NORTHERN | CLAY | CENTER
2010
s i x mcknight artists An exhibition featuring new work by 2009 McKnight Fellowship recipients Ursula Hargens and Maren Kloppmann; 2008 Residency recipients Yoko Sekino-Bové, Ilena Finocchi, and Elizabeth Smith; and 2009 Residency recipient Cary Esser Essays by Robert Silberman McKnight Artists Fellowships and Residencies for Ceramic Artists and this exhibition are made possible by generous financial support from The McKnight Foundation, Minneapolis, Minnesota © 2010 NORTHERN CLAY CENTER, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
ESSAYS AND WORKS
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2009 McKnight Fellowship recipient Ursula Hargens | Minneapolis 2009 McKnight Fellowship recipient Maren Kloppmann | Minneapolis 2008 Residency recipient Yoko Sekino-Bové | Pennsylvania 2008 Residency recipient Ilena Finocchi | California 2008 Residency recipient Elizabeth Smith | Arkansas 2009 Residency recipient Cary Esser | Missouri
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Essays by Robert Silberman McKnight Artists Fellowships and Residencies for Ceramic Artists and this exhibition are made possible by generous financial support from The McKnight Foundation, Minneapolis, Minnesota © 2010 NORTHERN CLAY CENTER, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
2009 McKnight Fellowship recipient Ursula Hargens One of the major developments in contemporary ceramics is a return to decoration. Even as purists carry on the “less is more” tradition of high modernism, artists like Ursula Hargens remind us of the pleasures offered by surface pattern and design. || Hargens was studying art education in New York after receiving a degree in Russian language and literature when she first encountered ceramics. Later, during a year at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, she encountered Walter Ostrom, with his love of ceramic history and his keen eye for what he likes to call “killer” examples. Hargens learned to appreciate works such as a Delftware tea caddy based on a Chinese prototype, a source of inspiration that could be brought into the present with changes in color and glazing, avoiding any simple imitation. She also accepted Ostrom’s idea that materials have meanings and associations, and therefore “choosing materials means choosing values.” Earthenware, she notes, is often seen as “weak, punky, disposable,” and dismissed as an unsophisticated folk material. But for Hargens that gives it a “gutsy, maverick persona.” Using earthenware serves Hargens’ love of complexity because it establishes a counterpoint with the refined formal language of her work. || Hargens is exceptionally thoughtful about the silhouettes, proportions, and other characteristics of the forms — pitchers, vases, plates — she has developed as a basic repertoire. Yet she came to realize that her real interest is in decorating. Her colors and floral designs reveal her gift for making hard, deliberate effort produce the illusion of spontaneity. “Glaze has the ability to capture the color of a living flower,” she says, “That is the magic of glaze.” It is certainly the magic of her glazes, which provide not only color, but depth, texture, and translucency. Hargens balances the controlled geometry of the physical forms with the movement of the glaze beyond the outline drawings during the firing; that flow can create subtle effects resembling a watercolor wash. She likes to have the decoration play against the form, for instance going from outside to inside as the flowers in effect climb up and fall over a vessel’s rim into the interior.
Hargens makes flowers appear complicated and intense, countering the widespread notion that they are simply “sweet, benign, vapid, and feminine.” Different flowers have different meanings, but even the same kind of flower can express a range of possibilities on a single piece: more assertive here, more understated there; more representational in one spot, more abstract in another. Hargens says, “I see the flowers on my pots almost like characters in a narrative.” || Hargens regards her vessels as three-dimensional canvases; compared to tiles, they offer more points of view. Recently, however, she came to believe that her vases and pitcher-plate combinations had reached a point where she was relatively satisfied. So she turned to a pair of new challenges. She has been creating garniture sets, groups of vases and lidded jars that enable her to establish imagery spanning a number of pieces, with an entirely different sense of rhythm than in a single vessel. She also has been creating wall plaques that have more depth than traditional tiles, and therefore more sculptural presence. The plaques began as two-part creations, but have now evolved to large composite units of twelve and twenty-four sections — and not neat rectangles either. One work has two roundels cut out from the interior, and protruding scalloped forms breaking up the rectilinear border. These baroque touches add a physical, structural play to the lyricism of the floral designs. || For an appropriate accompaniment, Hargens is working hard to develop a new color palette, one capable of expressing different moods. “The interesting problem,” she says, “is to get the idea from your head into the physical object.” That is what requires the seemingly endless glaze tests and other experimentation necessary to make the colors as rich as initially imagined. “The risk of having the outcome not meet the expectation is one reason why ceramics can be awful,” Hargens says, “but when it works it can be phenomenal.” ||
Wallflower || 2010 || earthenware, gold luster || 62" x 26" x 1" || Photo by Peter Lee
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2009 McKnight Fellowship recipient Maren Kloppmann Maren Kloppmann has now received a McKnight Fellowship from Northern Clay three times. Each award has marked a key moment in her artistic development. Taken together, the fellowship periods testify to Kloppmann’s consistency of outlook and her determination to extend her work into new areas. The award, she says, creates a “huge responsibility” and a duty to explore. Kloppmann once again has assumed that responsibility and fulfilled that duty. || Kloppman used her first award to examine the possibilities of creating groups of forms as ensembles rather than emphasizing single works, and to see how aspects of display, specifically glass shelves and other elements, could be used to create a coherent, all-encompassing presentation. During her second McKnight, Kloppmann experimented with scale by developing new forms that were not simply larger versions of earlier creations, but more sculptural works specifically designed for increased size. At the end of that period, she was already starting to experiment with modular pillow forms that could be mounted on the wall in groups. But after receiving a commission for a wall installation at a hotel, she decided to shift her attention even more to the challenge of multiple-element, sculptural forms. That change in focus became the basis for her third McKnight. || Kloppmann’s style has evolved while retaining its basic elements: an approach to form with an acknowledged debt to three artists she describes as forming a “great ladder of modernists,” Constantine Brancusi, Isamu Noguchi, and Ruth Duckworth; a fascination with space that gives both her functional and sculptural work pronounced architectural qualities; a preference for black, white, and earth tones; and a quest for archetypal expression. While visiting the Milwaukee Art Museum, Kloppmann was surprised to discover the affinity between some of her recent works and Don Judd’s stacked wall pieces. But where Judd used metal and impersonal industrial fabrication, Kloppmann remains devoted to ceramics and “the human touch.” She is, however, always trying to make the creation of the basic forms as efficient as possible. One of her goals for this McKnight year was to re-assess her functional production ware even as she turned to an emphasis on sculpture. ||
