Studio Visit    
       
  "Perhaps the most important part of Ziegler's method of making is her habit of accumulating and amassing fragments, piece by piece, and building her compositions in the manner of a bricoleur. As an artist who constructs from 'whatever is at hand', she chooses elements that might otherwise be considered haphazard or incongruous. She retains fragments and alters them, allowing vestiges of their former selves to remain while new meanings and materials amalgamate." Linda Brown, Ceramics Monthly    
           
           
   

 
After making numerous forms, I like to indulge in a playful exploratory process of juxtaposing, shifting and grouping individual elements. Some of my best ideas surface during this process - - it may be my favorite part of creating.		  
           
           
           
   

 

 Here I am making decisions about forms that will become "Tete-a-tete," "Fred and Ginger," and "Leafscape." Behind me is my one big studio wall with enough space to try out large and small installations.  
           
           
           
   

 

 I construct using a combination of techniques that often start by pressing slabs of clay into molds made of everyday objects like colanders and woks to wooden molds once used to make parts for nuclear submarines. These mold-made forms are hand-altered, twisted, carved, cut apart and reassembled.


Fred and Ginger 2001
17" x 17" x 4"
glazed clay		  
           
           
           
   

 

 My studio is the size of a two-car garage and can become very cluttered when preparing for an exhibition. Above the sink is the "bisque" beginning of "Formal Effects of Folding."
  
           
           
           
   

 

 At times my slab roller becomes just another available surface for drying or glazing pieces. In the foreground is one of the 9 wall discs that make up "Shadow Muses." Behind, drying in a glass light fixture (the same mold used for the "muse" disc), is one of the 5 curved panels that will become "Linear Remarks."
 
           
           
           
   

 
Installing large installation pieces such as "Obscure Notation" (left) is challenging and exciting because the outcome is different each time.


Obscure Notation 1997
8' x 3' x 8"
glazed clay		  
           
           
           
   

 

 I treat the process of creating large site-specific works like a game with endless possibilities. I make and install several shapes at a time, live with them, and allow them to direct and lead the piece.


Office Party 1998
6" x 6' x 10"
glazed clay
Commission for Texas
Sculpture Garden
           

           
           
   

 

I have always been at ease with a pencil, working out designs on paper as well as on the objects. Graphite marks are so immediate and active that I hate to hide them with glaze.




Altered Vessel: in progress 1999
20" x 10" x 5"
bisque fired clay with graphite leaves
           
           
           
   

 

 The dark leaves on this vessel are drawn in graphite after glaze firing and help denote a specific time of day.

Twilight's Vestment 1999
20" x 10" x 5"
glazed clay and graphite