Bing Gleitsman Fine Porcelain Artware

Personal:
Bing and Pam have had a life long interest in art and have experimented and studied in many mediums, including pen and ink, oils, acrylics, metal sculpture and clay. But it was clay that offered them the greatest opportunities to express themselves and their mutual interest in the human face and human psychology.

Education:
While working towards his B.A. in psychology at the University of California at Irvine, Bing began working in the ceramic lab at this school. He received formal training with renowned sculptor, John Mason, who was head of this department. It was in this ceramics lab that Bing and Pam met. She struggled with the clay forms which came so easy to him. Design and color were Pam's focus. Bing developed and perfected his throwing skills working as a production potter in various production pottery houses in the L.A. area in the early 1970s, while earning his M.A. in psychology with a thesis on human facial expressions. Pam spent her last year at UC Irvine working on her MA with a research thesis 'The Psychology of Art'.

Employment:
Bing worked in wholesale production studios in Los Angeles while setting up his own studio in Huntington Beach, CA in 1970s. Bing and Pam joined forces, both in business and life in 1979. Their 1st studio together was set up in Capitola, CA. They found their dream location in 1984, a 75 acre pear and apple ranch in the redwood mountains above Santa Cruz, CA in the small community of Corralitos. They continue to develop and add new colors to their plate and new techniques of applying the colorful oxides to the white glaze surface of his fine porcelain vessels, masks, wall hangings, cover jars, and freestanding sculptures. He plays with the human face and subtle expressions and reactions to expressions with his individually sculpted clay faces. He also experiments with the maximum physical limits of his medium. All of Bings work is first wheelthrown, then hand sculpted, then handpainted by Pam or him.

Interests & Activities:
Today Bing and Pam enjoy their large and ever growing family of 6 children and 5 grandchildren, 4 dogs, 2 cats 4 horses, 4 peacocks, and aviaries full of birds on their ranch where they raise organic apples, pears, asian pears, and citrus for commercial sale and a variety of fruits and vegies for home. The studio sits on the property overlooking the magnificent views of Monterey Bay and the coastal redwood mountains. Their spare time is spent mountain biking the back woods adjacent to his home and surfing the ocean waves of Santa Cruz and Florida while between art shows.

Partial Lists of Galleries:
Tiki, Laguna Beach, CA
Glass Garage, Beverly Hills, CA
American Matrix, N.Y., N.Y.
Heller-Yeger Gallery, Carmel, CA
Stairways, Rockland, MD
Plum St. Lmt, Chevy Chase, MD
Minitaur Gallery, Las Vagas, NV

Collectors Include:
Mrs. Jesse Jackson
And
Queen of Arabia (King Fahad�s 1st Wife)

The human face is a powerful image for evoking an emotional response. I have had a long time fascination with the human face, and wrote my master's thesis on response to subtle expressions on a face as perceived by an observer back in 1975 to complete my degree in clinical psychology. I have combined this interest in subtle facial expression, and the response they can generate, with my love of art, especially clay sculpture. Today I use fine porcelain as a medium to express this philosophical interest in the human consciousness as well as my other philosophies of life.

My work is first wheel thrown, then sculpted and manipulated into forms: vessels, globes, bowls, cover jars and wall hangings. I try to stretch and pull the clay to its maximum physical limits, using gravity in some cases, hanging them upside down, to help me with this process. Then I press into the clay with my hands to form faces, some long and abstract, some realistic, some almost animal like, but all recognizably human. Porcelain's fine texture and clear whiteness helps to give my faces the illusion of reality while also appearing surreal. Some of the pieces are hand built into large wall hangings. To others I add impressions of fish, toys, small heads or other whimsical forms. The work is meant to be fun and amusing, and reflect the overall philosophy that we do not have all the answers.

After drying the pieces in a bisque firing, they are dipped in a white glaze. Now using the surface like a canvas I can paint bright colorful shapes and images using watercolor brushes, or airbrush soft shades of gray, maroon or greens. The colors I use are oxide stains, which I can buy commercially in the primary colors. I use these base colors to mix a wide variety of new shades and colors. The decorating is done using a wax resist technique, the final step which is to etch detail lines into the surface with a sharp metal tool. The painted sculpture is then fired in a gas kiln to cone 10, 2400 degrees, usually a twelve hour firing. Adjusting the oxygen levels during firing, and carefully monitoring the heat and flame, have much to do with the final resulting colors.

My work deals with our sharing emotional and conscious states through subtle facial expressions. I attempt to help expand human consciousness by creating artworks that stimulate out art experience.

The human face is a powerful image for evoking an emotional response. Bing Gleitsman�s work deals with our sharing emotional and conscious states through subtle facial expression. He uses fine porcelain as a medium to express this philosophical interest in the human consciousness.

The galleries of Bing's work are presented here in two sections.

Recent pieces available to the general public are viewed by selecting the Currents Gallery.

Selected designs of past and present can be surveyed by selecting the Exposition Gallery.