AMBLESIDE ARTISTS
Brad & Bryan Caviness
Ceramic · Sculpture · Architectural Form
FEATURED WORK
The Great Wall
Brad & Bryan Caviness · Ceramic
$2,700
THE ARTISTS
Artifact,
architecture
and memory.
Brad and Bryan Caviness are brothers who create ceramic artwork in Browns Summit, North Carolina, combining their interests in history with backgrounds in art, architecture and design.
Their work is intended to inspire an appreciation for monumental achievements in art and architecture while drawing attention to the destruction of ancient sites and the importance of preserving those that remain.
Whether threatened by the slow effects of time, natural disaster or war, historic places and cultural objects become central to the brothers' exploration of memory, permanence and loss.
Their ceramic practice brings the object and its place of origin together, treating the vessel not merely as a container, but as a landscape and an architectural space in itself.
ARTIST STATEMENT
“We start by creating interpretive reproductions of ancient pottery.”
— Brad & Bryan Caviness
THE PROCESS
A world
inside the
vessel.
The brothers begin by creating interpretive reproductions of ancient pottery. After distressing the surface, the vessel is broken to reveal its interior.
Clay is then worked into the volume of the jar to create a panoramic view of an ancient site, visually connecting a culture's artifact with the place from which it emerged.
In this process, the ceramic object becomes both container and environment — an archaeological fragment opened to reveal architecture, landscape and cultural memory.
The completed works are illuminated either by a spotlight from above or by a small lamp built within the vessel itself, allowing light to become part of the experience of the piece.
SELECTED WORKS
The Collection
Bimiyan Buddha
Chaco Doorways
Delphi
Egyptian Temple
French Town
Gothic Stairway
Hall of Great Thinkers
Mediterranean Coastal Villa
Norman's Castle, France
Roman Bathhouse
The Great Wall
Jerusalem Alley
Petra
THEMES
Preservation & Place
HISTORY
Their work draws upon ancient cultures, archaeological objects and historic sites.
ARCHITECTURE
Monumental architectural achievements are reimagined within the intimate scale of the ceramic vessel.
PRESERVATION
The work calls attention to cultural sites threatened by time, natural disaster and war.
ARTIFACT
Ancient pottery forms become a visual bridge between a culture's objects and the places from which they originated.
LIGHT
Internal and external illumination is used to emphasize the architectural spaces built within the ceramic forms.
EDUCATION
Two Disciplines
BRYAN
Bryan Caviness graduated from North Carolina State University with a BFA in Architecture and Environmental Design.
BRAD
Brad Caviness graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a BFA in Painting and Printmaking.
BRAD
His studies also included ceramics and bronze casting.
COLLECT