The new work continues to draw upon extremely subtle applications of glaze; the relatively smooth surfaces and nuanced modulations in tone require great care, especially where the transitions occur. Many of the divisions between one area and another that characterize Kloppmann’s designs reflect the process of making, because they are a product of how she dips the forms in the glaze. Assembled into wall installations, the pillow or platter forms introduce a new pictorial approach to design. In some, black areas on the periphery suggest window-like frames opening up onto expansive vistas, creating a sense of landscape. In others, the frame is an arch or catenary curve, introducing an ambiguous, self-referential play by suggesting a kiln opening or a vessel shape. || When a pillow form is mounted on the wall, another element appears: a shadow. This is not a simple lighting problem, to be disguised and, as much as possible, made to disappear. Rather, shadows represent an additional formal element to be controlled and integrated. As a student at the Kansas City Art Institute, Kloppmann combined unfired porcelain elements with projected shadows. It is typical of her consistent formal and conceptual concerns that such an idea could be held in reserve, then brought back and accommodated so effectively. It connects with several other recent developments such as painting the wall to create installations that exploit all the different components and in particular unite the pictorial or graphic and the sculptural. || Kloppmann says she has enough elements to explore, and therefore is not moving as fast to develop new ones. Instead, she is rearranging the elements literally and figuratively. The results show the same disciplined, steady progress, the same refined yet forceful version of modernism, and the same high level of achievement. The phrase “the third time’s a charm” generally indicates two failures followed by a success. In Kloppmann’s case, all three McKnight awards have led to outstanding work, and therefore seem more like three of a kind, a winning hand. ||
Wall Pillows – Horizontal Stack I/10 || 2010 || porcelain || 10.5" x 36" x 5.5" installed || Photo by Peter Lee
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2008 Residency recipient Yoko Sekino-Bové It is always interesting to learn how ceramic professionals first encountered clay, beyond any initial close encounters of the kindergarten kind. Yoko Sekino-Bové’s tale has no simple “Eureka!” moment; rather, it all started with a nod. After coming to the United States from Japan she enrolled at a community college, and because of her uncertain English she used a standard “smile and nod” response when her advisor signed her up for ceramics. In Sekino-Bové’s blunt, good-humored fashion, she recalls that for her first two years she “sucked.” But she kept taking courses, and compensated for her weak throwing by emphasizing surface decoration. She was working at the time as a graphic designer, the vocation she had trained for in Japan. Even after she graduated, she kept taking ceramic courses, partly as an escape, partly because she felt graphic design was being “hijacked” by computer software and becoming more mechanical. || After graduate school in ceramics, Sekino-Bové apprenticed with a functional potter in Maine who upheld a philosophy of “serviceable but beautiful objects” and insisted, “We should have more art in kitchen and living spaces rather than in museums and galleries because we spend more time there.” She now makes elegant functional forms while still applying her exceptional graphic skills. But the first impression of her work may result from something else: the sense of humor. Sekino-Bové is friendly, polite, and thoughtful. But in some of her work she comes across as bold and more than risqué, as in a pink plate with one penguin saying to another, “Does this look like a vagina to you?” Sandra Boynton’s animals do not talk like that. || Humor in art is sometimes underappreciated, what with the need for High Seriousness. There are ceramists who make pots that show a sense of humor; Ron Meyers and Mike Norman come to mind as artists who possess the comic gene. Still, Sekino-Bové’s creation with Eve saying to Adam “If we are God’s creations, why do we have to hide body parts?” is not your usual American Craft Council show sort of thing. Neither is the large urn with a female panda saying,
“They make me pregnant without asking me if I wanted to be, now they are taking my baby away,” and the male saying, “I don’t wanna have any relationship now” and “I’d rather pursue my career than start a family.” || Ceramics may have liberated Sekino-Bové’s inner stand-up comedian and social commentator. But she also makes elegant functional ware that is both beautiful and serviceable, such as cups that resemble segments of bamboo and stack perfectly. As with Meyers and Norman, humor is but one aspect of a complex sensibility. Sekino-Bové may favor penguins and pandas for her wisecracking side, but her menagerie includes goldfish in their traditional role as symbols of immortality, and a variety of other birds such as hummingbirds to represent nature in a less anthropomorphic fashion. She says she is not ready to depict humans. Yet by using imagery from nature, she is able to express emotions and ideas with great delicacy and depth, whether that means a meditation on mortality or, in a simple tumbler decorated with plants emerging in the spring, on rebirth. || Sekino-Bové delights in combining a strong representational image — a finely drawn lotus leaf or goldfish — with areas of color that can be intense against the white porcelain background but also possess the soft, liquid subtlety of the finest wash drawings. She considers the glaze-image combinations with great care, as when the goldfish are accompanied by a celadon glaze that suggests water. On occasion, she will introduce a touch of gold, not as a gaudy sign of luxury but as a bit of pure pleasure, a glimpse of the world at its most radiant. || In the end, it is obvious that there are not two Sekino-Bovés, like movie twins presented as neatly balanced opposites, one worldly and the other unworldly. She offers a single captivating blend, at one moment making outrageous jokes and the next exploring serious matters. And it all began with that simple nod. ||
Bitter Half (‘til death do us apart) || 2010 || porcelain in cone 6 oxidation firing || 11" x 6" x 6" || Photo by Peter Lee
