EVAMARIE PAPPAS

For Evamarie Pappas, making art is a family affair. She lives and works in the Florida home she shares with her husband, Gary Oglander, an abstract painter. The pair, who met while Evamarie was studying art at Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida, frequently collaborate on ceramic works and often exhibit with their sons, Daniel and Eric. "We critique each other honestly," she says. "There was never a competition between us."

Organic in form, Pappas's ceramic sculptures draw inspiration from the forests and gardens that surround her home, as well as the ocean. She notes, "I would say I'm most influenced by nature. I often think about a plant or a seed pod. I think about how they might move or grow." Her process is intuitive and unconscious. "Once I start, I put everything out of my mind and let [a piece] become what it wants to become," she says. When a form is complete, Pappas sometimes hands the vessel over to her husband to paint. "Every time he paints something, I feel like he has enhanced my work," she says. 

For Pappas, life itself is a form of artmaking. "I work long hours, and I love it. I sleep really well. And I have a lot of energy."