Spring 2010 Exhibition
February 11th to May 3rd, 2010
Second Floor Galleries:
Convergence: Pottery from Studio and Factory
First Floor Galleries:
En route series, featuring artists Darla Jackson and
Brooke Hine
Public Opening: Thursday, February 11, 2010, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Hours During the NCECA Conference, March 31 to April 1, 2010:
All days 11:00 a.m.- to 5:00 p.m.;
Extended hours Friday, April 2, 11:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
Throughout the first and second floor galleries, the Philadelphia Art Alliance (PAA) will present three exhibitions that explore the medium of ceramics; one focusing on the ceramics as both a functional and creative object; and solo exhibitions that explore the use of ceramic as a sculptural installation.
The Main Second Floor Galleries will feature Convergence: Pottery from Studio and Factory, which was organized by Jody Clowes, Director of the Design Gallery at the University of Wisconsin, and is sponsored by The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA. The PAA first floor galleries will present two solo exhibitions as part of their on-going En route series, which is organized by Melissa Caldwell, Director of Exhibitions at the PAA. An opening reception will be held on February 11th from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. All exhibitions are presented in conjunction with the 44th Annual Conference of the National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts being held in Philadelphia from March 31 to April 3, 2010. A publication for Convergence will be available during and after the Conference.
Second Floor Galleries:
Convergence: Pottery from Studio and Factory
Now over a century old, the rift between studio pottery  and industrial design has become so entrenched that their practice can seem completely antithetical. The rhetoric of the arts and crafts movement demonized industry, strongly questioning the integrity of designers who did not produce their own work. Despite the influence of the Bauhaus ideal, in the U.S. industrial design was considered the realm of businessmen and “stylists” rather than artists. By the postwar period most academic ceramics programs were deeply committed to the crafts movement’s individualist ethos. As a result of this ideological divide, the education of potters and designers continues to be conducted in radically different contexts. Potters and industrial designers, who share a great many artistic, practical, and social concerns, will almost never cross paths in their professional lives.
Yet the line between industrial and studio production has never been all that clearly drawn, and in recent years it has become increasingly blurred. The current generation of studio potters is less bound by ideology than their predecessors, and techniques like slip-casting and airbrushing have long been basic to many potters’ studio practice. Rapid developments in prototyping technology and small-batch production, along with a tremendous expansion of the market for design and the increasing success of niche marketing, have created surprising new opportunities for making and selling objects of all kinds.
This exhibition will explore the results of these  changes in contemporary ceramics, focusing on functional pieces that cross, expand, or confuse the boundaries between industrial design and studio production. The works on view will encompass mass-produced and limited edition objects by well-known designers, short-run “boutique” ceramics commissioned for high-end retailers, objects produced on a contract basis by independent designers, and the work of studio potters who embrace industrial techniques and the aesthetic of industrial design. An introductory section about potters and designers active between 1940 and 1980 will offer insight into the parallels and differences between the situation then and today. Interpreting the context in which these objects are produced, marketed, and sold will be an essential component of the exhibition. Retail prices will be noted on the labels, brief texts will present the exhibition’s themes, and images of design offices, manufacturing plants, potters’ studios, retail outlets and advertisements will accompany many of the works on view. |
First Floor Solo Exhibitions:
Darla Jackson: While you were out…
Brooke Hine: In Motion
While the Main second floor exhibition examines the history of ceramics and its relationship to industrial design, the first floor solo exhibitions will explore the relationship of installation and sculpture in this craft-related medium.
Exploring the possibilities of incorporating site with the traditional uses of ceramic-based materials, Philadelphia artists Darla Jackson and Brooke Hine will create two installations on the First Floor Galleries of the Art Alliance. Both interested in biomorphic forms, the artists will respond to the unique domestic features of these galleries, which were originally designed as a reception room and salon for the Wetherill family in 1906.
Darla Jackson: While you were out…
As a figurative sculptor working in clay, Darla Jackson’s working procedure begins with the creation of clay molds to cast the final pieces in various materials such as plaster or resin. Built on a formal knowledge of human anatomy, her level of expertise and und erstanding of this type of sculptural realism informs her current interest in the anatomy of animals. Like Jackson’s previous installations, her new work for the Philadelphia Art Alliance will be based on her focus on the anthropomorphism of the animal sculptures she creates. As installations, individual sculptures are placed in human settings, often with typical domestic furnishings and decorative objects, thus suggesting the human characteristics of each sculpture and their interaction with each other in personal terms, creating as Jackson states, “a familiarity with an oddness that makes it compelling.”
Jackson received a BFA from Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia. Jackson has shown extensively in Philadelphia, most recently in venues such as Moore College of Art, the Icebox at the Crane Arts Building, Mew Gallery and Kelly & Weber Fine Art (201 Gallery), and outside of Philadelphia at venues such as Maryland Art Place in Baltimore, Maryland, the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and at Uppercase Gallery in Alberta, Canada. Her work is also shown at Riverbank Arts in Stockton, NJ. Jackson was selected as a fellow in the Career Development Program with the Center for Emerging Visual Artists in Philadelphia in 2007. She is also one of four co-founders of The Other Woman (a women’s art collective). Jackson lives in Philadelphia and is currently working on a series of new sculptures for a number of upcoming shows. She also serves as an instructor at the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial.
Brooke Hine: In Motion
Resembling many different forms  found in nature, Brook Hine’s installations and sculptures are inspired by found objects in a state of decay. Delving into an imagined history, Hine finds the tactile nature of clay to be ideal for her subject matter and the spontaneous working method, allowing the material to guide the organic nature of each form. For Hine’s installations, such as her ongoing Growth/Deterioration series, fossil like forms are composed in a way that responds to the architecture of the space. The point of departure for her other object-based work stems from the biomorphic qualities of aquatic life, often including an intricate use of stains and glazes to elaborate and draw out subtle details of the form. Ultimately, as Hine states, the objective of her work is to “discover an innate spirituality that addresses the cycle of life and death.”
Brooke Hine received a B.F.A. from Siena Heights University, Adrian, MI and an M.F.A from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. Recent exhibitions include: A Show of Hands 2008, MANNA Foundation, Philadelphia, PA; Art of the State 2008, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA; Live With It Premiere, Photo West Gallery, Philadelphia, PA (2008); Extrinsic, Gallery 5, Richmond, VA (2008); From the Ground Up, Fe Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA (2008); Intertwine, Sam Quinn Gallery, Philadelphia, PA (2008); Gallery in the Garden 9, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Orwigsburg, PA (2007); Disappearance, The Art Institute of Philadelphia, PA (2007); and Field Manual – Maneuvers in the Natural World, Hopkins House Gallery, Collingswood, NJ (2007). Hine was the 6th annual visiting curator at CFEVA last March. Her exhibition Adaptation: Celebrating Growth and Change included eight selected emerging artists exploring the details of growth and change from a variety of different mediums and perspectives. She is currently teaching in the Regional Community Outreach Program and is the Curatorial Assistant for the Career Development Program at The Center for Emerging Visual Artists (CFEVA).
Images (from top):
Marek Cecula for Modus, Tree Tea Set, Porcelain, Lent by Marek Cecula
Ole Jensen for Normann Copenhagen, Familia Teapot, Bone China. Lent by Normann Copenhagen.
Darla Jackson, They were scratching…, 2009; Polyurethane Resin (cast from rubber mold made off of unfired clay original), Vanity Bench
Brooke Hine, Growth & Deterioration, 2004-continuous;1600 lbs. of porcelain; Credit: William Hubert Ferrell, photographer |