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2008 Residency recipient Ilena Finocchi When Ilena Finocchi was fourteen, she went with her grandparents to Italy. In St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome, she was shocked when she saw a monumental statue: she thought it was real, and alive. From that encounter, a sculptor was born. || Finocchi studied sculpture as an undergraduate, then became a graphic designer for fourteen years. Only after the death of her father and a workshop with ceramic master Don Reitz, who impressed her with his zest for life and quest for authenticity, did she decide life was too short to compromise. She left the world of promotion and marketing behind and went to graduate school. She had planned to study sculpture, but wound up in ceramics when the ceramic programs seemed more in tune with her interests. Ironically, this shift resembled her experience during her years away from school, when she had wanted to do metalwork, but found it easier to take parttime courses in ceramics. Fated or not, she likes working with clay, although she feels removed from all the nagging issues that have dogged ceramics, including the art-craft distinction. She says, “I just want to be considered an artist.” || Finocchi’s exhibition at the end of a residency at the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana was a memorial to her father that took the form of tools transformed into magical totems, and porcelain bottles illuminated from within, a tribute to his habit of collecting things in bottles. Her father was influential for her because he had the maker’s gift, whether creating toys for her, refurbishing cars, or “building whatever.” Her mother, too, provided a model, by drawing shapes and then putting them together. It is clear that, notwithstanding important artistic influences (Muybridge, Duchamp, Magritte, Lee Bountecou, Francis Bacon), strong examples and guidance provided by teachers (Mike Moseley, Rick Hirsch, Julia Galloway), and travel as a source of stimulation and inspiration, as when she saw the Painted Desert in Arizona, for Finocchi creating art was initially above all bound up with her family and her childhood. ||
As a result of her work experiences, however, Finocchi became passionate about the difference between fabricated images and social and economic realities. She therefore embarked on a series of works that use the carnival as a metaphor to dramatize this discrepancy. There are targets like those in midway knock-down games, accompanied by baseballs. The figures are symbolic: owls represent wisdom, Uncle Sam is given a fool’s cap, and a house is titled not “Home, Sweet Home,” but Foreclosure Sweet Foreclosure. || Finocchi believes falling in love and getting married changed her perspective, making her look outward more instead of at her memories, and changing her concept of the project as a freak show: from a concern with normality and abnormality in nature to a satirical approach to the abnormality of the political world and the capitalistic “game.” She has created one character, “Rhino Boy,” based on her husband, and says she would be “Bird Girl” (her mother called her “my little bird”). She associates the sideshow theme with the outcast status of ceramic artists, but the work is most obviously a form of social and political commentary, with those who pursue greed and selfishness presented as “our culture’s true freaks.” Influenced by the canvas banners that act as teasers for sideshow exhibits, at Northern Clay Finocchi created a series of ambitious low-relief panels consisting of individual tile-like sections, together with threedimensional figures. The flatter elements are brightly colored, the sculptural figures more monochromatic as well as distorted; the contrast dramatizes the difference between an advertised image and the actual product. || “Life is a carnival — believe it or not,” sang The Band, “Life is a carnival — two bits a shot.” Finocchi’s circus project reveals some of that hard-bitten spirit, but even as she sets forth her critique, she uses humor and the language of popular design to fashion attention-grabbing, entertaining work. Like Warhol in his “Dollar Bill” series or the carnies of the midway, Finocchi knows how to play — and please — a crowd. ||
Intolerance Unfurled || 2009 || earthenware, cone 04, multiple firings || 17" x 8" x 9" || Photo by Ilena Finocchi
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2008 Residency recipient Elizabeth Smith Liz Smith grew up in a house filled with strong patterns in the furniture, rugs and other domestic artifacts, and she remains especially taken with the holiday tradition of lace tablecloths, silver candelabra and fine china, all identified with a “fancy grandmother.” Smith associates this decorative aesthetic not with wealth but with home and family, and links it to functional pottery in part because of the strength of her memories of family meals. The salon style may seem old-fashioned but Smith says, “I just love it. Who needs a television when you’ve got all that stuff to look at?” || As a result of her upbringing and other experiences such as time spent in Africa while an undergraduate, Smith is fascinated by richness of pattern and design and, more generally, by the richness of meanings to be found in all kinds of cultural expressions. She is equally interested in a piece of Sèvres porcelain as in an African ceremonial costume, in the intricate patterning of the Lindisfarne Gospels as in the mixed media installations of the contemporary French artist Annette Messager. Although she likes ornate designs, she also has a fondness for a more straightforward approach, as when she recalls some Wedgewood pieces in her home growing up that combined simple forms with elaborate surface ornament. || After graduating from college, Smith apprenticed with the great ceramic artist Toshiko Takaezu, then went to Maine where she worked in a production pottery. She didn’t stay long. “I felt like I was pumping gas,” she says of that experience. After a call from Takaezu to Dan Anderson, Smith headed to Southern Illinois for graduate school, eventually finishing at Louisiana State, where in her thesis exhibit clay figured in only a small percentage of the works, but included sculptures employing fabric and one made of horsehair plugs set directly into the wall in a corner of the gallery. ||
But Smith proposed doing “something new” during her residency at Northern Clay, and that meant “no pots.” She decided that she was done with press molds, and wanted to spend as much time as possible decorating, and as little time as possible making the objects. That meant learning to make molds for slipcasting, mastering the art of transferring patterns onto vinyl stencils, and learning how to turn photographic motifs (via Photoshop) into commercially produced decals. “I knew it was going to be a challenge,” she said of mastering those techniques, “but I didn’t realize it would be that big a challenge.” || Smith’s intense “making, making, making” at Northern Clay was devoted to a grand project, a set of four large panels with sculptural elements. The theme is “The Seasons,” with birds and flowers for spring, grasshoppers for summer (in Arkansas, she says, speaking as a devoted gardener, they “eat everything that the heat does not kill”), twigs for fall, and snowballs and snowflakes for winter. Her choice of subject was not indebted to precedents by other artists such as Vivaldi or Jasper Johns. Smith says she regards the seasons as “mapping her experience.” She believed the theme would provide a framework for all the aesthetic decisions in terms of color and texture, although there were complex questions to be considered: “What does winter feel like, and what colors and patterns are necessary to communicate that?” She took heart from the Somali women in the neighborhood, dressed “like a rainbow” and in one case “wearing spring — all the patterns and colors that I want for my panel.” || Smith says she wanted the three months to be about nothing but experimenting. In a refrain that might be the motto of many McKnight artists, Smith says of her effort to develop something new, “At the time it felt like a relatively small leap, but now it feels huge.” ||
Moving away from such avant-garde sculptural efforts, Smith turned to functional pots including pitchers with stands, flower bricks, and candelabra, all with complex forms and all made with an array of processes including throwing, press molds, decals, and carving.
