Artist's Statement:
Barbara Sorensen is a ceramic sculptor & printmaker whose interest in geological formations is reflected in her small, vessel referenced works in clay, for which she was originally known. With this same theme, she is now creating environmental installations with pieces varying in scale from intimate forms to larger than life size goddesses and works on paper reflecting her highly textured surfaces in clay.
Through her work, Sorensen uses hand built forms that are simple and balanced. Sorensen has pushed the clay out from within, expanding the form to emulate the
earth’s crust. The stoney rough surfaces and hints of gold references antiquity.
A nationally recognized artist, she has studied art around the world and mentored with some of the country’s leading ceramic artists. Sorensen moved to Winter Park, Florida from Wisconsin in 1980. It was in Wisconsin that she earned her art degree from the University of Wisconsin and taught art. Since moving to Florida, Sorensen has devoted her time to her artwork.
Most recently in 2007, she had a one person exhibition at Millenia Gallery in Orlando, Florida, and at the Sardella Gallery of Fine Art in Aspen, Colorado. In 2006 she was included in an exhibition called “Finding Balance” curated by James Surls at the Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts. Barbara has also had one person sculpture exhibitions at the Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida, the Gulf Coast Museum of Art in Largo, Florida, at Stetsen University in Deland, Florida, at the Florida Craftsmen Gallery in St. Petersburg, Florida, and at the Museum of Arts & Science in Melbourne, Florida. In the past few years, she has also had exhibitions at the Orlando City Hall, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, at Rollins College, the Florida State Capitol Complex in Tallahassee, the Duval-Smart Gallery and Castle Creek Gallery in Aspen, Colorado, the Harris House of the Atlantic Center for the Arts and the Albertson-Petersen Gallery in Winter Park.
Sorensen has been published in nationally acclaimed art publications and periodicals. She was recently included in nationally acclaimed art books, Finding Balance, 2006, by curator James Surls, Ceramics in the Environment, 2005, by Janet Mansfield, on the cover, The Craft and Art of Clay, 3rd Ed., 1999, by Susan Peterson and Architectural Ceramics 1999, on the cover, by Peter King. Her work is represented by the Fay Gold Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia, the Sardella Fine Art Gallery in Aspen, Colorado and Millenia Gallery in Orlando, Florida.
Her work is included in the collection of the Orlando Museum of Art in Orlando, the Everson Museum in Syracuse, New York, the Newark Museum in Newark, New Jersey, the SunTrust Bank in Orlando, Florida, Orlando City Hall, Orlando Court House, Stetson University, Maitland Art Center, the Cornell Fine Arts Museum and the Florida State Capitol. Among her public commissions is the University of Central Florida’s Multilingual Multi cultural Center and The Orlando Public Arts Collection at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center and the Village of Snowmass in Snowmass, Colorado.
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