it’s no April Fool’s joke…..
emerging artist: Catie Miller
Loose, slightly humorous, and
unsettling illustrations animate my ceramic artworks. I choose to draw
portraits of people’s hidden lives, magnifying the people’s features and the
private moments of their lives. Currently, I am exploring
the obsessive collection of things—hoarding, and how this fixation interferes
with the quality of daily life and relationships. Growing up, we had a lot of
stuff; overflowing boxes of papers, small mountains of clothes, and a cat for
every family member. Frequently moving throughout my life has forced me to evaluate
my relationship with my possessions. I incorporate multiple layers of surface
to create a crowded environment for the narrative. Much like hoarding
challenges home as comfort, the addition of exaggerated ornamentation and form
challenges the comfortable feeling of function, engaging the viewer to
contemplate his or her relationship to objects.
unsettling illustrations animate my ceramic artworks. I choose to draw
portraits of people’s hidden lives, magnifying the people’s features and the
private moments of their lives. Currently, I am exploring
the obsessive collection of things—hoarding, and how this fixation interferes
with the quality of daily life and relationships. Growing up, we had a lot of
stuff; overflowing boxes of papers, small mountains of clothes, and a cat for
every family member. Frequently moving throughout my life has forced me to evaluate
my relationship with my possessions. I incorporate multiple layers of surface
to create a crowded environment for the narrative. Much like hoarding
challenges home as comfort, the addition of exaggerated ornamentation and form
challenges the comfortable feeling of function, engaging the viewer to
contemplate his or her relationship to objects.
Coalescence by Brenda Danbrook
Coalescence
by ceramic artist Brenda Danbrook
March 29 – May 3, 2014
Opening Reception: 2-4 pm, Saturday, March 29
This
body of work developed out of a passion for functional ceramics and
interest in work that explores the ceramic narrative. The imagery and
pattern used as an embellishment not only fits decoratively, but is
placed intentionally to increase the sense of vitality.
body of work developed out of a passion for functional ceramics and
interest in work that explores the ceramic narrative. The imagery and
pattern used as an embellishment not only fits decoratively, but is
placed intentionally to increase the sense of vitality.
In
a domestic setting a ceramic vessel has the opportunity to express a
visual experience beyond the very useful and tactile qualities. This
series honours the individual user and embraces the family by evocating
groupings intended to be used to serve a specific function and to
enhance a special event such as Sunday breakfast.
a domestic setting a ceramic vessel has the opportunity to express a
visual experience beyond the very useful and tactile qualities. This
series honours the individual user and embraces the family by evocating
groupings intended to be used to serve a specific function and to
enhance a special event such as Sunday breakfast.
“In my daily practice, I strive to find a balance between form,
function and imagery that come together in unity to heighten an object’s
utility, which placed in the hands of the user, brings an experience or
connection to their daily life.”
Danbrook owns and operates a pottery studio in Opal, Alberta. In 2006,
with support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Brenda began to
pursue an education in visual art as a means of expanding and deepening
her existing artistic practice in clay. She studied in Jingdehzen, China
with the Australian National University, where she received a Diploma
of Art (with high distinction). Brenda also received a Diploma in Visual
Art from Red Deer College (2010), and a BFA (with distinction) from the
Alberta College of Art + Design (2013). She has exhibited ceramics both
nationally and internationally.
with support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Brenda began to
pursue an education in visual art as a means of expanding and deepening
her existing artistic practice in clay. She studied in Jingdehzen, China
with the Australian National University, where she received a Diploma
of Art (with high distinction). Brenda also received a Diploma in Visual
Art from Red Deer College (2010), and a BFA (with distinction) from the
Alberta College of Art + Design (2013). She has exhibited ceramics both
nationally and internationally.
Brenda’s work is included in the ACC’s group exhibition Potworks which
has travelled to the Yuill Gallery, Medicine Hat, and will be at Red
Deer College during SERIES this summer. Brenda’s work is represented in
various private and corporate collections including the Institutions she
attended, the Canadian Consulate (Australia) and the AFA (2010). Brenda
has also been the recipient of numerous awards, scholarships and
grants, including the Illingworth Kerr and Louise McKinney Scholarships.
has travelled to the Yuill Gallery, Medicine Hat, and will be at Red
Deer College during SERIES this summer. Brenda’s work is represented in
various private and corporate collections including the Institutions she
attended, the Canadian Consulate (Australia) and the AFA (2010). Brenda
has also been the recipient of numerous awards, scholarships and
grants, including the Illingworth Kerr and Louise McKinney Scholarships.
Coalescence runs
in the Alberta Craft Council’s Discovery Gallery, 10186 – 106 Street
from March 29 – May 3, 2014 with an opening reception on Saturday, March
29 from 2-4pm.
For more information on this exhibition contact Joanne Hamel
(780) 488-6611 ext 221 | [email protected] or visit www.albertacraft.ab.ca
ACC Discovery Gallery | 10186 – 106 Street, Edmonton, AB T5J 1H4
emerging artist: Lindsay Scypta
The
table is the place where a need becomes a want. Something we have to
do—eat—becomes something we care to do—dine, and then something we care
to do becomes something we try to do with grace. Eating together is the
civilizing act, we take urges and tame them into tastes.
table is the place where a need becomes a want. Something we have to
do—eat—becomes something we care to do—dine, and then something we care
to do becomes something we try to do with grace. Eating together is the
civilizing act, we take urges and tame them into tastes.
—Adam Gopnik
The
table comes first, then the dishes, food, individuals and conversation.
There is trust and fear that comes with the meal—a trust that with an
honest conversation, knives will not be raised in anger, and a fear that
customs and rituals are not universally understood. Taste is our most
intimate sense, and the table is where we experience it socially. My
studio practice pivots around these notions of the table, and how the
work could bring people back to this place of social intimacy. In the
1880s dinnerware was advertised to women just like high fashion, where
the table was the mannequin that needed dressed. I am pushing ideas of
social iteration at the table through my towers, choreographing the
progression of the meal by stacking the dishes to be unwrapped as a gift
together. By investigating historical meals, I am able to imagine the
choreography of the footmen, who gracefully moved from guest to guest,
and guest to sideboard, and then to consider the modern hostess,
who scrambles to prepare the meal for her guests. These towers replace
the footmen and the frantic host, commenting subtly on such social
implications through their utilitarian attributes. I am using food as a
way of seeing the world, the tableware to create rituals through
decorum, and the table to build camaraderie. As the maker it is my
greatest wish to see these objects in use in the world, although beyond
this notion, my greater desire is through their utility, the necessity
of the table within the home becomes indisputable.
Lindsay Scypta
Clay Art Center 2013-2014 Artist In Residence
Email [email protected]
emerging artist: Miriam Griffin
Take my Illustrative Pottery Workshop with the Ceramics School
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