The Garden (detail) || 2009 – 2010 || clay, glaze, wood & paint || Variable dimensions || Photo by Elizabeth Smith
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2009 Residency recipient Cary Esser Cary Esser says that she used to describe her first experience with ceramics as “Love at first sight” but then realized it was “Lust at first touch.” Love or lust, her passion for ceramics is unmistakable. || Esser was an undergraduate at the Kansas City Art Institute, and is now the chair of the school’s ceramics department. In between, she received a master’s degree from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, another famous ceramics program, and spent a decade as an independent artist, teaching workshops, running her own studio as a functional potter, and working on several large-scale public art projects. || A North Carolina native, Esser describes her home state as a major influence on who she is and what she makes. She grew up in the woods and spent a lot of time at the beach, and nature is a constant presence in her work, which often features floral or landscape elements. When she first went to Kansas City, she found herself astonished by the “fabulous architectural ornament” to be found there. That led to a greater awareness of clay’s “multiple histories and multiple uses,” and a special interest in architectural ceramics. || A series of mural commissions featured leaves, waves, shells, and other forms from nature and displayed Esser’s gift for color, pattern, and design. “More and more,” the artist says, “issues of color and surface are becoming important to me.” She still makes vessels because she still loves them, and because, as a result of seeing large urns in a Hungarian ceramic factory that has a relationship with the Kansas City Art Institute, she realized that urns could be symbolic elements on buildings, as ornament. In one of her commissions she created panels with vessels modeled on folk pottery forms holding bouquets of native flora, and she continues to make tiles based on native plants, such as a showpiece example that features pitcher plants. || The shield or escutcheon form fascinates Esser. One series featured mazes or labyrinths as the main design element, introducing
“issues of protection and vulnerability.” More recently, Esser has taken groups of large, brightly colored tiles and displayed them horizontally — as murals, they lose their materiality — creating a sense of topography and landscape. When a review mentioned the Giant’s Causeway, a famous basalt formation on the coast of Northern Ireland, with columns in crystalline shapes, Esser recognized the aptness of the comparison. The small component tiles have large potential, because they combine sculptural physicality and painterly surface treatment, and their geometry makes possible seemingly infinite arrangements. || At Northern Clay, Esser enjoyed her (brief) freedom from administrative duties to explore a number of new directions. In particular she was interested in developing new ways of engaging narrative and of introducing a figurative presence. She continued to build upon the basic shield form by adding decals of some of her favorite imagery including zoological and botanical illustrations, such as a butterfly going through its life stages. In another variation, she created incised geometrical patterns on the shield forms to provide a framework for the color relationships. She also worked on a technique that creates large rectangular tile forms with hollow centers, so that there is an upper surface that can open up during firing and expose the space behind it in a kind of crater effect. These plaque-like works highlight the material and the process. They can suggest painterly abstraction, but with their cracks, openings and other irregularities they can also evoke topographic models and the romantic cult of ruins. || By the end of her stay, Esser was at once excited and overwhelmed by all the new possibilities she had discovered, remarking, “That is what is good about a residency, but also problematic.” She is a veteran, and knows that having too many ideas and options is a good kind of problem to have, even if it is daunting to know that the technical and formal solutions have yet to be fully worked out. Esser describes ceramics as “a crazy art form,” but it is obvious she still finds it irresistible. ||
Escutcheon (#1) || 2010 || earthenware and glaze || 16.5" x 12.5" x 2.25" || Photo by EG Schempf
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RESUMÉS
2009 McKnight Fellowship recipient Ursula Hargens | Minneapolis 2009 McKnight Fellowship recipient Maren Kloppmann | Minneapolis 2008 Residency recipient Yoko Sekino-BovĂŠ | Pennsylvania 2008 Residency recipient Ilena Finocchi | California 2008 Residency recipient Elizabeth Smith | Arkansas 2009 Residency recipient Cary Esser | Missouri
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Ursula Hargens
Maren Kloppmann
Born: 12 | 27 | 1971 || Minneapolis, MN
Born 04 | 28 | 1962 || Veersen, Germany
Education 2003: M.F.A., ceramics, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, New York || 1999-00: PostBaccalaureate Study, ceramics, Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada || 1999: M.A., art & art education, Columbia University, Teachers College, New York, New York || 1994: B.A., Russian language & literature, Columbia University, Columbia College, New York, New York
Education 1996: M.F.A., ceramics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota || 1993: B.F.A., ceramics, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri || 1984: Journeyman Diploma, Keramik Handwerkskammer, Landshut Germany
