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Upcoming Exhibitions
Six McKnight Artists
Galleries M and A
July 11 – August 24
The annual exhibition of work by McKnight fellowship and residency recipients will include new work by 2007 McKnight Ceramic Artist Fellowship recipients Joseph Kress (Minneapolis) and Mike Norman (Minneapolis) in Gallery A. Gallery M will feature the work of four McKnight Resident Artists: 2005 recipient Hide Sadohara (New York), and 2006 recipients Lisa Marie Barber (Wisconsin) and John Utgaard (Kentucky), and 2007 recipient John Lambert (Indiana). The opening reception for the artists is scheduled for Friday, July 11, 6 – 8 pm.
Joseph Kress received his M.F.A. from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He was a resident artist at Northern Clay Center from 1991 through 2008, where he created pots with complex forms and seductive surfaces that reflected his interest in making pots that go beyond function “to nourish the soul.” Kress exhibited his work throughout Minnesota, as well as in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. His most recent body of work, “Cycles and Sustenance”, conveys the interrelation and inseparable nature of medium, format, ideas, cyclic seasons, and time. Throughout his fellowship year, Kress explored “the use of cup, vase, and platter forms in relation to time and measurement.” Previously, he received individual grants from the Jerome Foundation (1993 Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grant), the Minnesota State Arts Board (1999 Fellowship), and the McKnight Foundation (2000 McKnight Ceramic Artist Fellowship.)
Mike Norman studied ceramics at the University of Minnesota, and has been making pots, ceramic sculpture, and the occasional commissioned drawings since 1965. The last of these include illustrations for a 1982 University of Minnesota Press book—Physics as Metaphor—and graphics and illustrations for NCC's ClayMobile and outreach program. He has had gallery representation throughout the country, including the Ferrin Gallery in Massachusetts, Lill Street Gallery in Illinois, and at the Weisman Art Museum and Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis. He has received several awards, including a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship and a Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grant. Norman continues to exhibit his work in shows and art fairs in the Midwest. His fellowship year included further exploration of ceramic sculpture, including the spiritual connection he has with animals, his love of boats and adventure, and the incorporation of drawing and color on the surfaces of his work.
Hide Sadohara was an artist-in-residence at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1997 to 2006. He received his M.F.A. in ceramics from Kent State University in Ohio and his B.F.A in sculpture and metal from the Memphis College of Art in Tennessee. Sadohara was named an NCECA Emerging Artist in 2004 and received an Individual Artist Fellowship in 2005 from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. His work has been exhibited throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Tennessee and has been included in such publications as Sculpture Magazine and Ceramics Monthly. Sadohara currently teaches at Fredonia College in Fredonia, New York. In addition to functional clay work, Sadohara makes figurative sculpture installations that are influenced by television, pop culture, family dynamics, and thrift-store finds. It tells dramatic and exaggerated stories of his own encounters and experiences.
Lisa Marie Barber received her B.S. in sociology and art from Northern Arizona University and her M.F.A from the University of Texas at Austin. Her work has been exhibited widely, including at CUNY Hunter College Studio Gallery in New York, the Zoller Gallery at Penn State, and NCC, where she had a solo exhibition in 2004. She is currently an assistant professor of art at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, and has taught at Santa Clara University in California and lectured at a variety of arts and education institutions around the country. Barber's recent work includes a series of sculptures (both large and small-scale) installed into diptychs, which convey the idea of how being alone can cause one to create company out of people and locations that aren't readily accessible. Her compositions include imagery of city life—cars, buildings, and people—as well as personal narratives.
John Utgaard received his B.F.A. from the Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri and his M.F.A. from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. He was the recipient of a Lilian Fellowship at the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana and has taught at the Bray, as well as at the University of Texas at Austin, The Pennsylvania State University, and at Murray State University in Kentucky, where he is currently assistant professor of ceramic arts. Utgaard conveys his ideas of mortality, the infinite, and the unknowable in his glazed stoneware spherical forms, which range in size from 21 inches to five feet. He thinks of the positive and negative spaces of his work as sections of parabolas, whose curves continue on into infinity. Utgaard worked on developing new techniques for building large-scale earthenware sculpture suitable for the outdoors during his three-month residency at NCC.
John Lambert received his B.F.A. from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo and his M.F.A. from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. In addition to being a kiln builder and a replicator of Greek roof tiles, he is also an assistant professor of art for ceramics at Goshen College in Indiana. His large-scale sculptures have been included in various exhibitions, both in and out-of-doors, in Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, and Ohio. During his residency, Lambert created a modular building system of larger-than-life-size symbols that could be installed “in any given architectural situation.” This continued his work with symbols and juxtaposition of symbols in two-dimensional and three-dimensional settings.
The McKnight Ceramic Artist program, sponsored by The McKnight Foundation, Minneapolis, Minnesota, reflects the Foundation's interest in supporting outstanding individual ceramic artists who have already proven their abilities and are at a career stage that is beyond emerging. Two ceramic fellowship grants and four residency grants are awarded annually. The fellowship awards support Minnesota ceramic artists and can be used for a variety of purposes. In addition to the cash stipend, the residency grants provide non-Minnesota ceramic artists with three-month residencies at the Clay Center.
Pictured above:
Mike Norman, Korean Tomb Horse, earthenware.
2008 American Pottery Festival
September 5 – 7
Galleries M and A
Just as the Republican National Committee leaves Minnesota, Northern Clay Center will hold its own illustrious gathering—our annual fundraising benefit and celebration of the art of the pot, the 2008 American Pottery Festival, September 5 – 7, 2008.
This three-day event brings together collectors and artists, providing the perfect opportunity to share their love of clay, while providing much needed revenue for NCC and the artists. As always, an exciting roster of potters will be participating. In addition to such well-established regional and national potters as Ron Meyers, Gail Kendall, and Minnesota's Warren MacKenzie, the American Pottery Festival prides itself on including the best of emerging talents, whose work is becoming more widely known and increasingly collected. This year, there will be some returning first-timers from 2007, including Bryan Hopkins, Alison Reintjes and Betsy Williams; plus, we have invited a number of new potters to participate—Chuck Aydlett, Naomi Cleary, Munemitsu Taguchi, Chuck Solberg, and more.
For more information on the 2008 American Pottery Festival, click here.
World Ceramics: Transforming Women's Traditions
Gallery M
September 19 – November 2
This exhibition will be guest-curated by Moira Vincentelli, a scholar and historian from Wales, and author of two major books on the history of women in ceramics. The exhibition and accompanying activities will be co-sponsored with Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota; part of the exhibition will be at Carleton and part at NCC.
The exhibition will be organized around the points of the compass, following the history of female hand-building traditions in ceramics (in contrast to the male wheel traditions). Contemporary and historical pots by women from several countries will be included, paying particular attention to notable makers working within the traditions of different regions and nationalities of the world. It will also include work by contemporary women artists (most with art school educations) who have chosen to embrace traditional craft forms or traditions, but who add to or adapt those traditions with a particularly modern sensibility.
An opening reception for the artists is scheduled for Friday, September 19, 6 – 8 pm.
'tis a gift... the 18th Annual Holiday Exhibition and Sale
November 18 – December 30
Sales Gallery and Gallery M
Holiday Open House: Sunday, November 16, noon – 4 pm
Enjoy treats, artist demonstrations and hands-on work with clay.
Once again, NCC anticipates a spectacular selection of work from more than sixty regional and national ceramic artists. Visit the NCC Sales Gallery and exhibition space to find beautiful and functional gifts for every occasion.