Les Manning, Red River / Pink Plateau, 24cmH X 40cmW X 40cmD, Porcelain base with coarse grogged stoneware crowns. Celadon glaze on the base with low temperature glaze on top and unglazed reduction fired crowns.
Les Manning: Common/Opposites, April 30 – June 19, 2011, Esplanade Art Gallery, Medicine Hat, Alberta
Review by Quentin Randallfind the article here in Galleries West
Chari Cohen, Jeremy Hatch, Laura McKibbon, Dawn Petticrew
Curated by Melanie Egan
Part of Summer 2011 Visual Arts Exhibitions June 18 – September 25, 2011 @ Harbourfront Centre in TorontoDawn Petticrew studied at Sheridan College, majoring in ceramics. Upon graduation she was awarded an artist-in-residence position at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. She has been working with ceramics for almost 10 years and currently shares studio space in west-end Toronto where she actively pursues her evolving interest in clay. dpceramics.caBorn and raised in Vancouver, BC, Laura McKibbon has been working in clay for the past seven years. A self-taught ceramic artist with an academic background in science, printmaking and photography, McKibbon’s distinctive line of ceramics reflects a love of modern design, a dedication to fine craftsmanship and, ultimately, function. In addition to a production line, McKibbon continues to exhibit regularly. Through a series of residencies in Australia, Denmark, Slovenia and Finland, her current body of work responds to an ongoing investigation of other countries, both physically and culturally. Her work has been featured in several publications and has been collected internationally. culdesacdesign.com
Jeremy Hatch is best known for his large-scale porcelain installations that explore ideas of nostalgia and the in/authenticity of memory. He has received several grants and attended residencies at the Takumi Studios in Japan, the European Ceramic Work Centre in the Netherlands, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, and the Archie Bray Foundation, where he was the recipient of the Taunt Fellowship. Since receiving his MFA at Alfred University, Hatch has taught at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and the Rhode Island School of Design and is currently a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2008, he founded Ricochet Studio as a means to explore the intersections between craft, art and design. One goal of Ricochet is to collaborate with artists from various disciplines to develop limited edition ceramic products. AZURE Magazine recently named him one of the top 25 designers leading the pack. jeremyhatch.caChari Cohen is a Toronto artist who has been working in clay for over 25 years. She first studied ceramics at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology from 1973-1975 and in 2009 attended Sheridan College where she studied the slip casting technique that she is currently using to create her ceramic objects. While at Sheridan College she received the Joan Bennett Award in Crafts and Design-Ceramics and had her work published in AZURE Design magazine. Her work can be found in the Gardiner Museum and is in private collections in England, the US, Thailand, Israel and Canada. charicohen.com
rcboisjoli is a small design factory in Toronto. Focused on function and form, rcboisjoli fabricates handsome handmade domestic objects. Every stage of production is created in shop by hand, from plaster forms to silk screened decals.
Inspired by the low tech, the old and by the everyday object we strive to create dynamic and modern wares.
This morning I woke up and prepared myself for something that I like to think of as my closest call with rockstardom. I was being interviewed on CFCR, our local independent radio, on a show called The A Word, which is produced by artist/critic/academic Bart Gazzola. So much fun to head out to the radio station with all the butterflies in my stomach and attempts at sounding intelligent floating around in my mind. It’s always so difficult to sum up your work in to quick snippets, one liners. Especially when it’s a body of work you’ve been developing for 6 years. Well I did my best to try to do a bit of justice to the exhibition and hopefully more people will go check it out in person.
If you’ve got some time please grab a beer or a cup of coffee and have a listen.