Selected Recent Solo Exhibitions/Group Exhibitions 2010: Make Home Sweet, Dow Studio Gallery, Deer Isle, Maine || Pictures on Pots, Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, Loveladies, New Jersey || 2009: Minnesota Women Ceramic Artists Juried Exhibition, Northrup King Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota || Northern Exposure, Promega Corporation, Madison, Wisconsin || 2008: Functional Variations, Freehand Gallery, Los Angeles, California || Near-East Meets West, Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas || Speaking Low: Surfaces in Earthenware, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania || Symposium Presenters’ Exhibition, Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee || 2007: American Pottery Festival, Northern Clay Center || Botanical, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, New Mexico || Jerome Artists Exhibition, Northern Clay Center || 2006: Diverse Connections, Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota || Receptive Volumes, The Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred, New York || Style & Function: National Ceramics Invitational, Blue Spiral 1 Gallery, Asheville, North Carolina || 2005: Culturing Surfaces, Homewood House Museum, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland || Fine Art of Craft, University Place Art Center, Lincoln, Nebraska || Small Works, Lohin Geduld Gallery, New York, New York || 2004: Decorative Form: Ursula Hargens, Lohin Geduld Gallery, New York, New York || Visiting Artist Exhibition, Hopkins Gallery, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio || 2003: Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, Alfred, New York || Selections I, Lohin Geduld Gallery, New York, New York || Strictly Functional Pottery National, Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Selected Recent Solo/Two Artists Exhibitions 2010: Maren Kloppmann/Rebecca Crowell, Circa Gallery, Minneapolis, Minneapolis || 2009: Maren Kloppmann/Nancy Selvin, Signature Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia || 2008: Maren Kloppmann — New Work, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania || 2007: Maren Kloppmann, Harvey/Meadows Gallery, Aspen, Colorado || 2006: Minimal Contrast, TRAX Gallery, Berkeley, California Selected Recent Group Exhibitions 2010: Snow White, Cross MacKenzie Ceramic Arts, Washington DC || 125th Anniversary Show, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri || Bricks & Mortar, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, New Mexico || 2009: Art & Object, Weinstein Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota || Summer Group Show, Circa Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota || Abstraction, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, New Mexico || Collect, The Nevica Project, An Online Exhibition || Hand-built National, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, Pennsylvania || 2008: SOFA West, Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona || Functional Variations, Freehand Gallery, Los Angeles, California || Double Chamber: from the Kilns of MN and WI, TRAX Gallery, Berkeley, California || Distinctive Lines, Lillstreet Art Center, Chicago, Illinois || Exquisite Pots, Northern Clay Center || 2007: From The Studio, Lacoste Gallery, Concord, Massachusetts || Eat With Your Eyes, Northern Clay Center || Unadorned, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, New Mexico || Contrast: Explorations in Black & White, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana || 2006: MacKenzie and the Midwest Five, Gallery Gen, New York, New York || Minimal/ist, Archer Gallery, Clark College, Vancouver, Washington
Selected Awards 2009: McKnight Artist Fellowship for Ceramic Artists, Northern Clay Center || Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant, St. Paul, Minnesota || 2006: Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grant, Northern Clay Center || 2005: Red Wing Collectors Society Award, Northern Clay Center
Selected Awards 2009: Minnesota State Arts Board Artists Initiative Grant, St. Paul, Minnesota || 2009, 2005, 2002: McKnight Artist Fellowship for Ceramic Artists, Northern Clay Center || Minnesota State Arts Board Artists Initiative Grant, St. Paul, Minnesota || 2002: Minnesota State Arts Board Career Opportunity Grant, St. Paul, Minnesota
Gallery Representation Harvey/Meadows Gallery, Aspen, Colorado || Lohin Geduld Gallery, New York, New York
Gallery Representation Northern Clay Center || Cervini Haas, Scottsdale, Arizona || Circa Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota || Cross MacKenzie Ceramic Arts, Washington DC
Selected Collections The Baggs Collection, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio || San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, Texas || Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred, New York || Schleich Red Wing Pottery Museum, Red Wing, Minnesota
Selected Collections Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, Minnesota || Herberger Museum of Art & Design, Tempe, Arizona || The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri || Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Professional Experience 2003-present: Teaching Artist, Northern Clay Center || 2005-09: Lecturer, Adjunct Faculty, ceramics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota || 2009: Visiting Faculty, NSCAD University, Halifax, Nova Scotia || 2004: Visiting Artist/Lecturer, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
Professional Experience 2007: Visiting Artist, New York State University at New Paltz, New York || 2006: Visiting Artist, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska || Visiting Artist, Minnesota State University, Mankato, Minnesota || 2005: Visiting Artist, Iowa State University, Cedar Falls, Iowa
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Yoko Sekino-Bové
Ilena Finocchi
Born: 11 | 25 | 1970 || Osaka, Japan
Born: 07 | 01 | 1969 || Youngstown, Ohio USA
Education: 2004: M.F.A., ceramics, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma || 1994: B.A., graphic design, Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan
Education 2005: M.F.A., ceramics, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York || 1991: B.F.A., ceramics, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio
Selected Recent Solo Exhibitions: 2010: The Art and Science of Happiness: Yoko Sekino-Bové, Dana Women Artist Series by The Research Institution of Women and Art, Rutgers University, Camden, New Jersey || 2009: Yoko Sekino-Bové: New Work, Stonewall Gallery, Bill Campbell Pottery Studio and Gallery, Cambridge Spring, Pennsylvania || 2008: Echoes and Whispers, The Clay Place, Carnegie, Pennsylvania || Flora and Fauna, Isadore Gallery, Lancaster, Pennsylvania || 2007: Flora and Fauna, Manderino Gallery, California University of Pennsylvania, California, Pennsylvania
