Tag: Art

I am so thrilled to be participating in the annual exhibit of the 2017 NCECA conference and I can’t wait to get up to Portland next week to see the exhibit in it’s entirety. The piece accepted for this show is my Hive Series Installation which is comprised of approximately 200 individual pieces that are nested together in a cluster to create a dynamic structure resembling an abstract hive. This piece was part of an In the Field installation in Nisene Marks State Park in 2015.

About the exhibit curated by Gail M Brown:
A breadth of implied and articulated dramas will be staged as a personally defined natural landscape or more formalized garden scenario. In works of ceramic sculpture, installation, object and vessel format, each participant will offer a new or recent work- some potent objects as-metaphors, with sub-text and, others as choreographed scenes with figuration or the figure/s implied in a verdant location, in vocabularies from nuanced realism to personal symbolism.

Each will be designed to reference an array of issues- nature’s fragility and sustainability, the wild and the tame, life’s appetites and dilemmas, conflict and resolution, the everlasting and the temporal- social and historic events, of the natural world and the human condition. Artists remind us that nature and the articulated garden, as context, stimulation and tactile allure, is a seductive, universal, ever present enticement.

The article below was first posted on the NCECA blog by Exhibitions Director Leigh Taylor Mickelson, photo credit to Lisa Conway.

The 2017 NCECA Annual is here!
Posted by Leigh Taylor Mickelson, Exhibitions Director

The highly anticipated NCECA Annual “The Evocative Garden,” curated by Gail M. Brown, opens this weekend, kicking off the 2017 NCECA conference “season” with a whirlwind of garden-centric delight and botanical wonder. The exhibition, held at Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, features five artists who were invited by the curator along with 29 artists who were selected from the call for entry.

Invited artists Megan Bogonovich, Jess Riva Cooper, Kim Dickey, Linda Sormin and Dirk Staschke set the tone for the exhibit which is indeed what the curator intended: “a breadth of implied and articulated dramas… staged as a personally defined natural landscapes or more formalized garden scenarios.” The exhibit offers variety in approach to the ceramic medium as well as in conceptual interpretation of the theme, and captures the imagination as spring slowly approaches.

Participating artists include Christopher Adams, JoAnn Axford, Lisa Marie Barber, Chris Berti, Megan Bogonovich, Jess Riva Cooper, Deirdre Daw, Audry Deal-McEver, Jennifer DePaolo, Kim Dickey, Caroline Earley, Carol Gouthro, Karen Gunderman, Dawn Holder, Cj Jilek, Chuck Johnson, Tsehai Johnson, Heather Kaplan, Paul Kotula, Annie Rhodes Lee, Nancy Lovendahl, Andrea Marquis, Lindsay Montgomery, Grace Nickel, Anne Drew Potter, Jessica Putnam-Phillips, Dori Schechtel Zanger, Linda Sormin, Dirk Staschke, Claudia Tarantino, Hirotsune Tashima, Colleen Toledano, Jenni Ward, Stan Welsh.

I’d like to give special thanks to Disjecta for hosting the exhibit, and a big shout-out to our On-Site Liaison Brett Binford who orchestrated the installation of the exhibit, beautifully I might add. A sneak peek of the exhibit can be seen here…

This not-to-be-missed exhibit is easy to reach via Portland’s Blue line. Hours during NCECA are Tuesday 10:30am-5:30pm; Wednesday – Saturday 10am-5pm. Or come to the reception on Thursday, March 23rd from 6-9pm to have the opportunity to meet the curator and the artists. I’ll see you there.

Leigh Taylor Mickelson, NCECA Exhibitions Director

Want to visit pre- or post-conference? Visit Disjecta Arts for gallery hours and details.

It’s Giving Day at UCSC and all of your donations for the Arboretum will support Art at the Arboretum upcoming exhibit Site Specific Environmental Installations!

I will be exhibiting two large installations as a part of this upcoming exhibit along with a number of other talented artists. Events are going on all day at the Arboretum, so you can donate onsite or online. Thanks so much for supporting Art at the Arboretum!

