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My‡hology Meets Arche‡ype March 14 – April 27, 2014 Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN Christie Brown Michelle Erickson Kelly Garrett Rathbone Bonnie Marie Smith Vipoo Srivilasa
Curated by Heather Nameth Bren Essay by Heather Nameth Bren Edited by Elizabeth Coleman
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Š 2014 Northern Clay Center. All rights reserved. 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. For information, write to Northern Clay Center, 2424 Franklin Avenue East, Minneapolis, MN 55406. www.northernclaycenter.org Manufactured in the United States First edition, 2014 International Standard Book Number 978-1-932706-30-5 Unless otherwise noted, all dimensions: height precedes width precedes depth.
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Foreword Sarah Millfelt, Director
A regular visitor to Northern Clay Center’s exhibition galleries or its website can expect to see examples of clay art from the full spectrum of historical and contemporary ceramics. In a single year, one can view work by emerging young potters and sculptors; work that explores the four elements each through a unique lens — including raw material installation, sculpture, and digitally rendered pots and prototyping; figurative ceramics inspired by stories and fables; pots meant to have a place at your dining room table; and other pots created and decorated by the hands of multiple artists. In short, our exhibitions challenge the viewer’s assumptions about the limits of the material and its possibilities. We do so again with Mythology Meets Archetype, an exhibition that was the brainchild of Heather Nameth Bren, member of NCC’s exhibitions committee, professor, and ceramic artist. Through the pairing of five clay artists who are new to NCC — Christie Brown, Michelle Erickson, Kelly Rathbone, Bonnie Marie Smith, and Vipoo Srivilasa — Mythology responds to the personal, cultural, and religious myths that have grown out of the
desire to know the unknowable. The exhibition, while celebrating a topic of which all of us has some knowledge — whether from early school exposure to the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, or through our own cultural folklore and myths — allows the viewer to explore what Bren calls the “marriage of form and sacred narrative” evident in the works of these ceramic artists, through their acts of making and their subject matter. In addition to the actual exhibition, the idea and the artists were celebrated through some related activities with NCC’s community, local college and university students, local artists, and the community in general. Prior to the exhibition opening, participating artist Vipoo Srivilasa conducted a series of handson workshops with third graders from North Park Elementary School, in the Columbia Heights School District; students from Luxton Park, Minneapolis; and residents from Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Assisted Living Units, Onamia, Minnesota. During these workshops, participants explored their own childhood or culturally significant, mythical water creatures. Participants created their own water creatures in clay, which have been included in the
exhibition. Additionally, participating artist Bonnie Marie Smith traveled to the Clay Center for the opening reception and a conversation with Srivilasa and Bren. These particular activities, and the exhibition in general, were made possible through support from many individuals and institutions. Thank you to the Windgate Charitable Foundation, Continental Clay Company, and George Reid. Additionally, support is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, a grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Special thanks to Heather Nameth Bren and NCC’s other exhibitions committee members: Kelly Connole, Ursula Hargens, Mark Pharis, and Robert Silberman. Finally, thank you to Michael Arnold, NCC’s exhibitions manager, and to Jamie Lang, who worked in collaboration with Michael on this particular exhibition.
