Marlene Astman has been a local and international ceramist for the past four decades. Her work, in stoneware and porcelain, features protrusive slip designs on classical forms. She also utilizes a variety of British and American formulas to create ceramics with lustrous, layered glazes.
Astman’s studio is in Sherman Oaks, California. Each spring she returns to Oxford as a member of a British ceramics collective, where she designs her Oxford Collection. Inspired by the city’s remarkable blend of medieval and modern, she explores the boundaries between reinvention and replication, density and proportion.
Numerous American and international galleries have invited Astman to exhibit. Last spring, two pieces from her Oxford Collection were selected for inclusion in a juried show in conjunction with the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. Her exhibits include Wytham Wood Studio Gallery at the University of Oxford (Anagama Kiln Project); Art League of Lincoln (“Small Feats of Clay”); Las Lagunas Gallery (“Botanical Art Show”); Couturier Gallery (Los Angeles); the Palo Alto Arts Center (Stanford University); and Westwood Center for the Arts (Los Angeles).
Astman has been commissioned to create one-of-a-kind ceramic works for the LA Metropolitan Transit Authority, Jewish Family Services, the Los Angeles Times. Private collectors in Mexico, India, Switzerland, the UK, and the U.S. have acquired her work.
An experienced arts educator. Astman has taught master classes in Oxford and, for 25 years, student artists at the Oakwood School. Recognized for her expertise in ceramic restoration, Astman was invited to repair ceramist Otto Natzler’s final works. She often incorporates Natzler’s signature red slip in her own sui generis collection of thin-walled vessels, which are tactile and luminous.