Alice Ballard

A Conversation With Nature

...........A Walk Remembered

The Joel Gallery

September 2nd - December 3rd

My art is a reflection of my relationship with natural forms.  These forms come to me on walks, while I work in my garden, or appear as gifts from friends who share my fascination with the beauty inherent in Nature’s abundant variety of forms.  It is often the metamorphosis of nature’s forms, as they change from season to season, that attracts me.  I am endlessly drawn to that universal world in which differing life forms share similar qualities.

I spend countless hours contemplating a particular form in order to feel its energy.  It becomes a Zen-like connection not unlike a meditation.  As an artist, I hope that those who choose to connect with my work can share some of the harmony and tranquility I feel through the creative process.  Perhaps, at the very least, the viewer will give those small, often unnoticed forms in Nature a second glance.

 - Alice Ballard

Short Biography

Alice Ballard received her Masters Degree in Art from the university of Michigan before becoming a professional artist and educator.  She received a Fulbright Grant to study in India, was one of 8 ceramic artists to be invited to the International Ceramic Colony in Resen, Macedonia, received a South Carolina Arts Commission Individual Fellowship and has work traveling work currently traveling in “Tradition//Innovation American Masterpieces of Southern Craft and & Traditional Art” organized by Art South.  She is represented by Hodges Taylor in Charlotte, NC, Blue Spiral 1 in Asheville and Tao Evolution in Hong Kong.  She has had solo shows at the Mint Museums, the Greenville County Museum of Art and has work in the collections of the Renwick Museum of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, Arrowmont School , the Mint Museum of Art and the Greenville County Museum of Art.  Her teaching experience includes Penland School of Crafts and she currently teaches at the SC Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities and Christ Church Episcopal Middle School, both in Greenville, SC where Alice Ballard currently lives and maintains a studio.

The following is from a catalog for " Contemporary Landscapes…Crossing Boundaries" at the McCall Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, NC 2005.  

I have always loved the following quote that was written about my work… 

If we are to sustain our lives and the lives of our children’s, children,we must promote a deeper understanding of the ecology of people and place. How are we connected with each other, with other animals and plants, with each other, with our surroundings? What are the ramifications of our surroundings? What are the manifestations of our choices?Are we in the midst of a cycle of careless stewardship of living systems that sustain us… or are we entering a new era of hope?  Alice Ballard’s exquisite ceramics of “natural objects” illustrate, by her hands, the fact that we are a part of an not apart from nature. If we understand that - we cannot escape our responsibility to use our own hands wisely..  Van W. Shields, director , Culture &  Heritage Museums and the planned Museum Museum of Life and the Environment.  

Click here to go to her webpage.