Crossing Dimensions: Heather Delisle, Edward S. Eberle, Ron Meyers, JJ Peet, Patti Warashina
Curated by Emily Galusha
ON VIEW: March 1 – March 31 2019
OPENING PUBLIC RECEPTION: THURSDAY, March 28th, 6:30 - 9pm
Kiln Yard 2016, by Patti Warashina
Image Size 20.25” x 26” Paper Size 24.5” x 29.25” Produced at Lawrence Lithography Workshop, Kansas City, MO
Highpoint is excited to present Crossing Dimensions: Heather Delisle, Edward S. Eberle, Ron Meyers, JJ Peet, Patti Warashina, in conjunction with the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) 2019 conference Claytopia. Claytopia is intended to highlight the region’s connection to the ideas and practice in the mingei tradition, which includes strong examples of works on paper, especially those of Munakata Shikō and Kawai Kanjirō. Crossing Dimensions is designed to honor that tradition, but place it securely in the first quarter of the 21st century, when lines between media and disciplines are increasingly and often excitingly blurred. The artists in this exhibition are best known in the ceramics world for their work in clay, although they also create works on paper, which show the range of creative expression possible when the visual language of line, form, and color is applied to both two- and three-dimensional surfaces and shapes. Beyond the obvious parallels with the mingei masters, these artists are exemplars of boundary-blurring creativity, not defined by one medium or style. Rather, they choose a material that best enables them to express their ideas: the medium to suit the message.
About the artists:
Heather Delisle received her MFA from the University of Georgia. She teaches in art and education departments at the University of Wisconsin /River Falls, and the University of Minnesota’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Delisle works in clay, prints, papermaking, and book arts. Her current exploration of sculptural forms in clay and graphic works on paper offers the prospect of a synthesis of new ideas.
Edward S. Eberle earned his MFA from Alfred University, and has taught at the Philadelphia College of Art and Carnegie Mellon. “In approach, both drawing and sculpture require empathy [and courage] in the encounter - an establishment of an intimate dialogue with form, shape, size, scale, surface, material, and so on. Sculpture has depth, weight, mass, gravity that have to be dealt with. Simply put, paper does not. After I have crossed the threshold [between the two], anything is possible.”
Ron Meyers received an MFA from the School for American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He taught briefly at the University of South Carolina, and at the University of Georgia, from which he retired in 1992. His pots are animated by people and “wicked-looking” cats, fish, rabbits, frogs, goats, rats, and birds, a far cry from winsome; their fierceness carries a challenge to adopt them if you dare. While many potters tell stories of animals and people on their pots, Meyers’ imagery is unique in its wit, looseness, ferocity, and warmth.
JJ Peet earned an MFA from Yale School of Art and currently teaches at Columbia University’s School of the Arts and the 92nd Street Y. “[My] work takes form through a multitude of processes, utilizing drawing, video, ceramics, painting, sculpture, any available material in the construction of an ongoing narrative that marries [my] political investigations and civil protests with the creation of art.”
Patti Warashina graduated with an MFA from the University of Washington, where she then taught for over 25 years. She retired as professor emerita in 1995. She has received multiple awards, fellowships and exhibitions, including a 50-year retrospective at the American Museum of Ceramic Art. “At times, I use complex arrangements, so that it is seethingly alive, like an ant hill, a parade, or a circus. I enjoy the visual stimulation of portraying the interaction of human energy, as a way to compare it to any biological organization found in nature.”
About the curator:
Emily Galusha was a board member and then director of Northern Clay Center for 21 years. During her tenure, the Clay Center grew from a small start-up to a nationally recognized center for all aspects of the ceramic arts—exhibitions, education, and artists’ services. Before joining the staff of the Center, Ms. Galusha worked as a strategic planner, financial manager, and administrator with nonprofit organizations and for profit companies, and served on the boards of numerous arts and human service organizations. She has a BA cum laude from Harvard and an MBA from the University of Minnesota.
Special thanks to Tamara and Michael Root for their generous donation, which has helped make this exhibition possible. Thanks to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design for loaning pedestals for this exhibition.
