Gail Geary

About Gail

We are sad to announce that on July 10, 2023, at the age of 74, Gail Riefkin Geary (Naples, Florida) passed away. Born 1949, she was 74 years old.

Gail Geary was formally trained in ceramic arts and as a graphic artist at Ohio University. She has been involved in design practice with her husband for over twenty-five years. Her involvement in ceramics has been a passion consuming every spare moment of her time.

She began her ceramic odyssey with the temperamental art of Raku. She experimented with very clean thin vessels, which were the antithesis of the Raku medium. Size and thinness became her worst enemy and her designs began to outstrip the boundaries of the unpredictable Raku process which has the disadvantage of a fragile clay body ravaged by violent temperature changes.

Stoneware was the obvious solution – these clay bodies and firing processes allow for large pieces with very controlled graphic designs. The stoneware clays also allow for cutting, slicing, folding and bending to create more interesting shapes that become more sculptural.

In an effort to work out the designs and coloration possibilities, the two-dimensional gouache studies evolved as an integral part of the process. Many collectors asked to purchase the studies as well as the ceramics so now they are framed and shown together and most often sold together.

The marriage of ceramic art, design and graphic presentation are just part of her palette of creative expression whose horizon continues to expand with every chance she takes and every piece she makes.