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Here’s the monthly wrap up of everything going on at the studio…

March Studio News

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For those of you that have swung through my studio in the past few weeks you may have noticed an army of spiky flower forms covering my tables and have probably wondered if I’ve lost my marbles. Well, I assure you that there is a method to my madness! This is the start of my new Umbel Series which will be installed at the UCSC Arboretum this spring as a part of Site Specific Environmental Installations; a new exhibit for Art at the Arboretum curated by Susana Arias. This exhibit will be up for an entire year so you can visit the installations and see how they change and respond to the environments as the seasons change. Here are a few photos of the work in progress, and I’ll be sure to share more as things develop.

About the Installation:

I have forever been intrigued by natural structures and the biology of how things work in nature. Lately, I have specifically been looking at umbel shapes in flower structures which is a flower whose shape resembles an umbrella. I’m attracted to these structures for the visual volume they create while remaining delicate and light at the same time. In researching flower structures, I also came upon a story of the wild mustard plants of California. The story has many variations and most are believed to be folklore but the basic premise is that the Padres and explorers to form the Missions left behind a trail of mustard seeds as they traveled from Mexico to California so that the seeds would grow and the bright yellow mustard flowers would color the path between each mission for the 800 mile pilgrimage. I love the idea of being able to track your path through the wilds of the world by following a color. While wild mustard flowers in reality are not the umbel shaped forms I’ve been researching, I loved this story so much I thought I could combine these concepts together to create an impactful installation.

I plan to build 200+ abstract ceramic flowers that will have an umbel form to them using high temperature wire to help create the delicateness of the structure and they will be glazed in the bright yellow color of wild mustard. Each flower form will be supported by a steel stake that will be driven into the ground as a ‘stem’ so the flowers can hover a few feet above ground level. It is my hope that the impact of number of flowers and the yellow spot of color in contrast to its surroundings will create a dynamic installation that will engage the viewer and encourage them to explore the landscape.

 

The Lichen Series Installation is composed of 9 vertical stalk shaped structures that are segmented into 9 pieces, three from the series are pictured here. Each of the parts has a variety of ceramic lichen pieces emerging from and fused to them that contrast with the dark stalk structures.

This installation was originally showcased at the Ceramics Annual of America exhibit in San Francisco and now are on display in my studio. The work conjures up images of a forest after a fire when the green and lushness is gone but life is still present. This series plays with ideas of death and regrowth, the power of negative space and the contrast of dark and light.

These pieces are hand-built and hand-carved from high fired stoneware and each piece is original and unique. For more images of this installation…

Lichen Series, 81 piece wall mounted ceramic installation, 84″ x 120″ x 9″, 2013, $2000/stalk. Contact Jenni for purchase & installation details

While I am not a potter, I truly appreciate a well made mug or slurping soup out of a perfectly formed bowl and with all of the disposable plastic products out in the world now, ceramics is of even greater importance for use in our daily lives. The More Clay, Less Plastic movement is something that I can really get behind. After all, clay is the original container for all the needs of kitchen life, why can’t it be that again?

Check out this article about the Italian artist Lauren Moreira who started this movement and next time you need a new container, consider clay!

More Clay, Less Plastic by Shelly Davis

Did you know these pieces qualify for FREE SHIPPING?

The Bone Series has manifested itself in many variations, from small wearables to large installations. Pieces from this series have been exhibited In the Field and in gallery settings. But regardless of the environment they are displayed in, The Bone Series explores the remains of a form or a forms underlying structures. In turn, the exploration of decaying forms also discusses renewal or new growth.

These three pieces from this series are unique in that they have wire forms growing around the ceramic ‘bones’. They are reminiscent of aquatic creatures finding protection in a rock or coral allowing for new life to thrive in these structures.

250. each | free shipping available until February 28th

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Thank you to everyone who came out to our Pop Up Art Show at Santa Cruz Mountain Brewery yesterday! Drinking beer and buying art was a great way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon with you all!

If you couldn’t make it out to pick up some art hearts for your sweeties, you can always order from our online shop or swing by the studio and pick some up.

Happy Valentines!

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Did you know that this piece qualifies for FREE SHIPPING?

After making dozens of ceramic nests, there are only two large nests left available in this limited series. This once greets me as I walk into my studio and casts the most beautiful shadows when the morning sun comes through my studio door.

This nest has three blue slate colored pods that are fused to the bottom of the outer shell, the pods are visible but also shielded by the outer webbing.

All of the pieces in this series are hand-built, hand-carved and created with a unique process that fuses the inner pieces to the outer. They are made from high fired stoneware and each piece is original and unique.

$425. Free Shipping available until February 28th

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