Donna Rizzo: Rhythm in Clay Customs House Museum • September 1–30 by Rebecca Pierce
C
eramic artist Donna Rizzo continues the series of exhibits curated by Nashville Arts Magazine for Planter’s Bank Peg Harvill Gallery at the Customs House Museum. In her first career, she was a professional dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher, and while she has completed that chapter, she is still dancing through life and making moves as an accomplished ceramic artist.
“I used to teach dance and choreograph, but now I am dancing with clay, choreographing with clay. The Customs House is calling my show Donna Rizzo: Rhythm in Clay. I guess because I love for my pieces to move, have musical themes maybe, and reflect my background in dance.”
When she wasn’t traveling or teaching for the Tennessee Dance Theatre, Donna took pottery classes with Lena Lucas at Centennial Art Center because she wanted to make dishes and bowls for her home. “So I did that for a while, and then all of a sudden I thought, I want to create in clay and squeeze and pinch and pull and make things I enjoy more than just making dishes. I still throw, but I always alter it. If I’m making a goddess I might just throw her skirt, and then I’ll add pieces to that,” she explained.
Alice Goes Round and Round and Round, 2012, Raku clay, 14” x 10” x 10”
In 2002, when the dance theatre folded, Donna started working with clay full time, and she feels that being able to focus completely on clay has enabled her to improve her craft. She uses both electric and raku kilns and lets each piece dictate how it will be fired and glazed. She likes to play around with surface textures and often adds embellishments such as ribbons, pieces of fabric, and twigs. Most of her pieces move or suggest movement, from rocking-horse teapots to children swinging, dolls hanging, and dresses evoking rhythms, to Southern churches illuminated by candlelight and carousels that she constructs on top of Lazy Susans.
There’s no doubt, Donna is enjoying her second career. She wakes up every day and lets her creativity take the lead. “I just put all this energy and excitement when I’m doing it, and hopefully my creations reflect the love, joy, and playfulness I find in making them.”
My Guitar Gently Weeps, 2012, Raku clay, 14” x 7” x 5”
Miss Hopscotch, 2014, Clay and ribbons, 16” x 6”
Donna Rizzo: Rhythm in Clay is on view at the Customs House Museum in Clarksville September 1–30. For more information, visit www.customshouse.org. See more of Donna’s work at www.donnarizzo.com.
34 | September 2015 NashvilleArts.com