us about that? You're originally from there, right? When did you move to Chicago?
ST: I was born and raised in Southern California. Pasadena - home of the Rose Parade. I learned the foundation of my ceramic skills in high school from an amazing ceramic artist Juanita Jimenez. I have kept in touch with her over the past 20 years and she has watched me grow in my career. When she needed a long term substitute, I was the one she called. My family is still in Pasadena, so I flew out there, stayed with my dad and taught five ceramic classes for six weeks at my alma mater, Westridge School.

I moved to Chicago in March of 1995, three months after graduating from Art Center College of Design. I was offered a great design job with the largest product development firm in the Midwest, Herbst LaZar Bell Inc. I have been here ever since.

Chicagoist: You used to show your work at art shows and craft fairs. You don’t do that anymore?
ST: Not anymore. One year I did eight different craft fairs and when it was done, I vowed - Never again. It is a lot of work to pack up my pieces, transport them to the site, set up a professional exhibit, sit all day talking to strangers, then packing up at the end of the day, and do it all again the next day. If I were master of miniature paintings on pin heads, I would probably think differently.

Ceramics is a large, bulky, fragile art that takes much care to transport, set up and take down. At the end of the season, my relationship was on the rocks, my nerves were shot, and I was ready to run away from the whole scene. For my sanity, I have now chosen to do shows at my own studio where I can set up in leisure and have a show whenever I feel like it.

Chicagoist: Has anyone ever accidentally broken a bunch of stuff?
ST: Yes. I was exhibiting at a craft fair in Antioch when a young girl knocked over 3 pieces onto the pavement. I asked the mother to pay a percentage of the cost of the broken work and sent them away. These things will happen.

Chicagoist: How often do you create/spin (What's the proper word -- throw!?)?
ST: I create in many different ways. Throwing is the technical term for creating on the potter's wheel. I also do hand building and slab construction. When I am inspired, I will create every day for weeks at a time. Some times I am not inspired to create, so I go out to look, explore, absorb the city, and offer to be of service to my Industrial Design clients.

Chicagoist: What's the process that goes into making something?
ST: That could be very different for each piece. But the short answer is that I let the clay speak for itself. Like famous sculptors would say - I take away the stone to release the sculpture that is within.

Chicagoist: Form or function?
ST: Both.

Chicagoist: Do you always stick with certain forms? (At the studio, we saw a wide variety of things ranging from art pieces to functional items like mugs and teapots.)
ST: I have some forms that repeat themselves, but I continue to allow them to evolve.

Chicagoist: Do you have a signature piece?
ST: The Tri-Toe would be my signature piece.

Chicagoist: Do you do commissioned works?
ST: Yes.

Chicagoist: You have other artistic endeavors, right? You sing?
ST: Uh. Yeah... I like to sing but have not really found the right place to explore that. Last year I started learning to play the guitar to facilitate my singing, but never took the show on the road. I guess I still have time.

Chicagoist local snapshot:

Favorite place to eat in Chicago:
Rioja

Most underrated thing about the city:
Public Transportation. All the negative hype about CTA makes you think we are as bad as L.A. ... but really that is just not true. I can get anywhere I want in Chicago without a car. And I mean *any*where.

Favorite "tourist" spot:
Restaurant on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building. The view still takes my breath away. I love to just sit with a cold soda and watch the sun set (something you can't do at the Sears tower).

website: www.terracestudio.com

Images taken at Terrace Studio.