Tyler Ceramics

What a surprise this morning when I went to read the comics in the newspaper. Lurking just a page before the comics was an article on mobile art galleries, featuring a photograph of Alleghany Meadow’s Artstream gallery. I think I showed this in class earlier this year, but Alleghany is a potter who converted a 1967 Airstream trailer into a gallery. The article in the Philadelphia Inquirer features Alleghany and a few other artists who have gone mobile.

Many artists wanting to move beyond the reach of traditional galleries have taken their work on the road, whether across town or across the country. The result is usually an art project in its own right, as the renovated trucks and trailers draw curious stares and inquisitive peeks inside.

You can read the full article in the Inquirer.
Artstream 
Brooklyn called Parts and Labor Gallery  
Polis America Studios 

Here is a short video on product photography that is easily applied to photographing your work. This is a great illustration of an inexpensive way to get professional results with some hardware store items. Notice the dramatic difference illustrated in the video between shining the light directly on the object and the result when light is diffused. Looks like there is more great info on the website.

Prophotolife.com [via Make]

Great news for Tyler and the ceramics program. Tyler has made a huge surge in the 2009 U.S.News & World Report’s annual guidebook, America’s Best Graduate Schools. For the first time ever, the graduate program in ceramics has been ranked in the top 20 in the country at #19. Likewise, the graduate program overall at Tyler was ranked #14. Other programs at Tyler also performed well with photography (18th), painting and drawing (7th), sculpture (8th) and printmaking (17th).

Read the entire press release.

Clay Studio resident and slip-casting phenom, Heather Mae Erickson, will be giving a lecture at Arcadia University as part of the 2008 Ceramics Lecture Series. The lecture is scheduled for Wednesday, April 16th at 7:00 p.m. in Brubaker #203. For more information on Heather and her work, take a look at her website.

Check out this gallery at Virginia Commonwealth University. That’s using the noggin.

When Virginia Samsel was a student at VCU, she stored most of her artwork in her locker on the third floor of the Fine Arts Building. Samsel liked to work on a miniature scale or with fabrics that could be easily folded and tucked away, so the locker was a natural place to keep all of her work. If she wanted to show someone one of her pieces, she could just visit the locker and sort it out for them. Her classmates started to joke about their friend’s gallery in the hallway.

Samsel saw not only the humor in the situation but also the artistic possibilities. So, in 2002, Samsel and classmate Llewellyn Hensley began to hold exhibitions in the locker, soliciting work from fellow artists for a steady schedule of new shows. Nearly six years later, the VCUarts Locker 50B Project is still a surprising place to find thought-provoking art.

Read the article, including great images, or check out the gallery: VCUarts Locker 50B Project

Surge by Jason Green, 2005 

Today we took a look at two artists and an exhibition: Jason Green, Paul Day, and “The Bird: Homage to Brancusi” at the Clay Studio.

Jason Green makes architectural fragments that walk a fine fine between tiles, sculpture, installation, and architectural ornamentation. As I said in class, I believe his work is influenced by a New York company named Boston Valley Terra Cotta, which creates terra cotta cladding for buildings. Check out their site for another approach to architectural ceramics. Jason’s work can be viewed here.   

 
Sculpture by Paul Day 

Paul Day is french sculptor who creates amazing terra cotta reliefs, as well as works for public spaces. His sense of illusion and space is intoxicating to the eyes and it is often hard to determine what is illusion and what is actual, three-dimensional space. You can view his work on his website and a more extensive image gallery of his work here. 

Finally, we took a look at The Bird: Homage to Brancusi an exhibition at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia. This is an excellent group show that uses the bird as a common thread through the exhibition. The slideshow above are my own snapshots from the exhibition. You can view the entire exhibition at the Clay Studio’s website. Participating artists include: Dean Adams, Chuck Aydlett, Timothy Berg, Jeremy Brooks, Guy Michael Davis, Julia Galloway, Rebecca Harvey, Julie Johnson, Leanne McClurg, Walter McConnell, Gregg Moore, Hannah Niswonger, Liz Quackenbush, Kathy Ruttenberg, Laurie Shaman, and Michaelene Walsh.  

So, if you have been wanting to use decals in your work but are not satisfied with the commercial options, or if you want to create your own with specific images or designs, this is your place. Take a look a look at the Setup Specs and get designing. Using Adobe Illustrator or other digital design tools, anything you design can be made into a decal, including scanned and photographic images. The price is right and Andy is a great guy to work with. Check it out. 

Easy Ceramic Decals 

Following up on the recent post on how to edit your photographs, Adobe has created an online web-based version of Photoshop called Adobe Photoshop Express. From what I have read, it cannot do everything Photoshop can (makes sense, it is free) but it will take care of most of the basic photo-editing tasks. 

Have a look. 

Please join us tomorrow for a reception celebrating the Ceramic Majors Exhibition. The reception takes place Thursday, March 27th, 2008 and runs from 6:00-8:00 in the Tyler Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Elkins Park, PA. If you cannot make the reception, the exhibition runs through Saturday, March 29, 2008. The list of artists includes:

• Christina Bolt 
• Alicia Crosby
• Chrissi Dewald
• Ashley Disantis
• Lindsay Hinkle
• Jake Singer
• Brooke Somers
• Joanna Watko

Click here for a larger view of the images.

The third installation of the semester requires you to find an outdoor site to install in, managing the details of permission, installation, and site restoration, once the project is complete. This primary material for this installation is raw, unfired clay. The idea is to explore the relationship between architecture and nature, considering the influence that weathering will have on the clay over the two weeks following the completion of the installation. Critique will take place on Monday, April 14, with documentation posted to your blog on April 21 and, again, on May 5, following the weathering of the project. Click here for a larger version or download the PDF below for more information.

Installation #3