Selected Recent Solo & Group Exhibitions 2010: California Clay Competition, The Artery, Davis, California || Site Installation, Oakwilde Ranch & Sculpture Park, Valley Springs, California || Small Favors V, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania || 2009: 39th Annual Ceramics Exhibition 2’x 2’x 2’: A Mixed Bag of Small Ceramic Wonders, Crossman Gallery, Whitewater, Wisconsin || Small Favors IV, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania || Alumni Exhibition, McDonough Museum, Youngstown, Ohio || 2008: Bottle Show, Lawrence Arts Center, Lawrence, Kansas || Space & Place, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania || Fresh, Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, Massachusetts || Small Favors III, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania || Shadows of Collected Memories: Ilena Finocchi, Olin Fine Arts Gallery, Washington, Pennsylvania || Greatest Show on Earth, Three Rivers Art Festival Gallery (NCECA), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania || Dualis, Grand Theatre Center for the Arts, Tracy, California || Palm Beach 3, Ferrin Gallery, West Palm Beach, Florida || 2007: SOFA Chicago, Ferrin Gallery, Chicago, Illinois || Woman’s Nature: 3 Person show, River Gallery, Chattanooga, Tennessee || Red, Baltimore Clay Works, Baltimore, Maryland || Mastery in Clay, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania || Small Favors II, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania || Feats of Clay XX, Lincoln Arts, Lincoln Arts, California || Scholarship Benefit Auction, Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, Montana || Salt & Pepper Show, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, New Mexico || On a Pedestal and Off the Wall, The Sculpture Center, Cleveland, Ohio || Agape, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, New Mexico || NCECA 2007 Clay National Biennial Exhibition, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, Kentucky || 2006: Archie Bray Resident Show, Kolva-Sullivan Gallery, Spokane, Washington || Resident Show, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, Montana || Good Bird/Bad Bird, Contemporary Crafts Museum & Gallery, Portland, Oregon || 2005: As the Crow Flies, Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, Auburn, New York || Horizon Award 2005, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York
Selected Recent Group Exhibitions 2010: Attention to Detail, Gallery Up, Rock Hill, South Carolina || Elit-tile 2010: Fourth International Ceramic Tile Triennial, Igneri Foundation, Santiago De Los Caballeros, Dominican Republic || Table of Elements 2010, Manchester Craftmen’s Guild, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania || 2009: Earth, Water, and Fire: Pottery Invitational, Noyes Museum of Art, Oceanville, New Jersey || Summer of Love, Dow Studio, Deer Isle, Maine || Garden Party, Pewabic Pottery, Detroit, Michigan || Small Treasures, Vessels Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts || Feats of Clay XXII, Lincoln Art Center, Lincoln, California || 2008: Winterfest 2008, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, Maryland || Holidazzle, Kentucky Museum of Arts and Crafts, Louisville, Kentucky || 4th International Ashes to Art: Scattered, Funeria, Graton, California || Seventh National San Angelo Ceramic Exhibition, San Angelo Museum of Fine Art, San Angelo, Texas || 2007: Gifted: Part I, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania || Strictly Functional, Market House Craft Center, Lancaster, Pennsylvania || Handcrafted, The Rocky Mount Arts Center, Rocky Mount, North Carolina || Pattern and Decoration, Claypool-Young Art Gallery, Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky || 2006: Crafts National 40, Zoller Gallery on the University Campus, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania Selected Awards 2008: McKnight Artist Residency for Ceramic Artists, Northern Clay Center || Chili Bowl Fellowship for Visiting Artists, Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, New York || Individual Artist Opportunity Grant, Greater Pittsburgh Art Council, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania || 2004-05: Greenfield Fellowship for the Resident Artist, Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, Florida || 2003: The John Frank Memorial Scholarship for Ceramic Students, Frankoma Pottery Family Collectors Association, Sapulpa, Oklahoma Selected Collections San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, Texas || The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Norman, Oklahoma || The Igneri Foundation, Santiago De Los Caballeros, Dominican Republic Professional Experience 2010: Visiting Artist, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, South Carolina || 2009: Visiting Artist, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama || 2006 & 07: Visiting Artist Workshop, Touchstone Center for Crafts, Farmington, Pennsylvania || 2004-05: Artist-in-Residence, ceramic department, Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, Florida || 2004: Instructor in ceramics, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma
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Selected Awards 2008: McKnight Artist Residency for Ceramic Artists, Northern Clay Center || Eugene Gittings Award, Space and Place, Pittsburgh Society of Sculptors, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania || 2007: Purchase Prize Award, Feats of Clay XX, Lincoln Arts, California || 2005: Horizon Award 2005, Honorable Mention, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York || Purchase Prize Award, Wallace Memorial Library, Rochester, New York Selected Collections The Grand Center for the Arts, Tracy, California || Lewis and Clark Library, Helena, Montana || Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts Permanent Collection, Helena, Montana || Contemporary Crafts Museum & Gallery, Portland, Oregon Professional Experience 2008: Visiting Artist Workshop/Curator/Gallery Talk, The Grand Theatre Center for the Arts, Tracy, California || Visiting Artist Workshop, School for American Crafts, Rochester, New York || Visiting Artist Lecture, Washington & Jefferson College, Washington, Pennsylvania || 2007: Visiting Artist Lecture, University of The Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania || 2006: Summer Residency, The Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, Montana
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Elizabeth Smith
Cary Esser
Born: 12 | 28 | 1971 || Chester Springs, Pennsylvania
Born: 09 | 16 | 1955 || Durham, North Carolina
Education 2001: M.F.A., ceramics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana || 1998: Unclassified graduate student ceramics Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Illinois || 1994: B.S., studio art & art history, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York || 1992: Studies in African art and culture, Drew University, Drew in West Africa Program, Cote D’Ivoire, West Africa.