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My‡hology Meets Arche‡ype
Contemporary Mythologies by Heather Nameth Bren
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“Myth is about the unknown; it is about that for which initially we have no words.” —Karen Armstrong1
Mythology is an example of one of the earliestknown, human attempts to provide answers to life’s mysteries of purpose and origin. A curious construct, this sacred narrative employs imagined explanations that extend beyond the physical world to that which is unknowable. Stemming back thousands of years and across vastly different cultures, even the most primitive human had a sense of how to explain the seemingly abstract with narratives that linked to ritualistic images and objects, providing tangible form to the intangible. Any survey of the history of art will provide examples of such mystical and myth-holding objects. Take, for example, the fetishistic Venus figurines, most notably, the Venus of Willendorf, although there were many others. These ancient Venus figures, found in various locations across the continent of Europe, had striking similarities in size and form: most are small, hand-held female figures with oversized breasts, abdomen, buttocks, and vulva, with suppressed representations of hands, feet, and facial features. These figures have no obvious functional purpose and have been surmised to have had ritual significance related to survival and reproductive success. The consistently exaggerated
features — and simultaneously consistent lack of features — provide meaning, language, and insight into the values of the groups of people who produced them. Long before the written word existed, objects and images provided language and form for beliefs and values. Likewise, long after civilizations are gone, humankind is left with objects and images that have recorded more than historical events. These ritualistic artifacts provide decipherable iconography and insight into how various people understood and categorized the world. Additionally, ritualistic images and objects possess a significant physical connection to the ethereal world. Because of the history of the image/object and its ability to transcend language through the use of archetypal figures and forms, an undeniable connection remains between the ritual, sacred object and its myth. The objects serve as vehicles for understanding culturally specific myths from generation to generation and beyond. Artist Michelle Erickson begins her creative process, like many of the artists in this exhibition, with research. Erickson explores both forms and processes for the purpose of discovery:
Opposite page: gallery view, facing west
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Karen Armstrong, A Short History of Myth (New York: Cannongate, 2006), 4.
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Very little was known about how these things were made — so I learned to read the artifacts and began to decipher the clues they contained ... to develop a direct physical ‘dialogue’ with each object, whether a rare museum piece of delft or a fragment of the earliest colonial American earthenware chamber pot.2
Michelle Erickson, Devon Cradle, 2013, lead glaze, wood-fired earthenware, each approximately 6.5 x 5 x 7.5".
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Michelle Erickson as quoted in Eleanor H. Gustafson, “The Present Learns from the Past,” The Magazine ANTIQUES, September 2009, accessed 14 February 2014, http://www.themagazineantiques.com /articles/the-present-learns-from-the-past-eight -contemporary-artists-and-the-shelburne-museum/5/
Erickson has developed an interesting role as a surrogate by reproducing historical styles and techniques. This unique approach to creating is akin to learning a long-forgotten, ancient language. And in fact, this is exactly what Erickson is doing. She links herself to lost languages through a sincerity to process, materials, and form. Looking to the past is not where Erickson’s work ends; she is not a reproduction specialist. Well, maybe she is, but she is also an artist. Using the process of reproduction to unlock language, Erickson then plays. Archaic language and form collide with her critique of contemporary social constructs. Iconic images and styles find their way to her forms, depicting attributes worth celebrating and condemning. She both reveals and refabricates ancient narratives through a contemporary lens. The artists in Mythology Meets Archetype explore this physical marriage of form and sacred narrative. The connection of the handmade object with that which is sacred provides for collaboration with the divine.
This practice empowers the contemporary artist to communicate with the abstract and the unknowable in a way similar to how and why ancient humans created. The universal human experience is shared in the making process — shared materials, shared processes, shared imagery — linking contemporary artists to ancient makers in the pursuit of creating meaning. After all, the unknowable is no less unknown when there is a physical icon used to define the intangible. Thus, created within the mythical explanations of universe, is the archetype, the ideal form, the exemplar. Within the formula of any worthy myth exists a recurring cast of characters: the mother figure, the father figure, the evil one, the innocent, the guilty, the savior, and of course, the rulers and the gods. These characters act out idyllic narratives to lessthan-ideal human struggles. All of life’s complexities are spelled out in ways that pacify human hardship in security; knowing that there is at least a formula provides hope. The struggle, the transformation, the journey, the origin, the hope, the despair are explained so that we can stop looking and continue living. But myths do more than just pacify; mythologies serve to support the religious tenets, to support/reflect the values of the civilization, and to communicate moral lessons. Stories were fabricated, employing allegory, personification, historical events, natural phenomenon, and/or explanation of
