CraftForms 2019 companion show: Westward HO! A Look at Contemporary Craft of the Southwest Catalog

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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.

presented by Wayne Art Center 413 Maplewood Ave, Wayne, PA, 19087 | 610-688-3553 | craftforms.org


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