Gabrielle Wambaugh at the Traver Gallery: Discontinuities

Glance                             Conversation

Gabrielle Wambaugh! She creates most of her work in ceramics, then adds various other materials.These are not like any ceramics I have ever seen. All the work was produced on a residency at Seattle University in 2026. She is an internationally known French artist. We are fortunate to have this exhibition.

Gap 2026 Ceramic and nails

Right away as we look at this extraordinary ceramic sculpture we see Gabrielle Wambaugh is willing to experiment, to play with ideas, scale, media.

Nails in ceramic?? they are opposites, one is pliable or hard, the other is straight, one is baked the other is forged. Apparently she works the clay, then inserts the nails, then bakes it.

But look at the clay, it could be an organic form, it is bent a little like an undercooked fat noodle with that space between the sides, the gap.

Wambaugh has talked a lot about space in her work, “As a sculptor I am concerned the space and in-betweens, such as gaps and interstices…. For about thirty years I have questioned sculpture through the density of its materials, its  limits and the scale of its periphery.”

Black also has ceramic and nails; it is slightly smaller. than Gap, 6.75 inches as opposed to 9.75 for Gap. Wambough’s earlier work often emphasized feet, but these knobbly shapes take it much further into the abstract, at the same time suggesting something a little creepy. And then the nails, many nails in the top, what do they suggest?

Wambough does not go in for explaining her work in terms of layered meanings, she mainly talks about materials, but I really need to interpret them.  Here goes.

Stands  as a verb, this foot is a real foot,  an animal foot.  A copper chain hangs down, and the foot is on a copper disc. Again I find this a little scarey. the distinct sharpened toe nails trying to grasp the shiny copper disc. The loose chain which we can imagine can cause pain if it is tightened.

Anchored ceramic and nails here is a definite large animal foot with five toes and pieces of legs laid on top. Then there are the nails in the calf. Not so many. These feet will not walk!

Trilogy  – this time the leg/foot is roughly treated in the glazes but juxtaposed to a perfect shiny ball. These types of textual contrast frequently appear  in Wambaugh’s work. Does it make us feel the materials more intensely? Can we create a metaphor from it? The ball is a balloon, filled with air. Wambaugh has said the balloons make her happy, they appear frequently as a counterpoint to her strange shapes

Corner 6.75 inches, I include the measurements to emphasize how small the work is. The work includes nails also but the main impact is the shiny, bumby green glaza anad the pooled green areas that accent the corner. I see this as a fragment of a landscape. Gabrielle visited the Hoh rainforest while she was on the residency in Seattle and was bowled over by it, the mosses, the rains .

Here is a tree with white chalk drawnon it and nails inside. We can easily recognize the inside outside quality of the tree!

Together ceramic nails sponge  7.75×9″

I will conclude with this provocative three part piece. Why is it so pleasing?

It is the unexpected contrasts of textures, colors, and shape. I think it opens up our imagination to see these contrasting pieces that go together so harmoniously. It feels like a resolution to me.