A Hard Swath To Mow: University of Arkansas Ceramics Faculty Exhibition @ Belger Crane Yard

February 3 - April 15, 2017
Featuring: Benjamin Cirgin, Jeannie Hulen, Linda Lopez, Mathew McConnell, and Adam Posnak
Location: Belger Crane Yard Studios
2011 Tracy Ave., Kansas City, MO 64108
Opening Reception Friday, February 3rd, 6-9pm 

There’s a spot just at the edge of the field, where the manicured and predictable meets the unruly. Here, things are a little less certain—problems arise more readily, and one misstep could leave you stranded in the woods. The artists in this exhibition, members of the ceramics faculty at University of Arkansas, represent a group of practitioners eager to seek the more difficult terrain. 

Through vacillating positions, each artist approaches the eld with their own state of questions, seeking to re-fertilize the soil, providing views into distant windows of uncertainty.

Mathew McConnell
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AuthorLinda Lopez
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Artaxis Fellowship / 2k for Haystack • Artaxis.org

Interested in attending a workshop at Haystack? Of course you are. Here are the details:

We are excited to announce the Call for Applicants for the 2nd annual Artaxis Fellowship. The 2017 Artaxis Fellowship is an award worth up to $2,000 to fund a two-week summer workshop in ceramics at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. This fellowship will cover room, board, and tuition for a two-week workshop, and travel costs up to $500 for travel to and from Haystack in Deer Isle, Maine.

This fellowship is intended to attract outstanding individuals from diverse backgrounds, including racial and ethnic, that are underrepresented in the ceramic field with a goal to increase the visibility of diverse people, cultures, and unique perspectives across the field.

This year’s Artaxis Fellowship Selection Committee, consisting of Linda Arbuckle, Steven Lee, and Linda Lopezwill select the recipient based on artistic merit and financial need. The recipient will be able to attend a two-week workshop of their choice at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in the summer of 2017.

Source: http://artaxis.org/fellowship/?utm_source=...
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AuthorMathew McConnell
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"Realness" by Matt Blomeley in NEW CERAMICS — Mathew McConnell

Thrilled to have a feature in NEW CERAMICS this month! Author Matt Blomeley writes, "As with all good artists, McConnell's practice is interesting not because he spells something out. He doesn't. Rather it is that McConnell's work deliberately communicates to a trait inherent in each of us at some level or at some time in our lives. Simi­lar to the mimetic way in which we all learn at a fundamental level, by creat­ing facsimiles of works of other artists and makers using his trained hands, McConnell's installations seek to find something new through making and then grouping "his" objects. What he is seeking is not the perfect copy but that almost alchemical moment of dis­covery and learning, when something new happens." 

Full text in link below image.

Source: http://www.mathewmcconnell.com/updatesnews...
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Artisans at the Depot

This December 11th, our ceramics students will be presenting a fundraising event in conjunction with Graphic Design students and Chef Patrick Lane at Arsaga's at the Depot. Proceeds from the event will support student awards. For more complete info visit their website: http://www.kiln2table.com/

Source: http://www.kiln2table.com/
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AuthorMathew McConnell
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Schemes // Ernesto Garcia Sanchez | Project Space: Ghost Hands // Linda Lopez

This month, Linda will be presenting a selection of new works at Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami.

From the press release:

Ghost Hands explores the persistent presence of the absent. These pieces search for the unseen thread that connects people and things that once shared an intangible moment. In this realm, logic is lost, objects are personified, perception is ever-changing, and things become their true selves. Linda Lopez is a child of two ethnicities—Vietnamese and Mexican. In her current exhibition, she incorporates rugs made by artisans in Mexico with her sculptural pieces that form bridges between historic memory and new beginnings. Each work showcases the alternative existence of objects.

Linda Lopez Ghost Hands
Source: http://www.mindysolomon.com/exhibits/ex_sc...
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Benjamin Cirgin Joins UARK Ceramics

We're exceptionally pleased to announce that Benjamin Cirgin has joined us as our new Ceramics Artist in Residence, Technician, and Instructor! 

Bio: Benjamin Cirgin (b.1979) worked as a craftsman building furniture and renovating historic homes before earned his BFA in ceramics and sculpture from Indiana University Bloomington, and his MFA from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, California.  Benjamin’s work questions the readily accepted norms found in mass media imagery, popular culture, and the anthropocentric nature of the human obsession with objects.  He positions himself (out of necessity and curiosity) as an active participant in the consumption of domestic objects, built environments, and an active member of the working class community to present an alternative engagement with the objects and processes that he find simultaneously confusing and mesmerizing.

http://www.benjamincirgin.com/index.html

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Tom Sachs and JJ Peet.

