Born in Colombia and now based in Texas, Luz Angela Crawford has found inspiration in creating ceramic pieces modeled after the textures and techniques developed by indigenous cultures of South America. Luz Angela Crawford has an extensive international history. She studied art in Colombia, Italy, Spain, and the United States and has exhibited her handmade pottery in over a dozen solo and collaborative exhibitions since 1997. After studying fine art in Cali and Bogota, she went to ceramics school in Italy and attended workshops in the US and Colombia.
Highly textured and bright with color, her work has an organic quality and is closer to primitive decorative sculpture than typical ceramics. Everything she makes is ceramic, but it can take on the appearance of wood, reed, bark, or leather. She favors earth colors but also uses colors of her own choosing. Her blue, which she uses on wall pieces and pots (sometimes incorporating natural elements such as seeds to activate the surface) is particularly successful. She dries each piece, fires it, and applies glazes that may contain copper, iron, cobalt, or clay.
Crawford is a free wheeler… each piece is molded by hand. Her work has a distinctly contemporary interpretation while still retaining the primitive expression. The clay Crawford uses comes from the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado. The colors in each work are achieved by mixing clays and using glazes applied to the surfaces. These glazes and the various types of clay give the art an organized natural finish. She incorporates the textures and decorative patterns of native crafts.
Natural, non-traditional tools are Crawford’s choice. She says using these simple tools to shape clay is a way to remain connected not only to her South American roots but also to the earth itself. “There’s a connection I feel with the dirt,” she says. “It’s part of nature. I feel close to nature when I use clay. It’s such a free medium. I feel peaceful and free while I am doing it.”
Crawford’s pots and wall-hangings have appeared in local and national shows, including the Amarillo Museum of Art and the Colony Frame and Gallery, and she has been a featured artist at the Clarendon Arts Festival. Additionally, she is an active part of the art community and contributes to the local community through various philanthropic venues.
Crawford was a featured artist in the 2014 issue of “Ceramics Art and Perception,” a widely respected and renowned publication among the ceramic artist community.
Education
I have studied fine art in Colombia and have attended international workshops. Also, I have enriched my artistic knowledge while living in Italy, Spain, and the United States.
- School of Fine Arts, Cali, Colombia
- School of Visual Arts, Bogota, Colombia
- Ceramic School, Bolzano, Italy
- Nijole Savickas, Sculptor, Workshop, Bogota, Colombia
- Kathy Triplett, Ceramic Artist, Workshop, Atlanta, Georgia
- Mitch Lyons, Ceramic Artist, Workshop, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Marko Fields, Ceramic Artist, Workshop, Atlanta, Georgia
Previous Exhibitions
- Group Exhibition Bechtol Fine Arts Gallery – 2014
- Best of the Southwest Show – First Place – 2014
- Best of the Southwest Show – First Place – 2013
- Latino Arts Gallery, Solo Exhibition, Milwaukee, WI 2012-2013
- Recycle Art Festival, Amarillo Museum of Art 2011-2012
- Silent Auction, Group Exhibition-We Think Pink 2010, Amarillo, Texas 2010
- Best of the Southwest Show – Mention – 2012
- Best of the Southwest Show – Third Place 2010
- Best of the Southwest Show – First Place 2009
- Best of the Southwest-Best of Show Juror and Corporate Award-First Place 2008
- Art Gecko Gallery Premier Exhibit, Amarillo Texas 2007
- Arizona State University Art Museum 2007
- Amarillo Biennial 600 Clay, Curated by Dr. Marilyn A. Zeitlin, Director
, and Chief Curator 2007 - 2nd Annual Sale and Exhibition, Amarillo Museum of Art 2006
- OHMS Gallery, Solo Exhibition, Amarillo, Texas 2006
- Spring Art Soiree, Group Exhibition, Amarillo, Texas 2006
- 12×12 Exhibition and Silent Auction, Invitational Group, Amarillo Museum of Art 2005-2012
- Rooster’s Coffee Gallery, Solo Exhibition, Amarillo, Texas 2005, 2008
- Spring Show, The Colony Frame & Gallery, Amarillo, Texas 2005-2011
- Artists Hanging, Group Exhibition, Amarillo Museum of Art 2005-2011
- The Don & Sybil Harrington Cancer Center Art Auction, Amarillo, Texas 2003
- Contemporary Gallery, Group Exhibition, Bogota’, Colombia 1997