by Carole Epp | May 28, 2013 | Uncategorized
The Gardiner Museum, Kathy Venter – LIFE opens May 30, running until September 15, 2013.
Featuring
this celebrated ceramic artist, internationally recognized for her
life-size figurative sculptures, the exhibit introduces dialogues with
time, femininity, and community, capturing the continuity of the human
condition.
The exhibition presents a large installation of
Venter’s sculptures which she produced in series, including One,
Revision, Ostraca, Immersion, Coup d’Oeil and the never seen before
Metanarrative. Most of her figures are presented full scale – standing,
sitting, reclining or suspended by cables in space – while others are
limited to heads and torsos. Each work is direct and engaging; life-size
and nude. They are a measure of our humanity. Their strong presence
derives from the artist’s intimate engagement with her models – most of
which are women – who posed over long hours in her studio.
“We
are extremely excited to present Kathy Venter – LIFE at The Gardiner
Museum this summer,” says Rachel Gotlieb, Interim Executive Director
& Chief Curator, Gardiner Museum. “Kathy Venter chooses the
terracotta as a primary medium to explore the history of representation
of the female figure. This dramatic installation stimulates discussion
about sculptural praxis in contemporary art.”
Venter describes
each work as “a slow construction” by which she “applied the clay, piece
upon piece, within a silent dialogue between the model and myself,
comfortable with my medium and tradition, accepting of their
constraints.” The forms are built from the feet up using the traditional
coiling and pinching techniques, without the use of life cast molds or
internal armatures. The sculptures’ surface treatment is inspired by the
Tanagra figures of the Mycenaean period, encrusted and worn from
centuries of burial.
The exhibition is curated by Montreal author and critic John K. Grande.
What’s On Throughout the Exhibit?
Patron Circle: May 28, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
Exclusively
for Patron Members, artist Kathy Venter and guest curator John K.
Grande will lead a tour of the exhibition followed by a cocktail
reception with hors d’oeuvres by à la Carte Kitchen.
Member’s Preview: May 29, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Members,
bring all of your friends and be among the first to experience Kathy
Venter – Life for this special preview. The gallery is reserved between
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. for members who have purchased tickets to the Members’
Lunch, which includes a private tour. Following the tour, artist Kathy
Venter will be available in the gallery from 1:30 p.m. Cost: Free for members
Members’ Lunch & Tour with Artist & Curator: May 29, 12 – 1:30 p.m.
Enjoy
a delicious lunch prepared by à la Carte Kitchen, followed by a tour of
the exhibition with artist Kathy Venter and guest curator John K.
Grande. Cost: $30 – Members only
Not a member? You can take advantage of the Gardiner Museum’s May Membership Promotion by clicking here.
Lecture: Kathy Venter and the ‘Flesh of the World’: June 6, 6:30 – 8 p.m.
Dr.
Elizabeth Legge, Associate Professor of Art, University of Toronto,
explores how Venter creates figures who seem at once ancient and fully
in the present, both a comfortable presence and an enigmatic
interruption of our experience of the world. Sponsored by Dr. Lorna
Marsden. Cost: $15 general admission, $10 for members
Lecture: Hands On: The Figurative Tradition in Terracotta Sculpture: June 20, 6:30 – 8 p.m.
Dr.
Betsy Bennett Purvis, Lecturer in Renaissance Art History, University
of Toronto, will examine a variety of figurative terracotta sculptures
from the Renaissance to the present, with a special emphasis on
life-likeness and the materiality of terracotta itself. Cost: $15 general admission, $10 for members
www.gardinermuseum.on.ca/exhibition/kathy-venter-life
111 Queen’s Park
Toronto, Ontario
M5S 2C7
Canada
Tel +1 416.586.8080
Fax +1 416.586.8085
by Carole Epp | May 27, 2013 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, show us your influences, technical tuesday
These images are from her MFA thesis show from earlier in April
Artist statement
I am intrigued by the way shifting light in a room affects how one perceives objects in the home;
reflections and shadows cause relationships to appear between two (or more) surfaces and the
spaces in between. My intent is to illustrate and bring permanence to these fleeting moments, while
sharing with the viewer the experience of witnessing an entrancing phenomenon: light affecting
familiar spaces and objects in the home.
