Annual StoneHaus Kiln Opening

Our annual December kiln opening has become a local one-day Pensacola, Florida, art destination to purchase signed art by Xinia Marín and Peter King.  This event is well attended, so come early for the best selections, warm, right out of our large walk-in kiln. The date: December 13, 2009 @ 2PM.

Xinia Marín

Clay Art and Architectural Ceramics

 

Peter King & Xinia Marin Newsletter



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In her clay studio in Cartago, Costa Rica, or in Pensacola, Florida, Xinia’s enthusiasm and creative ability fourishes.

Clay art figurine

Large Scale Art

Clay art has no size limits if the proper techniques in building are incorporated into the design.  Here is a beautiful fireplace created by Xinia Marin and partner Peter King.

Architectural ceramics clay art designed into a fireplace surrouind.
Clay Art
Master Artist, Architectural Ceramics
Prolific Costa Rican ceramic artist and art professor Xinia Marin Hidalgo recently returned to her home in Cartago after completing work on Clay art installed at the entrance to the Sculpture Garden at the Coral Springs Museum of Art, Coral Springs, Florida in 2008, a major architectural ceramic installationArchitectural Ceramics arch installed at the Coral Springs Museum of Art, Coral Springs, Florida. on the grounds of a museum in South Florida. With the help of husband Peter King and volunteers, Hidalgo labored for three months to make the four-meter-high free-standing arch for the outdoor International Sculpture Garden at the Coral Springs Museum of Art in Coral Springs, Florida. Dedicated to the public in mid-March, the work titled "Gateway to Peace" is a highly embellished and detailed double-sided arch that stands as an entry point to the garden featuring sculptures in different materials by artists from all over the world.

Wind, music and communication are the subjects of "Gateway to Peace." Two musicians/shamans play their magical flutes at the base of the columns, communicating with their gods. The music rises to the high relief arch, coalescing in the heavens, then descends down the other side of the arch to be blown by the gods into contemporary civilization. This artwork is a fitting centerpiece at the museum, where it will stand for decades to come.

A professor at the University of Costa Rica School of Fine Art in San Jose, Hidalgo remembers fondly her childhood in Tejar Del Guarco, living with her mother and eight siblings in a rural town with a strong historical tradition in ceramic production. She recalls how her older brother would tend neighbors' cattle on surrounding hills, only to return home with small clay animals he had fashioned from the earth. "These figures impressed and fascinated me, setting me on the path to eventually becoming an artist working primarily in the medium of ceramics," says Hidalgo, who maintains a ceramic studio in Tejar Del Guarco.

"All of this personal history has deeply influenced my artwork. My connection with the earth and nature as a child brought me to a profound appreciation of the work and lives of the native peoples who lived and created sophisticated ceramic art long before the arrival of the first Europeans to the land that is present-day Costa Rica. This sensibility of pre-Columbian culture is incorporated into my personal aesthetic."

This aesthetic is reflected in "Gateway to Peace," a work the artist believes has deepened and extended her vision. While the past impacts her work, so does the international movement in contemporary ceramic art, honed by her studies in Italy, Brazil and the United States. This global perspective mixes harmoniously with events of Hidalgo's own life into artwork of profound and lasting influence.
 
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