Sculpting a Sustainable Future
As a grad student in Ceramics in the early 1980s, Allison Newsome MFA 83 CR says she was the only “nonfunctional ceramist” in the studio, using clay to make abstract pieces rather than bowls or other vessels.
Today she describes herself as a “functional sculptor,” working in her Warren, RI studio (a former lace factory) to design nature-inspired pieces that allow urban gardeners to capitalize on rainfall and turn off their taps. “That’s essentially my mission,” she explains: “to get everyone off treated, potable town water, which is not necessary for gardening.”