Layered: Collaborations by Simon Levin & Amy Smith

Simon
Levin and Amy Smith are two artists that AKAR has represented
individually and then together in group invitationals with their
collaborative sets. On July 11th they will have a solo show entitled, Layered: Collaborations by Simon Levin & Amy Smith.
 

Lincoln,
NE artist Amy Smith and Gresham, WI artist Simon Levin have been
working individually in their studios, but jointly in concept. Shipping
work back and forth, they design pieces that are compelling and
articulate, that remain independent, yet enhance each other, creating a
whole that is greater.

This is a true dialogue between pieces, a literal back
and forth of making, refining and developing, a conceptual and formal
evolution evidenced in the paired pieces, where visions combine while
the essence of each is upheld, creating something new, unexpected and
compelling.

Amy’s calming porcelain pieces are cold and crisp while
Simon’s wood fired work is full of dramatic surface, but what they have
in common is the showcasing of raw clay. Once their pieces are paired
they reflect off each other and create something surprising and
beautiful. Amy and Simon’s collaborative pairings are unique not only
because of the contrast within their sets, but unlike most
collaborations these two have never worked on the same piece or even
step foot in the same studio.

Layered: Collaborations by Simon Levin & Amy Smith
opens this Friday, July 11th, at 9:30 AM in the Iowa City gallery and
online at 10:00 AM CST. View the show at www.akardesign.com.

Manufactured Mementos: New Work by Darien Arikoski-Johnson and Monica Wilson

Opening
Reception: Friday, July 11, 6-8pm

Exhibition
Dates:  Friday, July 11 –  Sunday, August 24
Artist
Talk: Thursday, August 14, 2014, 7pm
Pewabic will open a
new exhibition with new work from Darien Arikoski-Johnson and Monica Wilson. Manufactured Mementos explores the
methods in which memories are created, catalogued, and later
retrieved. Inspired by the digital recording of moments in time, Darien
Johnson’s work questions the process in which we create and remember
experiences.  
“My
work represents the current entanglement of human cognition and digital
processing.  The recent
proliferation of the camera-phone enables us to record spontaneously.  Experience is interrupted to capture
and store moments.  The recordings
are used for recollection; however, over time our reliance on the two-dimensional
image to replace perceptual experience flattens and fragments the memory.  By dissecting and altering these
fragments, my work raises awareness of a continually altered state of visual
consciousness.  It makes reference
to a shift in contemporary experience relating to the cognitive processing of
sight.”
Darien
Arikoski-Johnson received his BFA from Saint Cloud State University, Minnesota
in 2002. He received an MFA at Arizona State University in 2009. He was an
artist in resident at The Experimental Pottery Workshop, Jingdezhen, China and
at Guldagergaard: International Ceramic Research Center, Skælskør,
Denmark.  A.-Johnson’s work has
been in national and international exhibitions such as “Ink and Clay 34,” CA,
“Concordia Continental,” MN, and “Generously Odd: Craft Now,” KY.  He was an NCECA emerging artist at the
2012 conference in Seattle, WA. He has also been published in 500 Ceramic
Sculptures, Surface Design for Ceramics, and Ceramics Monthly.  His sculptures can be found as part of
the following public collections, the Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ; California
State Polytechnic Collection, Pomona, CA; and The Ceramics Research Center,
Tempe, AZ.  Darien is currently
working out of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Monica Wilson
utilizes manufactured materials on ceramic organic forms to stir up
recollections of times past.  
“My work is influenced by
the constant push-pull between the organic and the mechanical, variation in
physical and psychological weight, and the process of working with a malleable
material and firing it to an inflexible object.  Recent works combine memories with materials: plastic grapes
from my mother’s Thanksgiving cornucopia, a crawdad’s hidden black egg cluster,
and nostalgic surfaces like flocking, wax, rubber, and concrete.  Combining distal products, such as
porous terra-cotta with vitrified porcelain or hand-made objects with new and
reused manufactured materials, is a springboard for my current work.“
Monica Wilson was born and raised in Colorado and
now lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she works at Studio Camelot, Clay
Gallery, and the Potters Guild and teaches art at Summers-Knoll. She has
traveled extensively in India, Morocco, Jordan, Pakistan, Argentina, and
Brazil, where she did documentary video and photography
with a paleontological team. Her work is influenced by these travels —the
similarities between different cultures, the passage of time— and how
they interact with her memories of specific materials, events,
and places from her mid-west upbringing.
Monica Wilson graduated from Eastern Michigan
University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in ceramics and sculpture, and
was an artist-in-residence at the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony (Woodstock, New York), Siena Heights University (Adrian, Michigan), Kripal Kumbh Pottery (Jaipur, India), and Brigham
Young University (Provo, Utah).
Wilson will hold an
artist talk on Thursday, August 14 2014 at 7pm at Pewabic. She will also lead a
special workshop as part of Pewabic’s Vistit
Artist Series
. Her
workshop will focus on lightweight
mold processes and include demonstrations and lecture. Registration for the workshop can be done online or by calling 313.626.2062.  
ABOUT PEWABIC:
Pewabic, founded in
Detroit in 1903, is a community of makers, educators and innovators devoted to
progressing ceramics. We are a non-profit business dedicated to making ceramics
relevant and accessible to all by supporting artistic innovation and creating
meaningful learning experiences. We achieve this through a rotation of
contemporary ceramic exhibitions, adult and youth educational programs, and the
handcrafted production of Arts & Crafts era ceramics. We encourage the
public to tour our National Historic Landmark pottery for free during regular
business hours, M-S from 10am-6pm and S from noon-4pm.

Crystal Morey @ Antler Gallery

Antler Gallery is excited to showcase the ceramic sculpture of Oakland artist Crystal Morey.



Crystal works in a very traditional style, building each piece from the
base up and firing/glazing them multiple times, to make pieces which
reflect our complex relationship with the environments which surround
us. Her human figures, encased in animal bodies, reflect the subjective
and ever changing boundaries between humanity and the natural world.


Through the “great acceleration”, which has been taking place since the
industrial revolution, human beings have become the biggest variable in
the changing nature of the natural world. The way we develop our
societies has a direct and irreversible impact on the natural ecosystems
that we are continually encroaching upon. Crystal’s works deal with
these conflicts, whilst also referencing the ways in which ancient
civilizations or peoples viewed wildlife and nature. This influence upon
her sculpture has given the pieces a totemic feel that immediately
calls to mind our changing attitudes toward the beings that we share the
planet with.



Crystal shows primarily in the bay area where her
studio is located and this is her first exhibition in Portland. Crystal’s work for the show can be viewed online here: http://www.antlerpdx.com/crystal-morey.html

June 26 through July 30th
Antler Gallery
2728 NE Alberta St.
Portland, Oregon. 97211

Open Daily: 11am to 7pm
http://www.antlerpdx.com/
503-284-6757

Website: crystalmorey.com

Instagram: @cmorey