All Tied Up: Works by Orie Shafer

Ropes have been a part of Orie’s work for years. He has used them in drawings, paintings, photography, and ceramics since the middle seventies. The slip-cast pieces from the late eighties and early nineties were produced in collaboration with the American Art Clay Company for two exhibits. Many of the forms were treated as three-dimensional paintings. The surface treatments are meant to create an aged look. They are not about beauty. They reflect natural, and at times, an unnatural aging process.

In 2015 Orie took part in the museum’s outstanding ceramics program run by Jane and Jeff Boswell. The tools available and the Boswell’s vast knowledge of the medium helped him increase his knowledge of the ceramic process and gave him the freedom to take creative chances. Each piece produced in the museum’s studio represents an aged find or discovered object. As if they were found beneath the sea or in an archeological dig. Many of the pieces are titled using geo coordinates, suggesting the location of each discovery.

Shafer received his BA and AM in Art Education from Purdue University. He taught art in the Tippecanoe School Corporation for three years and was the Chair of the art department at West Lafayette High School for 32 years.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website