Winter 2012 Issue

Skeer formed Golden Square, a detail of which is shown, using clay impressed with a steel plate and a metallic oxide surface treatment.

"When I tell people I'm an artist, they assume I'm a painter," remarks Janey Skeer.

"When I tell them I use clay, people say, 'Oh?' And they think I'm making mugs or plates."

Nothing against dinnerware, but Skeer, who works with clay, steel or a combination of the two, is more likely to be found cutting metal with a plasma torch and pounding it into clay in her Denver studio to make her art. She considers herself a formalist, drawn to the texture and line of the material.

Skeer's work can be found in a number of collections, including those of the Smithsonian Institution and, locally, the JW Marriott Denver Cherry Creek. And perhaps you saw her at the Denver Art Museum last summer, when she demonstrated how to work with the material during the "Marvelous Mud: Clay Around the World" exhibition.

"Clay is a very engaging medium because it requires your hand in an immediate way," she says.

"Every time you press into it, it bears your imprint forever. It's incredibly sexy stuff."