homefry sketchbook: The Lowdown:Tales from the Margin...

"The Lowdown: Tales from the Margin"...that's the title of the new exhibition that I am opening in Kipp Gallery here at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I am really excited about this particular exhibition because I curated it with the Gallery Coordinator from Red Lodge Clay Center in Montana. My collaborator's name is Jill Foote-Hutton and she and I have been working on this show since the early Spring...the link on her name will take you to her blog where she writes about various ceramic art related issues and also the going-ons out there in Red Lodge. The show will open next week and Jill is flying in from Montana to give a little talk prior to our public reception on Thursday November 10...at 5:00 pm...just in case your in the area and want to stop by!

Jill(who was a pleasure to work with) and I tossed names back and forth for a while until we settled on the current group. We felt that these seven artists best represented our concept for the exhibition. All seven work with the idea of a narrative, however loose or abstract, and these seven also consistently generate objects that toy with definitions and tease visual, historical and/or technical boundaries. Our other parameter for the exhibition was that all involved had to produce work in a mid-to low temperature range as well. I specifically wanted this aspect to be in the forefront to act as a symbol of individual studio sustainability..."have electric kiln, can make work".

Visually the works are vibrant and highly varied...from Melissa Mytty's delicate pinched porcelain cup and saucer explorations all the way to Max Lehman's two and and a half foot high grinning skeletons. Like I said, the exhibition is varied yes, but it is also an interesting and connected grouping. I believe its the hyper-attention to detail of the surfaces that unite this group... all belonging in the "fetish finish" category. The highly patterned and brightly glazed exteriors of Alex Kraft's abstract forms seem to fit right in with Jason Bige Burnett's graphic design inspired bowls and platters. This exhibition is at once rich, decadent and a little dark but remains open and accessible to a wide range of viewer. The Low Down: Tales from the Margin is a celebration of the creative exploitation possible with electric coils and eutectic compositions.

So dear homefry friends, enjoy a sneak peek at some of the work in the exhibition right here on the ol' blog... and if you are anywhere near the IUP campus, please stop by and check out the show. The exhibition runs from 11/8 - 12-9...gallery hours are noon to 4pm Tuesday through Friday. Jill Foote Hutton will give a short talk prior to the public reception on Thursday, November 10 and Max Lehman will be in from New Mexico to speak to our ceramic and sculpture classes. The exhibition will then be packed and shipped up to the Red Lodge Clay Center to be shown from February 3 - 24. You can search out Kipp Gallery on facebook to see images from the opening and more pics of the work... also, the

link at the very top will take you to my calendar of exhibitions for Fall and Spring and there are links to each of the exhibiting clay artists' websites...Jason Bige Burnett, Carole Epp, Julie Guyot, Alex Kraft, Max

Lehman, Melissa Mytty, and Nick Ramey.