The Paperweight Show @ Fisher Parrish Gallery

In Brooklyn? Check out Linda Lopez's paperweight in the inaugural exhibition at Fisher Parrish!

April 14th, 2017 – June 4th, 2017

Fisher Parrish Gallery is pleased to present our inaugural exhibition The Paperweight Show - an exhibition of original small works by over 100 contemporary artists and designers. The paperweight is a small weighty sculpture to which we have ascribed one very simple function (a somewhat obsolete function today). From clearly 'designed' and functional works, to more conceptual explorations of a specific function, The Paperweight Show aims to engage both established and emerging artists and designers in an important dialogue - pushing your own disciplinary boundaries and allowing for a deeper understanding of the object.

Power and Pottery: Adam Posnak Discusses Work in Ritual Ceramics of Vodun (Voodoo)

The J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences Fine Arts Faculty Showcase continues with a highlight of Department of Art faculty member Adam Posnak, who will present "Pottery Does the Things of Vodun (Voodoo)" at 4 p.m. Friday, April 21, in 319 Old Main.

Posnak will discuss his personal ceramic work, collaborations with African-Atlantic religious communities and his current research in West Africa. The event is free and open to the public.

Posnak earned his B.A. at Macalester College and his M.F.A. at Lousiana State University. He has exhibited his work in multiple venues across the United States, including showings in Philadelphia, Kansas City, Chicago and Minneapolis.

Posnak also won an Arkansas Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship and held a residency at Tainan National University of the Arts in Taiwan.

His current work explores the making and ritual use of Vodun pottery in western Ghana. He traveled there in summer of 2016 and presented an invited lecture at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

The Abstract Domestic on Juxtapoz

https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/sculpture/the-abstract-domestic-linda-lopez-sculptures/

Laura Polaski (MFA 2015) in "Kent State National Ceramics Invitational"

We're super-excited to announce that Laura Polaski will be included in Kent State's National Ceramics Invitational. She will be showing alongside Max Seinfeld and Emily Duke. The exhibition runs March 2 – April 15, 2017.

For more info: https://www.kent.edu/galleries/event/kent-state-national-ceramics-invitational

Tyler School of Art Resident Artist Program

The Ceramics Program at the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, is pleased to announce an open call for a Resident Artist for the 2017-2018 academic year. The program has an exceptional list of past residents that includes David East, Adam Shiverdecker, Kensuke Yamada, Andrea Marquis, Mallory Wetherell, Roberta Massuch, Michael Ashley, Drew Ippoliti, Julie Malen, Jessica Brandl, and Dennis Ritter. The resident artist serves an important role as a mentor to both the undergraduate and graduate programs, and compliments two full time faculty, a full time ceramics technician, adjunct faulty, and 4-6 MFA students. The resident artist will teach 1-2 courses each semester, and is provided with a 150 square foot studio space, materials, and kiln access.

You can apply here: https://temple.slideroom.com/#/login/program/35801

Sarah Gross, Artist Lecture—Friday, March 31

Jenni Sorkin Visiting Scholar Lecture and Studio Visits

We were thrilled to be able to bring Jenni Sorkin to town this past week for an excellent lecture about her text "Live Form" and the exhibition, "Revolution in the Making" she recently co-curated at Hauser, Wirth, and Schimmel in Los Angeles. Jenni also spent time doing individual studio visits with our students and working with our Graduate Ceramics Seminar on their current writing project.

Our annual Little Bread Soup and Bowl sale is just around the corner!

THURSDAY MARCH 9TH, 6-8 PM, LITTLE BREAD COMPANY

Once again, the Ceramics area is holding a soup and bowl sale with Little Bread Co. The sale features hand-crafted bowls filled with homemade Little Bread Co. soup for $15 each. Meet current students and faculty in the ceramics program, support the art community, help the student organization bring in visiting lecture artists, and attend the annual ceramics conference, NCECA, held in Portland, Oregon

John Michael Kohler Arts Center - Arts/Industry Pottery Technician Position Avaiable

The Pottery Technician’s primary responsibility is the facilitation of all technical and physical aspects of artists’ residencies. They directly support artists-in-residence through facility, process, and materials instruction. The Pottery Technician meets with artists-in-residence on a daily basis and guides the technical development of their progress in the studio. The Pottery Technician also engages in other Arts/Industry and John Michael Kohler Arts Center programming.

A Bachelor’s degree is required with an emphasis in ceramics or sculpture, 2–3 years experience with technical requirements, facilities management abilities including equipment maintenance and repair, excellent communication and organizational skills.

Technical requirements include slip-casting, model-making and mold-making skills. Experience with plaster, clay, and glaze technology and formulation, and firing procedures is essential. 

Follow the link below for complete details.

Infinity Pool at SPRING / BREAK Art Fair, NYC — Mathew McConnell

Maybe the coolest show I'm in this year... "Infinity Pool" curated by Rebecca Morgan and Stephen Eakin for Spring / Break NY, "examines the artist as primary examiner, critical of both the inward and outward scope of art making and expression and their place in it." Included artists are: Paul Bergeron, Heather Garland, Paul Gagner, Lawrence Mesich, Bryan Rogers, Erik Schoonebeek, Ken Weathersby and Robin F. Williams.

Bryan Rogers, still from "In the Tub"

A Hard Swath to Mow at Belger Crane Yard

The ceramics faculty are thrilled to present an exhibition at Belger Crane Yard! If you find yourself in Kansas City, please stop by and take a look.

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. 

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.

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.

Red Lodge, Long-Term Residency

For those of you graduating this semester...

"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.

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/

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.

Archie Bray Foundation | Call for Entries

Beyond the Brickyard, 2017. 

Applications due September 15th

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