Chip Clawson: Feathers, Squiggles, And Wings

Although known as a ceramist, Clawson is relentlessly innovative. For more than a decade, he worked with fabric formed concrete that had painted, mosaic, or other ceramic attachments as surface treatments, and is known for large-scale, site-specific works that sculptural columns and arches.

In his most recent work, Clawson uses digital technology to alter a base form through “distortion, segmenting, reconstruction, bending, changing scale and producing sculpture in a variety of materials with a variety of digitally controlled machines.” The work in this exhibition starts with a clay model or found objects that are then laser-scanned. The digital file is taken into a modeling program, manipulated in many ways, and used to produce a physical object using CNC routers or 3D printers. He finishes the form by painting them with bold, intense colors.

Clawson moved to Helena to be the Clay Business Manager in 1977 and worked there until he retired in 2017. He was close friends with Bray director David Shaner, who bequeathed him a collection of seed pods, shells and other natural forms that inspired Shaner’s ceramic forms and continue to inspire Clawson’s.

Clawson says, “The natural world is the main source of inspiration for my work. As I have spent time enjoying the outdoors, the forms accumulate in my brain and come in a new form as I fulfill my need to create. Sculpture gives me the opportunity to share my visions with others.”