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| Figure by Magda Gluszek |
The exhibit features work by internationally
recognized artists Ben Carter, Carole Epp, Magda Gluszek and Jill Foote-Hutton.
As contemporary makers with the wealth of history and materials at their
disposal, each artist is actively engaged in mining their daily experience to
generate narratives.
“Even in our most primitive state, we see a
compulsion to record our history and call forth the future through visual
narrative,” said Foote-Hutton. “Recording our history anchors us as individuals
while also placing us within a tribe. The narrative of our journey makes us
visible to ourselves. Fables and mythologies are catalysts, expanding our
definitions of self and the world we populate.”
The exhibit will run through the weekend of April
15-17, when GCSC will host its second annual Ceramics Symposium featuring Carter,
Epp, Gluszek and Foote-Hutton as presenters. The theme for this year is “Word
and Object.”
“This is a great opportunity for attendees to learn
from a diverse group of professional artists,” said Pavel G. Amromin, assistant
professor and gallery director in the Division of Visual and Performing Arts at
GCSC. “Together, they will share the ways story impacts and informs their
creative process, studio output and their efforts to capture the contemporary
story of American Ceramics.”
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| Art by Carole Epp |
The symposium will be in GCSC’s Amelia Tapper
Center, 5230 West U.S. 98, Panama City, and will consist of interactive
workshops, lectures, panel topic discussions and demonstrations.
During the artist demos, the audience will see a variety
of construction methods while panelists cover topics including narrative as a
leaping-off point for form and decoration; the power of the frozen moment in
sculpture; the vessel as a format for stories in the round; and development of
character iconography.
“I reference symbols of my native Virginian
identity, such as the dogwood flower, white picket fence and whitewashed
brick,” said Carter, who creates utilitarian wares that commemorate and
continue family traditions. “These nostalgic decorative motifs are familiar and
accessible, conveying the graciousness of Southern hospitality. Through the act
of use, my forms serve a commemorative role, highlighting the cultural
importance of communal dining on the family structure.”
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| Flask by Ben Carter |
Epp’s work demonstrates celebration and query. Her
frozen moment vignettes present “humanity through a subversion of our utopic
projections of ourselves,” she said. Pairing religious icons, news headlines,
pop culture and kitsch, she lures viewers into a mirror reflecting an uncomfortable
reality. She shows how to “investigate the things that are wrong and appreciate
the things that are really right.”
“Beyond the work in the exhibition, there would be a
void without addressing the role of storyteller both Carole and Ben take on
outside of their visual art practice,” Foote-Hutton said. “Since 2012, Ben has
produced and hosted the podcast ‘Tales of a Red Clay Rambler,’ featuring
interviews with artists and culture makers from around the world. Carole has
hosted the blog ‘Musing About Mud’ since 2005, where she provides a platform to
showcase contemporary ceramic activity.”
Gluszek employs the figure to examine a collective
sense of self. Her work pushes the viewer away with uncomfortable stares and
awkward postures, while simultaneously pulling the viewer in to her projected
stories with a candied palette.
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| Symposium 2015 |
“The figures are experimenting with different modes
of self-representation,” Gluszek said. “They alternate between appearing
submissive and threatening. It is indistinguishable whether they make these
alterations for a self-serving purpose or for the pleasure of the viewer.”
Foote-Hutton’s work is a contemporary exploration of
the power of personal narratives and collective mythologies. She employs the
concept of the Monster (or Other) to engage a conversation about the
disparities of what we think and what we do, about the distance between two
human beings, and the nature of lightness and darkness.
“Monsters embody empathy for our own human
frailties,” Foote-Hutton said. “Their literary history makes them the perfect
vehicle to coax new stories from hearts and imaginations.”
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- ‘RACONTEURS’
- Where: Amelia Center Main Gallery, Gulf Coast State College, 5230 West U.S. 98, Panama City
- When: Opens March 7, runs through April 17; gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday
- Admission: Free and open to the public
- Details: GulfCoast.edu/arts
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