Marc Zimmerman "The Black Shell" Ceramic Totem Sculpture, Large Incised Shell and Bird Art in Black, Carmel California Art, Statement Artwork, 2026

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Black glaze with cream and gold lines cut through it gives this column the look of an ancient vessel. A … Read more Black glaze with cream and gold lines cut through it gives this column the look of an ancient vessel. A shell-shaped finial tops it, then a red perforated cylinder, a small gold-crested bird with feathers drawn in single lines, and a tall black face with a gold eye, nose and lips. Red bands separate the sections, and a black sphere is covered in cream swirls and dots. At the base, a deep flared foot carries a ring of tiny incised script. The contrast of black, cream and red is bold and graphic, and every part has been handled by hand.

At five feet, the black glaze and red accents give a pale room a dramatic vertical. Place it beside a white wall, a bookcase or a fireplace, where the cream and gold lines catch the light. It pairs with leather, dark walnut, brass and bold rugs, and it holds the corner of a dining room, library or entry with presence.

Hand-built ceramic totem sculpture, 10 x 60 x 8 in (25.4 x 152.4 x 20.3 cm).

Each of Marc Zimmerman's Garden Totems is hand-built from clay, one element at a time. He makes a part and then another based on the one before, often without a sketch, and the pieces are stacked into a single standing column in which each element supports the next. Faces, birds, fish, spheres and carved bands are pressed, incised and glazed individually, so no two totems follow the same sequence. Zimmerman first worked as a potter in Venice Beach in the 1960s and 70s.

Marc Zimmerman is a painter and ceramic sculptor based in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. He began as a potter, working at the Pot Shop, a studio pottery in Venice Beach, from the mid-1960s, then studied watercolor in Southern California and woodcut printing in Santa Barbara before teaching himself oil painting in 1989.

He ran his own painting gallery in Carmel from 1997 to 2002 and was given a retrospective of his oils at the Pacific Grove Art Center in 2012. His Jungle series grew from painting trips to Kauai, with Rousseau and Gauguin as early guides. After forty years of painting he returned to clay with his Garden Totems, hand-built, stacked and glazed one element at a time, often without a sketch. See less