Sonia Marie Wilkins Neale

Sonia Marie Wilkins Neale

sonianeale@att.net

   29204

I received a B.F.A in Sculpture/Ceramics from Winthrop University in 1998. I have been teaching art in all mediums for almost 15 years and now teach home schooled children of all ages at Excelsior! Academy as well as children’s’ classes for the City of Columbia. I am an active member of Midlands Clay Artists Society. My work is displayed at Southern Pottery in Columbia and the Artisans Center in Walterboro, SC I have always wanted to be an artist since the age of six. I started College as a painting major then found sculpture which led to my love of clay. Clay allows me to work with a natural material that my hands can manipulate as I desire. This art medium gives me the freedom to create a form with soft clay and to glaze as if I am painting. I love hand-building with clay and primarily work with slabs to create many forms. I enjoy the freedom of cutting and altering the clay to create many types of vessels. I love using texture which adds to the expressive energy of my work. I use lugs, handles, feet, texture and stance of the vessel to create a figurative aspect. Once the piece is bisque fired I then add different color glazes before the final glaze firing which enhances the figurative quality of the forms, and gives each piece its own expressive style.