A B O U T T H E C U R ATO R
Jacquie & Uosis Juodvalkis Rice (AZ) Faux Cone Earrings (Red) #1 polymer with sterling ornament 2.5”
A LOOK AT CONTEMPORA RY CRA FT O F THE SO U THWEST
Chandler Romeo (CO) Niobraran Landscape 2 ceramic 1” x 6.4” x 6.5”
James Thurman (TX) Re-Turning Series: 19-0228a
spun and hammerformed copper, lathe-turned thurmanite, sterling silver, 5mm CZ, hand forged pewter chain 2.75 x 2.75 x 2.75
Ruby Troup (NM) West of Gallup
wood, mixed media 22” x 19” x 6”
Chesley Antionette Williams (TX) Cocteau fibers 8” x 23”
Gail M. Brown Independant Curator
Gail M. Brown is an Independent Curator whose interest is to enhance visibility and education about contemporary craft within the larger visual arts community. She
while exploring etching and lithography.
Westward HO! is a diverse exhibition of masterfully crafted work of mixed media in varied moods and unique points of view from craft artists currently residing in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming. The works may echo and interpret craft history or celebrate current issues and technology. Their narratives offer personal and pointedly social context. Their threads of connection with the southwest convey its aura and energy through the individuality of finely crafted objects and their makers’ familiar visual vocabularies and tactile personalities.
eighties. She is a passionate observer of
polymer with sterling links 26”
Chesley Antionette Williams (TX) Madison
James Thurman (TX) Re-Turning Series: 19-0228b
spun and hammerformed copper, lathe-turned thurmanite, sterling silver, 3mm synthetic garnet, hand forged pewter chain 2.5” x 3” x 3”
fibers 8” x 23”
the unique potential of art in craft media: for the communication of issue-oriented and aesthetic ideas coupled with extensive examination of chosen material process, within the long decorative arts continuum. She curates focused exhibitions which
Dorte Weber (TX) Tribal Connection
share exceptional work from a national/
round reed, cane, fiberart 8.5’ x 3.5’
international body of mature and mid-career artists and introduce potent ideas and forms by younger makers. Among the 80+ exhibitions she has curated
polymer cones strung on powder coated metal 28”
Kai Wolter (NM) Epidermal Plane Bracelet
Ema Tanigaki (NM) Balanced Blossom
brass 3.5” x 3.5” x 3”
folded & patinated copper woven mesh with copper sheet & tubing 13” x 20.5” x 20.5”
multiple fired stoneware ceramic 6” x 6” x 15”
A LO O K AT CONTEMPORA RY CRA F T O F T HE S OU T H WEST
Beads: Exceptional Ceramic Jewelry, Facere Jewelry Art, Seattle, WA, 2012; The Art of
2012; Your Personal Hang-Ups, The Center For Art In Wood, Philadelphia, PA, 2013; An Exuberance of Color In Studio Jewelry, Tansey Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM, 2016;
spun and hammerformed copper, lathe-turned thurmanite, sterling silver, 3mm synthetic sapphire, hand forged pewter chain 4.5” x 3” x 3”
Westward HO!
first SNAG online exhibition, 2012; A Feast of
Howard Community College, Columbia, MD,
James Thurman (TX) Re-Turning Series: 19-0228d Hirotsune Tashima (AZ) Open Country
are most recently The Body Adorned, the
Seduction- Exquisitely Crafted Temptations,
Sarah Westrup (NC) Duality with Bridge reed, wire, acrylic paint 13” x “8 x 4.75”
Jacquie & Uosis Juodvalkis Rice (AZ) Disc Earrings #4
Monday - Friday: 9am-5pm Saturday: 9am-4pm Sunday: Closed
C U R ATO R ’ S S TAT E M E N T
craft movement since the early nineteen
Jacquie & Uosis Juodvalkis Rice (AZ) Red Cone Necklace
GALLERY HOURS
own connection to process and media She has been watching the contemporary
Jacquie & Uosis Juodvalkis Rice (AZ) 3D Necklace #2
ceramic 1” x 8.5” x 8.5”
Ethel Gallery
December 7, 2019 February 1, 2020
College of Art where she identified her
ceramic 1” x 8.5” x 8.5”
Chandler Romeo (CO) Niobranan Landscape 10
December 7, 2019 - February 1, 2020
trained as a printmaker at the Philadelphia
Chandler Romeo (CO) Niobranan Landscape 9
polymer with sterling parts & sterling posts 2” x 3”
Westward HO!
The Evocative Garden, the first NCECA Annual, Portland, OR, 2017 and Current Reflections On The Natural and ManMade, Landmark Arts Gallery, Texas Tech University,
Sarah Westrup (NC) Third Space
reed, plastic, wire, indigo, thread, cement 12.5” x 7” x 7”
Kai Wolter (NM) Avian totem (Epidermal Plane Skull Necklace) brass 25” x 4.5” x 2.5”
The exhibiting artists may have been born in the southwest, or they may have migrated to the region as short term visitors or extended travelers. Some came as long or short time students, workshop instructors or attendees, or as teachers. What they have in common is that they stayed casually or returned purposely to settle here, some for an adult lifetime. In the studio, they alter, anneal, anodize, assemble, bead, build, carve, cast, collect, combine, construct, craft, design, dye, enamel, fashion, fold, forge, form, fuse, gilt, glaze, inlay, knit, mold, oxidize, pot, print, raise, sculpt, set, snip, solder, stitch, throw, weave. They dream, invent and narrate, too. The artists of Westward HO! appreciate the inspiring energy and spirit of the southwest. In their diverse works, they reference the juxtaposed abundance and/or impending dearth of resources of history and spirit and the multi-culturalism of their environments with individual backstories. Works are imbued with appreciation, freedom and physicality, the texture of bold, natural settings, indications of the dramatic and robust topography, fresh clean air and extreme temperatures. And the sky– the amazing big SKY–at every hour of the day and night, with a singular purity of light and the unmistakable aromas of the region. Artists celebrate themselves, individually and collectively and the geographic region in its varied physical aspects and the diversity of cultures- all applied to uniquely memorable contemporary craft objects. The curator of Westward HO!, Gail M. Brown, a lifetime resident of Philadelphia, migrated to New Mexico six years ago. The quality of light drew her to the SW.
Margaret K. Haydon Nest
Lubbock, TX, 2017 which shares exceptional objects in craft media by masterful artists as observation and commentary on our fragile and yet indomitable environment.
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