First Floor Library
Hotel Verdant’s first-floor bookshelves feature a collection of artwork from multiple artists alongside an assortment of books about Racine, or works published by local authors.
All pieces not marked are created by Nate Hunter
Artists in the First Floor Library
Justin Gottfredsen
Artist Statement
I fired these pieces in a high school raku firing in Racine, Wisconsin. I designed them to cater to a simplistic and modern view of the traditional Chinese firing style of earthenware, where the cracking and shapes give the works meaning.
Justin Gottfredsen
Raku Vase #1, 2021
Ceramic
Photography: Rachel Comande
Justin Gottfredsen
Raku Vase #2, 2021
Ceramic
Photography: Tyler Potter
Nate Hunter
Artist Statement
I see each piece as evidence—proof that even though the kiln is a harsh place, it is a situation where there is dramatic and permanent change. Without it, every work would be too weak and break under its own weight.
Check out Nate Hunter’s other artwork in the Hotel Verdant Permanent Art Collection—Ecclesia 2.
Nate Hunter
Ceramic
Photography: Rachel Comande
Nate Hunter
Ceramic
Photography: Rachel Comande
Alex Mandli
Artist Statement
My current work seeks to perfect the very essence of making ceramics by focusing on just clay, water, and fire. The saggar firing process relies on the skill and experience I have developed over forty years to create an environment of combustible materials that will use the fire as a painter uses a brush. Unlike raku firing or glazing, the coloring of a saggar-fired pot occurs from the moment the kiln is lit until the pot has completely cooled.
To accentuate this unique coloring, I use a vocabulary of forms built with a foundation from the traditions of ancient ceramics cultures and then honed with my intuitive understanding of form.
I believe that saggar firing approaches the very heart of ceramics as a medium—the fusion of clay, water, and fire. By eliminating everything that is not these three components, my work unites surface and form.
Alex Mandli
Flat Jar, 2023
Ceramic
4 1/4 x 8 inches
Photography: Tyler Potter
Alex Mandli
Barb’s Jar, 2023
Ceramic
7 1/4 x 5 3/4
Photography: Tyler Potter
Alex Mandli
Jar Form, 2023
Ceramic
8 x 5 1/2 inches
Photography: Rachel Comande
Dennis Motl
Artist Statement
This pierced vessel contrasts the fluid form of a mathematical shape, the hyperbola, with random perforations.
The ultra-smooth surfaces of this maple bowl are accentuated by the natural fissures in the wood and the bark inclusion. This is nature at its random best.
Dennis Motl
Hyperbolic Pierced Birch Vessel, 2015
Birch and paint
3 1/2 inches tall
Photography: Rachel Comande
Dennis Motl
Classic Maple Burl Bowl with Bark Inclusion and Natural Hole, 2013
Maple
8 3/4 inches diameter
Photography: Rachel Comande
Bill Reid
Artist Statement
I have been making steel animal sculptures for upwards of 50 years and one of my favorite beasts are bees. Also, I go by Bee Reid as my name. This piece combines my love of bees and moving sculptures.
Harold Solberg
Artist Statement
My work Spalted Maple has hard black lines that result from fungus preceding decay in the wood. Undulating presents wood grain with light refraction. I blank turned Square on the lathe, while rotating at 1500rpm. It is difficult to take high-speed intermittent cuts accurately.
Harold Solberg
Undulating, 2022
Fiddleback maple
3/4 x 12 5/8 inches
Photography: Rachel Comande
Harold Solberg
Square, 2018
Red hard maple
10 x 10 inches
Photography: Rachel Comande
Harold Solberg
Spalted Maple, 2022
Spalted maple burl
1 3/4 x 4 1/4 inches square
Photography: Rachel Comande