The forms and surfaces I create arise out of these observations. Empty and often overlooked areas
between functional and decorative objects are transformed into architectural ceramic forms and
arranged into still lifes; juxtaposing each form with adjacent, brightly colored surfaces that coat each
plane with a film of reflected light. Drawings become a record of the light and shadows that force the
eye to shift constantly, causing static objects to appear to wiggle. It is this constant movement, this lack of clarity, and this distortion, which drives my studio explorations and reveals how I perceive and create relationships between the objects in the lived space.
by Carole Epp | May 26, 2013 | Uncategorized
Join
us in celebration of our second-year fellowship artists Jeff Campana,
Alanna DeRocchi, Sean O’Connell and Jonathan Read. The Windgate Fellows
will finish their residency at the Bray this fall.
Opening Reception this Thursday, May 30, 6–8 pm
Can’t make it in person? View the exhibition at our Online Sales Gallery beginning Thursday, May 30.
The
Windgate Fellowships were established in 2012 thanks to a generous
two-year grant given to the Bray by the Windgate Charitable Foundation
in support of artist fellowships, scholarships and studio costs. Each
fellowship awards $5,000 to a long-term resident artist, with additional
funds provided to cover the Bray’s studio costs for each resident.
archiebrayfoundation | 2915 Country Club Ave, Helena, MT 59602 | 406/443-3502 | www.archiebray.org
by Carole Epp | May 26, 2013 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, show us your influences, technical tuesday
Jamie received her MFA in Ceramics at the University of Kansas in Spring of 2012. She received her BFA in Studio Art with and emphasis in Ceramics in 2008 at the University of Central Missouri. Her most recent work addresses the fragility of the human spirit in the midst of illness and loss in relation to her family’s history with cancer.
Jamie has shown work both locally and nationally including, shows at First Street Gallery in New York; the Clay Studio of Missoula in Missoula, MT; and at the National Student Juried Exhibition at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery in Seattle, WA; in conjunction with the 2012 National Council on the Education for the Ceramics Arts Conference.
The focus and significance of my work lies in the state of the human condition, the delicacy and fragility of the human construct in an emotional and physical sense. My experience is that of being part of an extended family that has endured a history of cancer and high mortality rate. As I have become more aware of my family’s history with illness through the examination of my memories, I have also become wary of the future and empathetic of the past. I often find myself attributing to others, my own unwanted thoughts and emotions in relation to cancer. This projection of my anxieties onto others acts as cancer does in metastasis, spreading from one location to another. My work is an examination and reflection of the memories, emotions, and anxieties caused by my family’s history with cancer with an emphasis on the relationship between human biology and human emotion.
www.jamiembates.com
by Carole Epp | May 25, 2013 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, show us your influences, technical tuesday
Artist’s Statement
Swirling gases surround the molten forms,
moving through and around them, seeking escape. The tumbling trapped
gases enter forcefully, slowing to ignite and escape the oxygen deprived
atmosphere. Fire and air combine to birth new formations of stone from
ancient eroded particles. Open forms with clean lines are indicative of
my work. Stoneware and Porcelain, once great rock formations now
decomposed, are reborn into complex forms with clean lines and
atmospheric glazing.
Negative space is considered in conjunction with positive to form both
functional and sculptural vessels. Lao Tsu says, “Shape clay into a
vessel. It is the space inside that makes it useful. Cut doors and
windows for a room. It is the holes which make it useful. Therefore
profit comes from what is there. Usefulness from what is not there.” The
truth lies within our selves, within our art, inside our bodily
vessels. We look inside to discover our true nature. When we bring forth
our emptiness and make it useful, we share our souls in the everyday.
My artistic goal is to bring the viewer to find meaning in presence and
absence, creating an appreciation of both the form that is there and the
space that remains open.
