Red Lodge Clay Center Long-Term Resident 2013-14
After growing up in the Virgin Islands, Chicago, and New York, Koral Halperin went on to receive his AFA at the College of DuPage in 2009. In 2012 he received his Bachelors degree from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He has since gone through a Post Baccalaureate program at Kansas State University, a long-term residency at Red Lodge Clay Center, and finished a long-term residency at The Clay Studio of Missoula. He then continued to make in Missoula as he attained an associate degree in diesel technology. Koral currently lives in Lolo, Montana with his partner Koree and his two sons, Maddox, and Otis.
Spending the first half of my life in the United States Virgin Islands and the latter half in Chicago and New York, my work tends to reveal observations of the natural and manmade worlds. I grew up immersed in the outdoors, in a time where technology began to live in our homes. The colors in advertisements and their products were mimicking those of native sceneries and festivals. And while a strong connection to nature began to fade, metropolises emerged.
Many questions emerge from these experiences. Can order and chaos be interchangeable? At what point is chaos transformed to structure? How structured can something be until we no longer understand it? This is an everlasting conversation. I cannot take sides or pretend to understand these larger questions. I can only use these questions as inspiration in hopes of gaining bits of knowledge along the way.
Working with clay brings these questions alive. For me, coil building is an intuitive process, which lends itself to both very structural and organic forms. I can use the human touch in juxtaposition with structure, while maintaining the idea that these elements are one in the same. Architectural, gestural, abstract, conceptual, and landscape elements come together to create a composition that meshes both land and cityscape.