Curtis Fontaine’s abstract ceramic sculptures are created through a unique process of hand building that relies as much on intuition as structural aptitude. Years apprenticing under American ceramic artist Toshiko Takaezu helped Fontaine develop a keen sense of form and technique. The genesis of Fontaine’s abstract sculptures can be seen in Takaezu’s “closed form” vessels, though, whereas Takaezu used a traditional method of throwing a pot on a wheel, Fontaine’s process involves coil building, allowing each work to emerge and evolve without the symmetrical restraint that the wheel dictates.