Looking forward to Tom Sachs' Boombox Show at the Brooklyn Museum, I bumped into this conversation from last year at Austin Contemporary. There are a wide variety of topics covered, with a lot of focus on ceramics. There are two parts. Here's the first:

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Project Network - Guldagergaard

Last semester, our own Chase Travaille traveled to Denmark and took part in Guldagergaard's "Project Network" program. It's now a long-running program that has established itself as perhaps the best in the world of its type. Follow the link below the image to take a look at the past participants and catalogues.

Source: http://ceramic.dk/project-network/catalogu...
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Adam Silverman: Ground Control - Exhibitions - Friedman Benda

If you're traveling with UARK's NYC intersession course next week, keep an eye out for ceramics! There will be some great shows up while we're there. Adam Silverman, whose large, richly surfaced vessels are always exceptionally well-presented will have a show up at Friedman Benda that should certainly be worth stopping to see.  

Silverman_Ground_Control_043.jpg
Source: http://www.friedmanbenda.com/exhibitions/u...
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End of Semester Exhibition | Spring 2016

At the end of each semester, UARK ceramics presents a summary exhibition for all students that have taken ceramics courses that term. It's a great way for students to see the breadth of what has been produced over the semester, and to simply celebrate all the excellent work that has been produced. This public event also includes a pottery sale organized by our ceramics club, ACE.

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AuthorMathew McConnell
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Ghost Collaborators — Ox-Bow

Linda and I are teaching a course this summer at OxBow. Come join us!

"We are all under the sway of many collaborators—some are acknowledged, but most are not. In this two-week course, we will attempt to identify the ways in which we have been influenced by our ghost collaborators and how we can take more accountability for those collaborations. Studio assignments will focus on extracting influences from the work you have produced in the past. Once apprehended, you will be asked to minimize or amplify those influences in new work. The course will also include readings, discussions, and short technical demonstrations—including open-form building with coils using fiber clay, fabricating models for splash molds from simple materials, and using casting slip in combination with press-molding techniques."

Source: http://www.ox-bow.org/summer-course-descri...
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Crystal Bridges Museum to Open New Space for Contemporary Art - The New York Times

I can not even begin to articulate my excitement for this!!! 

"The 63,000-square-foot space is intended to function somewhat in the way that MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, Queens, serves as an edgier, more experimental affiliate of the Museum of Modern Art. It is expected to open in 2018, Crystal Bridges officials said, and the location, in downtown Bentonville, would not only provide a place to show more contemporary art but would also continue a transformation of the small city and the surrounding region into a cultural alternative to cities like New York and Los Angeles." -NYTimes,  March 29th, 2016

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/arts/des...
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Interview with Linda Lopez | art and signature

"The work of ceramic artist Linda Lopez is deeply influenced by mundane objects and the everyday. Her objects and sculptures are currently on view at booth E10 of the Mindy Solomon Gallery at VOLTA New York. In the following interview with Sabrina Möller, Lopez talks about the important personal influences on her art and process."

Link below the image...

Linda Lopez Volta NYC
Source: http://www.artandsignature.com/en/blog/201...
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"Now and Then" At The Kansas City Museum at Corinthian Hall

Images by Alan Wiener courtesy Greenwich House Pottery

Images by Alan Wiener courtesy Greenwich House Pottery

Linda Lopez and I have work up through May 14th here. My newest work, "More Possibilities for Distance and Mass" will be on display.

From the Press Release: Now & Then showcases contemporary ceramic works that offer insight into the intersections between art, culture, and daily life. This exhibition brings together a selection of graduates and professors from the University of Colorado’s Boulder MFA program. Organized and curated by Casey Whittier andBlanca Guerra, Now & Then includes works from Scott Chamberlin, Kimberly Dickey, Rachel Eng, Kelcy Chase Folsom, Julia Galloway, Joshua Paul Hebbert, Janice Jakielski, Stephanie Kantor, Linda Lopez, Mathew McConnell, Alia Pialtos, Joanna Powell, Jeanne Quinn, Annie Strader, and Emily Schroeder Willis.

http://www.kansascitymuseum.org

 

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