Education 1984: M.F.A., ceramics, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, New York || 1978: B.F.A., ceramics, Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI), Kansas City, Missouri
Selected Recent Solo & Group Exhibitions 2010: Painting on Pots, Long Beach Island Foundation, South Jersey Shore Tour, NCECA, Loveladies, New Jersey 2008: Consider the Cup 2008: Invitational Exhibition, Artisan Gallery, Northampton, Massachusetts || Glass, Clay, Wood, Metal, Stone and Fiber: The Art of Contemporary Craft 2008, St. Francis University, Fort Wayne, Indiana || Elizabeth Smith, Mississippi Valley State University, Idebena, Mississippi || Cups: Invitational Exhibition, Red Star Studios, Kansas City, Missouri || 2007: Glass, Clay, Wood, Metal, Stone and Fiber: The Art of Contemporary Craft 2007, St. Francis University, Fort Wayne, Indiana || Consider the Cup, Invitational Exhibition, Artisan Gallery, Northampton, Massachusetts || Elizabeth Smith, Artisan Gallery, Northampton, Massachusetts || Post Millennium Exponent, Indiana Southeast University, New Albany, Indiana || The New Aesthetics of Functional Ceramics, National Invitational, Huntington University, Huntington, Indiana || Faculty Exhibition, University of Central Arkansas, Baum Gallery, Conway, Arkansas || 2006: Winter Exhibition, Lux Center for the Arts, Lincoln, Nebraska || Post Millennium Exponent, Traveling Invitational Exhibition, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas || Teapot Invitational, University of Arkansas at Monticello, Monticello, Arkansas || 2005: Skin Deep – Celebrating the Variety and Beauty of Ceramic Surfaces, Francis Marion University, Florence, South Carolina || Cup: The Intimate Object IV, International Juried Exhibition, Charlie Cummings Clay Studio, Fort Wayne, Indiana || The Art of Fine Craft, Elder Gallery, Lincoln, Nebraska || Summer Exhibition Series, Hurong Lou Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania || Carbondale Clay National II, National Juried Exhibition, Carbondale Clay Center, Carbondale, Colorado || 5th Annual Cup Show, Kent State University Gallery 138, Kent, Ohio || Ceramics 2005: 5th Biennial Exhibition of North American Clay, The Guilford Handcraft Center, Guilford, Connecticut Selected Awards 2008: McKnight Artist Residency for Ceramic Artists, Northern Clay Center || 2007: Glass, Clay, Wood, Metal, Stone and Fiber: The Art of Contemporary Craft 2007, Purchase Award, St. Francis University, Fort Wayne, Indiana || 2005: Skin Deep – Celebrating the Variety and Beauty of Ceramic Surfaces, Award: Skin of Merit, Francis Marion University, Florence, South Carolina || Cup: The Intimate Object IV, Juror’s Choice Award – First Place, Charlie Cummings Clay Studio, Fort Wayne, Indiana || 2004: Margaret Harlow Purchase Award, Bemidji Community Arts Council, Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minnesota Selected Collections University of St. Francis, Fort Wayne, Indiana || Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana || University of Arkansas Fulbright College Ceramics Collection, Fayetteville, Arkansas || Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York Professional Experience 2001-present: Associate Professor of Fine Art, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas || 2002: Visiting Artist, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas || Visiting Professor, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York
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Selected Exhibitions and Public Art Projects 2010: Solo Exhibition, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri || 2009: Evermore: Pattern & Process, Epsten Gallery, Overland Park, Kansas || 2009-2007: Craft in America Exhibition and Catalog, venues: Arkansas, Oregon, Michigan, California, Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma || 2004: Tile: Matter and Motif, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, Maryland || 2003: 21st Century Ceramics in the United States and Canada, Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, Ohio || Facets of Clay, Macalester College Art Gallery, St. Paul, Minnesota || Scripps College Annual Invitational, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Claremont College, California || 2002: Evidence, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri || Sculptural Clay Invitational, Daum Museum, Sedalia, Missouri || 20001999: Flora and Fauna, venues: Florida, Missouri, New Hampshire || 1999: Solo Exhibition, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri || 1999-1996: Commissioned public work, Old Revenue Building, Raleigh, North Carolina || 1998: Rosettes, Grand Arts Studio, public art projects work-in-progress, Kansas City, Missouri || 1995: Tile ’95, Pewabic Pottery, Detroit, Michigan || Keepers of the Flame, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri || 1994-1990: Commissioned public work, Heritage Park, Sanford, North Carolina || 1989: North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowships 1988-89, City Gallery of Contemporary Art, Raleigh, North Carolina || 1989-1988: Commissioned public work, Paint Branch High School, Burtonsville, Maryland || 1985: Solo Exhibition, Greenwich House Pottery, New York, New York || Annual Scripps College Invitational Ceramics Exhibition, Claremont, California Curatorial Experience 2004: Tile: Matter and Motif, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, Maryland || 2002: TRAX: An Exhibition of Sited Sculpture and Performance, Union Station, Kansas City, Missouri || New Territory, Belger Arts Center, Kansas City, Missouri || Evidence, Sherry Leedy Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri || 2000-1999: Flora and Fauna, a traveling group exhibition originating at Florida Craftmen, St. Petersburg, Florida Awards and Honors 2009: McKnight Artist Residency for Ceramic Artists, Northern Clay Center || Episode V: Process, Craft in America documentary produced by Carol Sauvion, air date October 7, 2009, Public Broadcasting Service || 2003: Lighton International Artists Exchange Program, Kansas City, Missouri || 1988: Visual Artists Fellowship, North Carolina Arts Council, Raleigh, North Carolina Professional Experience 1996- Present: Professor and Chair of Ceramics, Kansas City Art Institute, Ceramics, Kansas City, Missouri || 2003: Residency through Lighton International Artists Exchange Program, International Ceramics Studio, Kecskemet, Hungary || 2002-1999: On-site Liaison and Board Member, NCECA conference, Kansas City, Missouri || 1999: Residency, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Newcastle, Maine || 1982: Residency, Arts and Industry Program, Kohler Manufacturing Company, Wisconsin || 1982-1980: Residency, Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, Montana
