July 21 - Sept 24, 2023 | Artist Talk & Reception Sept 14

Jeanie & Bill Wyatt Gallery @ 204 S. Austin

Featured in the RCA Jeanie & Bill Wyatt Gallery, Drawn to Clay: Birds of Rockport showcases raku-fired Royal Terns, White Ibis, Wood Storks and Osprey perched on raku-fired pilings. The work was made specifically to fit the Jeanie & Bill Wyatt Gallery.

“Debra Chronister really celebrates both the process of raku and the nature of birds in this new body of work,” said Elena Rodriguez, curator of exhibitions for Rockport Center for the Arts. “Chronister gives the birds a lot of personality and character in their facial expressions and poses.”

A resident of Victoria, Texas, Chronister has earned multiple degrees including a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Texas Christian University where she graduated magna cum laude with a double major in Secondary Art Education and Studio Art in 1985, as well as a Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics from The University of Texas at Austin in 1993. Formerly an art professor at Victoria College, Chronister has appeared in and written articles for various publications, is a lecturer and presenter for the National Council for the Education of Ceramic Arts, and has designed and fabricated awards for various festivals and competitions. She has participated in dozens of group and solo exhibitions throughout Texas and abroad including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston | The Glassell School; The Contemporary at Blue Star, San Antonio; St. Edward’s University, Austin; and Texas Clay Arts Association, San Angelo; as well as the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans.

In addition to her love of art in all its forms, Chronister also is a certified yoga instructor who has hosted a special “Yoga for Potters” workshop for the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts yearly conference since 2009.

“I am a ceramics teaching, animal training, yoga instructing, horse riding, bow-hunting, wilderness loving, chicken-wrangling, hemp-wearing, ukulele playing, ecstatic dancing, story-teller,” said Chronister. “I am especially appreciative of film, which combines all aspects of art-making into one grand experience.”

I’ve been a bird geek since 7th grade; as a birder, a former bird rehabilitator, and trainer of native birds as education ambassadors.  When invited to exhibit my bird sculptures in the Rockport Center for the Arts’ Jeanie & Bill Wyatt Gallery, I knew I wanted to make a new set of work that responded specifically to this beautiful new space - remarkable to view from the outside and engaging to experience from the inside. The view from the outside suggested light-colored birds would be most visible, and the color pallet of the architecture suggested neutral hues with spikes of color. I wanted dynamic, sizable birds indigenous to the area for these life-size sculptures. I had plenty to choose from!  Richard Schendel kindly offered a beautiful studio space for a residency right on the bay, so all the artwork was made right here in Rockport with many walks for inspiration.  

As the concept began to gel, I sketched and measured study skins of ibis, egrets, wood storks and others at the Welder Wildlife Foundation… The species selection became clearer… The unifying idea of a walk on a pier floated up… the gray pilings providing an orderly setting for each species pair. 

Of all the potential species, I locked onto the wood storks first because they are full of personality, visually interesting, and rare. Plus, I have an affinity for underdogs and they are a Threatened Species in Texas. I’ve seen them riding the thermals here and they are an exhilarating sight. 

The white ibis are so whimsical! Watching them shopping in the wetlands clinched their place on the pilings. 

I planned to have a pair of laughing gulls but noticed a splendid pair of royal terns among the gulls on a nearby spit.  Their sassy posturing and dynamic coloration fit the “bill”.

Seeing an osprey dive into the bay talons first and emerge with a mullet is a superb thrill.  They are so charismatic! I visit their nest sites each year while at residency in Maryland.  They are a conservation success story, their population rebounding after the banning of bird-killing pesticides. 

The birds and pilings are unified both in their color palette and the raku firing process which creates the black crazing on the surface. Raku, a firing process originally from Japan and further developed in America, is a dynamic collaboration between the elements and the artwork. The clear glaze is melted onto the forms at 1845°F and removed from the kiln at that temperature so the Rockport breezes can compose the network of fine fissures on the surface. After a few minutes, the sculpture is placed into a can with paper which combusts, filling the minute fissures with black carbon. It is as exhilarating and unpredictable an experience as a great day of birding.