PRESS RELEASE: The Sparks are Flying! Worcester Center for Crafts' New Exhibit: Spärk

Michelle May (Curator) with her work.

Worcester, MA-  On view in the Krikorian Gallery of the Worcester Center for Crafts is Spärk, an exhibit of work by four talented and expressive women artists, all of whom are pushing their media to explore fantasy, reality, and the limits or no limits of beauty. The exhibit was curated by Michelle May of Worcester and includes work by May, Tara Sellios, Keri Anderson, and Jessica Lyn Burhans. It is on view in the gallery at 25 Sagamore Road through September 16, 2017.

The title of the exhibit speaks to the art on view as a fiery particle thrown off from a fire or emitting sparks of fire or electricity. Provocative? Edgy? “The show is perfect for HOT NIGHT when it opened,” says Gallery Director Candace Casey, “as it speaks to the energy of the work being shown, and the spark of creativity that it inspires!”

The artists are connected only through May. Tara Sellios is a Boston-based artist working

Work by Tara Sellios

in large format photography printed on metal. “I think of my work as theater, with each collection of images like an act in a play,” says mixed-media artist Tara Sellios. Since graduating from the Art Institute of Boston in 2010, her work has been largely influenced by art history. “I love altarpiece paintings and the surreal work of Hieronymus Bosch,” she says. “There is a sense of majesty and sacredness to it that has stood the test of time.” Others call her work simultaneously grotesque and beautiful.

Work by Tara Sellios (detail)

The Craft Center is planning a one-person exhibit of her work in January of 2019. Sellios has two large photographic installations in the exhibit.

Jessica Lyn Burhans creates expressive and “relate-able” color illustrations as well as

Jessica Lyn Burhans with her work

intriguing graphite drawings. Her illustrations have been nationally published and her work has been showcased in and around Worcester since 2004, including the popular Cirque Du Noir and Whiskered Wonderland events. Burhans is represented by a large grouping of small intimate drawings.

An educator who gets inspiration from music, dreams, nature, and movement, Keri Anderson picked up her long time love of painting four years ago. She has three paintings on view. Her efforts to capture human struggle result in a narrative and in the layers upon layers of paint. “People see what they want to see,” says Anderson, “so I like to leave my paintings open for questions.”

May, a painter, designer and marketer says that her creativity is “firmly centered in

Detail of Keri Anderson's work.

community…I enjoy pushing my personal boundaries and love to push the boundaries of others.” She is the creator of Cirque du Noir and the local equivalent of Slow Art Day. Eight of May’s paintings are on view in the show.

The Krikorian Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is free.

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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.

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 receive funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

PRESS RELEASE: Free Thank-you Event Offered at the Worcester Center for Crafts | Hot Night in the City will Sizzle on July 21

WORCESTER, MA - The fiery processes of craft will be on display at the Worcester Center for Crafts' free block-party style event, HOT NIGHT IN THE CITY on Friday, July 21 from 6-9 pm. Many of the demonstrations and events will take place outside to accommodate visitors, and for dramatic effect!

Crafts Center students & Faculty participate in raku firing.

During the July 21 Hot Night, the Craft Center can guarantee that where there is smoke, there will be fire since fire and heat are essential elements to working with glass, clay and metal---three of the materials that will be demonstrated at Hot Night.

Dusk's darkness will give way to the warm glow of artists' illuminating demonstrations of the ancient arts of glassblowing, raku firing, flame working, and blacksmithing. In addition, the Center will offer Wheel Throwing Under the Stars, music, food, art and drink.

HOT NIGHT visitor tries his hand at wheel-throwing

Wheel Throwing Under the Stars will feature short introductory hands-on experiences with centering clay, and members of the public will be able to try their hands at throwing pots. A portable glass furnace will be set up in the parking lot to demonstrate the glassblowing that goes on daily at the Worcester Center for Crafts' New Street Glass Studio. Blacksmiths will forge metals, and the Raku artist Ginny Gillen and her class will do a pottery raku firing. The raku artists are keeping secret what exactly will be coming out of the raku fire on Hot Night-so be there to uncover the mystery!  

Jubilee Gardens, a popular band from the area who play an all original, eclectic mix of music with hints of world, pop, folk, and rock will provide the music for dancing, eating, and celebrating craft and the Worcester Center for Crafts in the community.

Glassblowing under the stars!

"Hot Night gives us the opportunity to literally turn ourselves inside out in order to tell the community THANK YOU for being partners with us," said Honee Hess, executive director of the Crafts Center. "We have these 'hot' activities going on every day, but on HOT NIGHT we bring them out into the open for all to see and enjoy." Activities at HOT NIGHT are free to the public, although donations are accepted.  

Flameworking demo

The public is invited inside the Craft Center building to participate in several maker activities in the studios, including an enameling project and a collaborative ceramic hand-building experience, and an opportunity to preview fall's class line-up.  HOT NIGHT IN THE CITY occurs rain or shine.

Also opening that night in the Center's renowned Krikorian Gallery is an exhibit spärk, curated by local painter Michelle May. 

Fueling the crowd will be the award-winning BBQ purveyor, BT's Smokehouse of Sturbridge and pizza maker extraordinaire, Anzios: both culinary masters bring their wood-fired equipment on the Craft Center's premises to produce fresh BBQ and wood-fired pizza!

 

Blacksmithing at HOT NIGHT

For dessert, Worcester State University alum, Renee King who is relocating her business to the Canal District in Worcester, brings the Queen's Cups'award-winning cupcakes to the event. New this year, Fretzels will round out the sweetness of evening with their real frozen yogurt, pretzels and more. To top things off for the over-21 crowd, Austin Liquors has arranged a tasting of Worcester's newest brewery product, Flying Dreams Brewery beer. Food prices are set by vendors.

Spärk, an exhibit opening on Hot Night and running through September 16 will feature the work of four women artists: Jessica Lyn Burhans, Tara Sellios, Keri Anderson and Michelle May. The title of the exhibit speaks to the art on view as a fiery particle thrown off from a fire or emitting sparks of fire or electricity. Provocative? Edgy? "The show is perfect for HOT NIGHT," says Gallery Director Candace Casey, "as it speaks to the energy of the work being shown, and the spark of creativity that it inspires!"

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.

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 receive funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.