Ceramic Wall Art By Steven Gardner

From large-scale public stained glass installations to small ceramic wall sculptures, Steven Gardner creates captivating pieces of art that often carry a mythical aura. Nature figures heavily into many of them, and the stylized figures that populate his work often feel like they stepped right out of an ancient creation story.

In most of his work, the centerpiece of the image is a single person. Yet, as you’ll notice, the background is often just as interesting and tends to grab your attention forcefully. This really adds to the impression that you’re looking at a scene, not just a figure; there is a sense that the context, the way the person relates to their surroundings, is the real story.

A lot of the images are ambiguous: a woman asleep in a rowboat surrounded by waves, a naked woman crouching among foliage, an apparently sleeping woman in front of a backdrop filled with flying birds. The figures in these images could be communing with nature – or being swallowed by it. In “Sinking Man With Glass Bird”, there is no ambiguity at all: a man crouches in a row boat that is already half sunk beneath the surface of the water, while a bird sits on the bow of the boat. You can imagine that for the first time in his life, he probably wishes he was the bird.

On his website, Steven says his work focuses on “the human figure, surface pattern, and a sense of story.” To be able to communicate so much narrative information in a single image, like the man in the sinking boat, is really special. His artwork is definitely the kind that invites you to search for meaning. You get the feeling that there is real intention behind each piece.

Maybe it’s the incorporation of nature in his work, or maybe it’s the fact that many of his figures appear to be sleeping, but there is something pacifying about so many of his images. His work also has a certain timeless feeling about it, which goes hand in hand with the mythical sense that seems to pervade his sculptures and paintings. Stylistically and thematically it is easy to imagine it fitting into just about any surroundings. Maybe that’s why Steven has had so many large-scale public architectural commissions. When you look at his work, you feel like it is telling a universal story.

You should visit Steven’s website to see his collection of sculptures and paintings available for purchase, and to browse through some of his other art. He is a phenomenally talented artist with a great sense of vision that shines through all of his work.