Red Lodge Clay Center – Short-Term Resident (AIA) 2019
Monica Van den Dool is a ceramic sculptor residing in beautiful Oakland CA. She received an MFA from Montana State University, Bozeman in 1995 and a BA in English from Santa Clara University in 1990. Named a NCECA Emerging Artist in 2002, her work has been exhibited at various national venues, including the San Jose Museum of Art, the DeSaisset Museum at Santa Clara University, and the Arizona State University Art Museum Ceramics Research Center. Her work is included in the collections of the Archie Bray Foundation (MT), the DiRosa Preserve (CA), and the Arizona State University Ceramic Research Center, and her artist residencies include the Archie Bray Foundation, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, and the LH Project. She has taught ceramics at several Bay Area universities, including San Jose State, California College of the Arts, and the University of California, Berkeley.
Work from the “Things on Fire” series is motivated by the challenge of sculpting ephemeral form and by the exploration of vivid color, with cartoony and stylized results. While some pieces in the series keep this visual message central, others introduce the fire and a sense of peril to more familiar objects in our environments, as these same environments literally go up in smoke.