Worcester Center for Crafts' Artists-in-Residence Exhibition: Nexus
Worcester, MA- The Krikorian Gallery at Worcester Center for Crafts is pleased to announce Nexus, a group exhibition of works from current Artists-in-Residence at the Craft Center that will be on display from Thursday, June 15, through Thursday, June 29, 2017. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, June 15, 5:30-7:30 PM at Worcester Center for Crafts at 25
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| Resident Artists Ian Petrie & Hanna Brown at work. | |
Sagamore Road, and is free to the public. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday 10 AM-5 PM.
This year, the Artist-in-Residence Exhibition brings together eight artists whose diverse working methodologies, material explorations, and individual perspectives reflect their personal interests and goals for this one or two year residency. After a competitive application process, each resident is provided with a studio space, access to facilities, and a supportive community of makers. In exchange, resident artists play integral roles at the Craft Center by completing studio support hours, teaching workshops, and volunteering at community-centered events. In this way, Worcester Center for Crafts works to cultivate creativity and foster creative exchange.
Nexus presents the work of the resident artists and connects them with the Worcester community. From hand blown glass vessels to abstract sculpture, wheel thrown pottery to wearable glass garments, the works in this exhibition are as diverse as the artists themselves. Come meet all of our resident artists and experience their work at the opening reception of Nexus on Thursday, June 15, 5:30-7:30 PM at Worcester Center for Crafts at 25 Sagamore Road. The exhibition runs from June 15 through June 29, 2017.
Featured Artists-in-Residence: Jessikah Ann, Hanna Brown, McKayla Carville, Jon Glabus, Amanda Nardone, Ian M. Petrie, Alia Pialtos, and Joshua Primmer.
FEATURED ARTISTS:
Jessikah Ann is a potter who earned her BFA from Pratt Institute in 2013. Her simple, yet elegant porcelain forms are used as blank canvases for painted and carved animal imagery. Atmospheric firing methods, primarily wood and soda, are chosen to allow the lively movement of the flame to add color and unpredictability to the work. Jessikah Ann aims to create pottery as art that can be appreciated, touched, and used daily. This fall she will be pursuing an MFA at Syracuse University.
 Hanna Brown earned a BFA in Glass from Massachusetts College of Art & Design in 2015. She uses glass to explore organic forms and textures based on her own personal connections and interactions with nature. By using processes like hot glass casting and glass slumping, Brown hopes to provoke an emotional response within the viewer that offers opportunities to contemplate their own memories and experiences with nature. McKayla Carville received a BFA in sculpture from Massachusetts College of Art & Design in 2016. Tedious process, movement, and the use of multiples are evident in Carville's work. A study of texture and movement has turned into a four year exploration of making rigid materials move with fluidity. After spending years making masses of plastic and metal move like fabric, Carville has set out to do the same with the rigid, yet fragile, material of glass. Jon Glabus received his BA in Ceramics from Elmhurst College. He creates wheel thrown and hand built functional pottery that emphasize gesture and process unique to each piece. Trimming lines, fingerprints, and thick drips act as evidence of his process. He utilizes multiple firing techniques to bring a variety of color and surface to these expressive forms. Glabus helps shape the personality of each pot by striving to make them perfectly imperfect.
Amanda Nardone earned her BFA in 2013 from Tyler School of Art at Temple University. She creates conceptual and functional wearable glass art which she exhibits at local events and museums. Nardone's jewelry reacts to different kinds of light. Most of her glass work changes color in compact fluorescent light versus daylight, while some pieces have blacklight reactivity
Ian M. Petrie graduated with a BFA from the University of Minnesota in 2013. He was selected for the Northern Clay Center's Fogelberg Residency in 2013. Petrie spends his time making pots when he is sick of the soul-crushing neatness of paper and ink, and drawing comics when he can no longer stand the sight of an endless barrage of dinnerware.
Alia Pialtos received her BFA from Massachusetts College of Art & Design and her MFA from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her abstract ceramic work emphasizes the dynamic beauty and tension of oppositions. By capitalizing on the phenomenological qualities of ceramic materials, Pialtos captures suspended moments of transformation through her work. These complex, delicate structures appear to defy gravity as fluid lines and draping matrices are fixed in midair.
Joshua Primmer received his MFA from RISD. Greatly concerned by the socioeconomic evolution of our culture, he pays homage to the physical remnants of our society's recent industrial and sociological history. He emulates the elegance of the infrastructure left behind: Brutalist architecture of the '60s and '70s and industrial decay scattered across the country. He acknowledges that these places are linked to the current turmoil that is galvanizing our society, adding poignancy to his work.
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About the Artist in Residence Program:
The Worcester Center for Crafts' Artist in Residence (AIR) Program is a way to "sustain craft" and insure the next generation of artists carrying on craft traditions. Open to aspiring artists in clay and glass (and those who might work across more than one medium), the Worcester Center for Crafts AIR Program is designed to support the growth of pre-professional artists. Residents are chosen through a competitive process and are with the Center for 1-2 years where they have access to our studios and their specialized equipment and help support the Center's programs.
About the Worcester Center for Crafts:
The Worcester Center for Crafts (WCC) is one of the oldest non-profit institutions for craft study in the United States. Founded in 1856 as the Worcester Employment Society to help immigrant women produce and sell hand-crafted wares to support their families, the Center evolved over the past 155 years into New England's leading center for craft education, exhibition and entrepreneurship. In 2004, the organization expanded and opened the New Street Glass Studio - an off-campus, 8,000 square foot, state-of-the-art, multi-studio glass facility. The WCC offers the only comprehensive glass studio program in New England available to the public. Through an affiliation begun in 2009, the WCC is home to the Worcester State visual arts studios and partners in community outreach.
The Craft Center's mission is "to sustain craft as a vital part of our community" by providing high-quality craft education and training, by supporting craft artists in their professions, and through advocacy and public education initiatives including adult education classes and workshops, youth education and outreach programs, exhibitions showcasing the work of established and emerging artists, artist residencies, lectures, family events, studio rentals, Gallery Store, and major events. The WCC is a member of the Worcester Cultural Coalition and its WOO card program, and receives funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
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