Comments by Critics
Oakroom Artists Gallery Show
Karen Bjornland for THE SCHENECTADY GAZETTE
Schottman's abstract stoneware pieces nudge our minds into deep inner spaces...Created of clay fired at very high temperatures, Schottman's sculptures are suited for outdoor life. The copper-colored, temple like forms, with openings that suggest doorways, turn up often in the annual juried Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood, where they absorb and complement the earthy atmosphere of forest and soil and rocky paths.
The largest work, about four feet tall, is "Entrances/Chambers: Silk Road," which was inspired by an Asian Society exhibit about the ancient trade route from India to China. Instead of building temples along the road, the Burnt Hills artist tells us that Buddhist monks carved informal worship places out of soft rock.
Like Indiana Jones, we want to explore the mysterious vertical crevice in this rock, to see what lies beyond, to venture inside. We can also linger mentally in a ledge-like space to the right of the opening.
The two forms in "Entrances/Chambers: Southwest" are reminiscent of New Mexico's adobe architecture, and each is etched with a pattern of circles and notches, suggesting human habitation...
"Ritual," a rounded form with a bowl-like opening, could be a place for ancient gatherings, like those we might imagine in the 700-year-old cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde in southwest Colorado.
Departing from Southwest geology, native peoples and architecture, there is "Majestic Form," round and balanced and figurative. This is more human than terra firma, a refined form that catches soft shadows onto its curves from the gallery lights.
Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood 2005
Timothy Cahill for BERKSHIRE LIVING
(Chesterwood is the summer estate of Daniel Chester French in Stockbridge, MA.)
Each year, in mid-summer to mid-fall, French's property yields a new crop of sculpture by artists from next door and across the country...Sculpture integrates easily into the natural environment and the better the sculpture, it seems, the easier the fit.
...Tom Schottman's stoneware Duo, an abstract standing form that in a gallery or garden would be about one thing, the way the massive material expresses so tenderly a human embrace. But in the woods, the sculpture resonates much more. Its shape rhymes with a pair of white pine trees nearby, and its dark terra cotta color echoes the hue of the dried needles that cover the ground. The sculpture draws attention to the needles and other forest detritus, some of which in turn, settle on and become a temporary part of the art.
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