Collection Record
Images
Metadata
Artist |
Tully-Dibble, Lisa (American, b. 1957) |
Title |
Grin & Bear It |
Date |
2000 |
Medium |
Glaze/Terra Cotta |
Material |
Ceramic |
Technique |
Glazed terra cotta |
Height (in) |
38.000 |
Width (in) |
17.000 |
Depth (in) |
18.000 |
Credit line |
Gift of Dr. Harold F. Daum |
Notes |
In the ceramic sculpture "Grin & Bear It," by Lisa Tully Dibble, we are shown a head-and-shoulders bust of a woman who is smiling so hard her eyes close, her brow furrows, and her gums are exposed. On the top of her head, like a hat (or a thought balloon), rests a simply constructed chair on which sits a baby clad in rompers. The chair is at a precarious angle and the baby seems to be in danger of sliding off, despite its calm demeanor. To make matters odder, the top of the woman's head, her neck, and shoulders are covered in Bartlett pears. It is a confusing amalgam of forms, a rebus of unlinked imagery, and a humorous allegory in its relationship to everyday life. That grin seems on its way to becoming a grimace, while the puzzled viewer is left humming "You were always on my mind . . ." It should come as no surprise that Tully Dibble is influenced by the satirical ceramic sculptures of Robert Arneson, but she also points to the Surrealist paintings of René Magritte and the surreal writings of Gabriel Garcia Marquez as sources of inspiration. "Grin & Bear It" was initially shown in "Sculptural Clay Invitational," the first exhibition of ceramics to be held at the Daum, just after the museum opened in 2002. At the time of the show, Tully Dibble said that there was "an autobiographical nature in my work . . . by placing various objects in, and on, my self-portraits, I create imaginary scenarios alluding to the roles, myths, and emotional states of each piece." Tully Dibble appreciates ceramics' capacity for three-dimensional structure as well as for its ability to be treated as a surface for painterly additions. Lisa Tully Dibble is well known in the Kansas City area, where she teaches ceramics at Saint Teresa's Academy. She holds a BFA degree from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from Boston University. |
Object ID |
2003.20 a-c |
Object Type |
Ceramic |