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About The McKnight Artist Fellowships for Ceramic Artists The McKnight Artist Fellowships for Ceramic Artists Program is designed to strengthen and enhance Minnesota’s artistic community by providing recognition and financial support for individual ceramic artists. The awards are intended to significantly advance the work of ceramic artists whose work is of exceptional artistic merit, who have already proven their abilities, and are at a career stage that is beyond emerging. || The program provides two forms of direct financial support to ceramic artists: two fellowships are awarded annually to outstanding mid-career Minnesota ceramic artists; four residency awards are granted each year to artists from outside Minnesota, for a 3-month stay at the Clay Center. || This year’s selection panel consisted of three individuals: Robert Pfannebecker, avid collector and lover of ceramic art from Lancaster,
Pennsylvania; Cynthia Consentino, ceramic sculptor and participating artist in NCC’s 2009 winter exhibition, Contemporary Monsters; and Gail Kendall, potter, participating artist in the Upper Saint Croix River Valley Pottery Tour and professor of art at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. || This exhibition featured work by the two 2009 Fellowship recipients; three 2008 McKnight Residency Artists who were at the Clay Center between April and December, 2009; and one 2009 McKnight Residency Artist who was at the Clay Center between January and March, 2010. The fellowship artists used the grants to defray studio and living expenses, to purchase much needed equipment and to simply spend uninterrupted time in the studio. On behalf of the vast number of NCC visitors, students, clay enthusiasts and the artists themselves, we thank The McKnight Foundation for its continued and very generous support of this program. ||
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Past McKnight Recipients 1997 Fellowships Linda Christianson Matthew Metz Residencies Marina Kuchinski George Pearlman
2001 Fellowships Margaret Bohls Robert Briscoe Residencies Vineet Kacker Davie Reneau Patrick Taddy Janet Williams
2005 Fellowships Maren Kloppmann Tetsuya Yamada Residencies Edith Garcia Audrius Janusonis Yonghee Joo Hide Sadohara
1998 Fellowships Judith Meyers Altobell Jeffrey Oestreich Residencies Andrea Leila Denecke Eiko Kishi Deborah Sigel
2002 Fellowships Maren Kloppmann Keisuke Mizuno Residencies William Brouillard Kirk Mangus Tom Towater Sandra Westley
2006 Fellowships Robert Briscoe Mika Negishi Laidlaw Residencies Lisa Marie Barber Junko Nomura Nick Renshaw John Utgaard
1999 Fellowships Gary Erickson Will Swanson Residencies Joe Batt Kelly Connole
2003 Fellowships Chuck Aydlett Mary Roettger Residencies Miriam Bloom David S. East Ting-Ju Shao Kurt Webb
2007 Fellowships Mike Norman Joseph Kress Residencies Greg Crowe John Lambert Lee Love Alyssa Wood
2000 Fellowships Sarah Heimann Joe Kress Residencies Arina Ailincai Mika Negishi Mary Selvig Megan Sweeney
2004 Fellowships Andrea Leila Deneke Matthew Metz Residencies Eileen Cohen Satoru Hoshino Paul McMullan Anita Powell
2008 Fellowships Andrea Leila Denecke Marko Fields Residencies Ilena Finocchi Margaret O’Rorke Yoko Sekino-Bové Elizabeth Smith
2009 Fellowships Ursula Hargens Maren Kloppmann Residencies Jonas Arcikauskas ˘ Cary Esser Alexandra Hibbitt Ryan Mitchell
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Northern Clay Center
Credits
Northern Clay Center’s mission is the advancement of the ceramic arts. Its goals are to promote excellence in the work of clay artists, to provide educational opportunities for artists and the community, and to encourage the public’s appreciation and understanding of the ceramic arts.
Essays by Robert Silberman Photography of artists by Peter Lee Photography of ceramic work by Peter Lee and select artists Design by Joseph D.R. OLeary at www.VetoDesign.com
Staff Emily Galusha, Director Sarah Millfelt, Deputy Director for Programs Jamie Lang, Exhibitions Director and Curator Matt Krousey, Exhibitions and Sales Gallery Assistant
2010 Northern Clay Center. All rights reserved.
Board of Directors Robert Walsh, Chair Peter Kirihara, Vice Chair Ellen Watters, Second Vice Chair Rick Scott, Treasurer Patricia Jacobsen, Secretary Lynne Alpert Daniel Avchen Philip Burke Sheldon Chester Linda Coffey Debra Cohen Noriko Gamblin Nancy Hanily-Dolan Sally Wheaton Hushcha Rebecca Lawrence Mark Lellman Bruce Lilly Alan Naylor Mark Pharis Jim Ridenour T Cody Turnquist
For information, write to Northern Clay Center, 2424 Franklin Avenue East, Minneapolis, MN 55406
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Manufactured in the United States First edition, 2010 ISBN: 978-1-932706-20-8
Honorary Members Andy Boss Kay Erickson Warren MacKenzie Joan Mondale
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ISBN 978-1-932706-20-8
9 781932 706208 >
SIX McKNIGHT ARTISTS An exhibition featuring new work by 2009 McKnight Fellowship recipients Ursula Hargens and Maren Kloppmann; 2008 Residency recipients Yoko Sekino-Bové, Ilena Finocchi, and Elizabeth Smith; and 2009 Residency recipient Cary Esser
NORTHERN | CLAY | CENTER 2424 FRANKLIN AVENUE EAST MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55406 WWW.NORTHERNCLAYCENTER.ORG