Stepanka Summer is a porcelain artist who blends art, design and personal imageries from her childhood, inviting the viewer to take a deeper look at familiar encounters, as she transforms them into her own whimsical creations.
MM: I understand you spent time in Bohemia as a child. Can you tell me how that has influenced your body of work?
SS: I truly believe our experiences influence everything we do in life. I grew up in a medieval village in South Bohemia in the Czech Republic in the countryside surrounded by nature all the time. Nature has inspired my life really- in everything I have done. I grew up in my grandmother’s farmhouse in a village of 250 people surrounded by forests, meadows, and rivers. Us kids were free to roam around without any restrictions. Everything we had was home grown and raised. My mother and grandmother had gardens and orchards. There was not much to buy and we even made our own clothes. We had geese and so we plucked the feathers then sorted and separated them in the kitchen. Grandma would make down blankets with them. I just remember feathers everywhere! It was a beautiful foundation. Everything that followed arose directly from that time.
MM: What are your most vivid memories as a child?
SS: As kids we had to help out- we had to work. We would whine and complain but looking back I have such fondness- we were always picking something in the forest or in the garden. My grandma had us picking chamomile for tea, we picked herbs and mushrooms. If we wanted a cake we went to the forest to pick blueberries and raspberries. We picked all our produce and even had an orchard with plums and apples.
MM: How did you discover art and what are some memories of the significance of art in your childhood?
SS: I am a late bloomer in every way. I always felt there was something artistic in me. My older sister was so artistic, and she would sew clothing for all the family. She was such a perfectionist and that intimidated me. I recall I always collected ceramics – I would look for handmade ceramics and I never questioned my fascination with them. I never had a chance to do it- there was no studio anywhere. I didn’t have any clay. There was no art store and nothing to buy anywhere in our small village. I do recall my first project though. I dug up some dirt and I made these beads and put them into a can filled with hay and grass and put the can into my dad’s furnace. Everything burned. From the ashes came out something really awesome- the beads were really fired.
MM: When you are creating your artwork do you create worlds in your mind’s eye?
SS: With ceramics everything is very intuitive, and I don’t question it. Once you are in touch with your intuition, you can wait for the moment of inspiration to come. When you create every day, one thing leads to another. I wait for inspiration to descend and it always comes.
MM: What was your first series and how did it come about?
SS: When I came to America, I didn’t speak English and didn’t know anyone. I was 20. Everything was so new and for the first year I lost myself in that newness. After that a lightbulb when on- what I wanted to do was ceramics! I started at the 92nd Street YMCA to make some plates for myself. I began with functional work then moved on into sculptural abstract work. Ceramics is a lifelong quest getting to know the material and what to do with it. There are so many techniques, glazing and other options. I felt like I had time and spent years at the Y. The sculptural pillow was my first series- it was very intuitive. Creating something comes from learning the material and letting the material speak to you. I have been making ceramics for 23 years. I first started working with stoneware clay because it’s all they had. Then I moved to porcelain. I was smitten the first time I touched porcelain. The clay dictates what it wants to be. I can’t explain where things really come from, but I feel a connection beyond me like I’m just an observer- sort of like I’m just letting things flow. I do make functional work but love making the sculptural work. Really, the best things happen when things are not working the way you envision and then something happens, and you end up with a pillow! Ever since I have been fascinated with the pillow form and have explored it in so many ways.
MM: What inspired your collection of functional objects?
SS: I was inspired to create the functional collection 30 years back when a friend had ceramic dishes I was enamored with. I always had a longing for something different and handmade most recently I have made vases. I see them more as sculptures. I was never drawn to make a vase. I would make them as a commission but then realized these vases just needed to be made. Last summer I started making everything, so it looks like crumpled paper. The texture wanted to be a vase. I started making them simple in shape. They were really hard to make so it took a while to figure out the perfect technique. They were tricky and challenging. Working with porcelain is all about timing. The simple vases became more complicated in shape. I roll a slab of clay and make three pieces then add the texture. Everything is made by hand.
MM: Describe your process. What are the challenges of working with porcelain?
SS: Porcelain is the hardest clay to work with. It wants to do everything you don’t want it to do. It warps- it cracks. I do recall when I first started working with porcelain it was very frustrating. So many times it would misshape in the process- so learning how to speak porcelain takes time. It’s like learning to play piano. It’s a process. You have to love the process because so much goes wrong at all times. Making and learning has been an amazing formula for life.
MM: What is your latest body of work?
SS: The crumpled paper looking porcelain. The pillows are always evolving and the most recent we showed at Pulse in Miami in December. They were abstract flower-like pillows with a paper texture hung in a asymmetrical way. The installation included the vases standing next to the wall flowers so there was a direct conversation with the vase and the wall piece.
MM: What artists do you currently admire?
SS: Currently I am trying to cleanse from being so overloaded with information, the internet and social media- there is a fine line between being inspired and being unique. Right now, I just need my own clarity and my own voice. One artist whose work really moves me – Jun Kaneko who is a Japanese artist. I remember seeing his work for the first time in the Phoenix airport. Huge ceramic pieces… it made me cry. I really admire him.
MM: What’s next?
SS: I am immersed in the moment. I don’t question it too much. I don’t know what’s next. There are so many things in life that transpire that you couldn’t possibly plan. Next is the next moment so I’ll sit here and patiently wait and be surprised.
In addition to her artwork, Stepanka Summer is a ceramic teacher at the Columbia University Teachers College.