All Welcome: The Clay Days Experiment 07.28.18 - 08.25.18
All Welcome marks our first Community Spotlight exhibition in which Embark features the work of a group, collective, class or other kind of community. Clay Days began as a solution to the problem of affordable studio space in San Francisco, an offering of place to fellow artists in need. Goldberg had the room (and the clay) and all anyone had to do was show up and create. What started as a humble gathering of friends grew, organically and exponentially, into a program that acted both as a democratizing force in a competitive and often hierarchical art world, and an important facet of Goldberg’s own practice. For Goldberg, Clay Days became a way to delve into the infinite possibilities of the medium, through shared experimentation and investigation. He also acted as the facilitator and the instructor, helping his brood to understand how learning, teaching and collaboration can affect artistic output. Sharing in the making process was essential to the project, the communal effects of making together almost reaching spiritual heights. As he says, “A ceramics practice is tactile and therapeutic. Clay reveals the secret liquid state of all things – that material can slip between states of matter – that water informs shape. This is as much an artistic medium as it is a way to navigate the world.”
This exhibition is unique in that the work of all participants is exhibited on an equal plane. Clay has historically been the material that shifts between art and artisan, fine art and craft. To conflate that old tale, Clay Days accepts both professional artists, amateur makers, and non-makers equally. High and low have been flattened – the classroom and medium democratized, as have the often unapproachable walls of the fine arts gallery. What similarities and themes occur when all ideas and techniques are validated? When the barriers of access are consciously diminished as much as possible? And, in a city whose history of radical art-making is rich while its displaced artists are decidedly not, what could be more radical than an experience that is affordable?
- Angelica Jardini | Curatorial Director
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS Beth Abrahamson, Robin Beard, LeighAnn Breeze, Laura Campbell, Helen Chan, Kevin Chan Katie Chin, Nancy Choi, Sophia Cook, Yvette Dibos, Jack Dougherty, Heather Ford Michael Garfoot, Laura Gillmor, Carl Goldberg, Matt Goldberg, Leah Gonzales, Annie Gray Julia Herring, Santiago Insignares, Matt Jacobson, Nolan Jankowski, Michael Joseph Jamila Keba, Gita Khandagle, Hadar Kleiman, Kyle Knobel, Jade Kwan, Alexa Leung, Sai Li Colin Liang, Shiela Mae Espana Diolosa, Ian Mackay, Jeanette Melgarejo Eduardo Moreno Dana Morrison, Lula Pellicoro, Cait Petersen, Flo Pizzarello, Phoebe Plank Jason Rasmussen, Renee Rhodes, Parker Richard, Nathan Sass, Matthew Schmitz Kathy Sirico, Lorna Stevens, Francesco Stumpo, Craig Summerhill, Justine Sun Dela Cruz Johnny Tang, Kaitlin Trataris, Blu Voelker, Elaine Walker, Xiao Wang, Mike Weiss Rachel Xiang
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Lauren Dare Marcel Houtzager Matt Lopez Brooke Valentine Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture Sartle.com SOMArts Thor, Zeus & Jasper
Embark Arts offers exhibition opportunities to graduate students of the Fine Arts in the San Francisco Bay Area. We provide a space for an engaged community of artists, curators and scholars, and we aim to expand the audience for up and coming contemporary art. A non-profit gallery, Embark’s programming represents the diversity of the talented artists studying at eight local artinstitutions: San Francisco Art Institute, UC Berkeley, California College of the Arts, Mills College, San Francisco State University, UC Davis, San Jose State University, and Stanford. The juried exhibitions are held at our gallery in San Francisco at the historic Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.
Tania Houtzager || Executive Director Angelica Jardini || Curatorial Director