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ritual.3 Ultimately these myths functioned in a multitude of ways: to explain the complexities of interfacing with other humans and various power structures, to understand and reinforce religious ritual, to interpret the cause for natural disasters and occurrences. In addition to these functions, many narratives illustrated interpersonal and psychological conditions before there was such a formalized study called psychology. This is not to say that the ancient humans did not observe and study human behavior; they certainly did. Think about the ancient Grecian story of Narcissus, an illustration of the folly of an unchecked, self-loving youth who drowns in the beauty of his own reflection. From this, the psychological condition of sociopathic narcissism has been derived. Many direct connections, like the aforementioned Narcissus case, link ancient myths to contemporarily identified psychological conditions. This may explain the strong interest early psychologists had with ancient myths. Both Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung had extensive fascination with and study related to ancient cultures and their related mythologies. Freud developed the psychoanalytic theory, the Oedipus complex — a theory of an unconscious and repressed sexual desire of a child for a parent of the opposite gender — as an underlying condition for contextualizing the subconscious thought process. As one would expect, Freud coined this phrase from the
ancient Greek character, Oedipus, who killed his father and married his mother. Additionally, Jung created the concepts of archetype and collective unconscious that grew out of his study of religion, anthropology, archeology, philosophy, and religion. Jung observed repeating characters called archetypes in repeating stories throughout human history. He credits this recurring pattern to the collective unconscious, which explains how beings of the same species organize similar experiences. Fittingly, Freud himself has, in a way, become a modern mythological creature. His work and life have been analyzed, studied, and enshrined because of the innovative approach to psychotherapy and psychology that he promoted. Movies, books, plays, and even YouTube videos like Ze Frank’s ‘Song For Freud’4 have been created in honor of him. Some of these Freud-inspired contemporary works seriously explore Freud’s life and career. One such example of this is Mark St. Germain’s two-man play, Freud’s Last Session, where the playwright explores, “god, war, suffering and sex,”5 through imagined dialogue between a young C.S. Lewis and Dr. Freud. Other productions humorously celebrate the legend of Freud. The character, Phoebe, from the NBC sitcom, FRIENDS, sums up the legendary status of Freud as she anticipates the viewing of co-character Joey Tribbiani’s new musical, “Freud!” with, “The exclamation point in the title scares me. You know, it’s not just Freud, it’s Freud!”6
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Armstrong, A Short History, 5 – 6.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/03 /ze-frank-song-for-freud_n_3542664.html
5 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/theater /reviews/23freud.html 6 http://www.friends-tv.org/zz106.html
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It is no wonder that Freud has been so many times removed from the sum of his parts as a living, breathing human. He simultaneously pursued saving the masses with psychological explanations for some of life’s greatest questions, while he crucified them with the exploitation of taboo sexual desire. Providing a brand of salvation with his psychoanalysis and related theories, he validated his brand of salvation through the employment of historically iconic mythological figures. Freud’s massive collection of historical cultural icons, now housed in the Freud Museum, London Antiquities Collection, make clear his fascination with mythology: The collection itself reflects the taste of someone more concerned to accumulate objects with meaning for him than to acquire items, which would be impressive to a small band of fellow collectors. By 1939, Freud had amassed over 2000 objects and the collection encompassed items from the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, Rome and China.7
7 http://www.freud.org.uk/about/collections /antiquities/ 8
http://www.ceramics-in-the-expanded-field.com /the-research
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Christie Brown Lecture. “Ceramics in the Expanded Field,” 21 March 2013, NCECA, personal notes.
Freud lived and worked within his collection, as his objects and prints filled his study and library. In the pursuit of a project called “Ceramics in the Expanded Field,” British artist, Christie Brown, has engaged non-traditional art exhibition venues for the purpose of critically investigating “the relationship between
contemporary ceramics and museum culture,” re-contextualizing contemporary artwork, animating museum collections, and engaging new audiences.8 One such example of this collaboration with nontraditional venues is Brown’s 2013 exhibition, DreamWork at the Freud Museum in London.9 In this site-specific installation, Brown’s ethereal, figurative sculpture addresses the nature and significance of meaning that drove Freud to collect diverse anthropological artifacts of various ancient cultures. Referencing specific research in which Freud explores dreams as indicators of the unconscious mind, Brown re-creates a dream-like experience for the viewer. Her ceramic figures retain cultural references and recognition of form, while they simultaneously elude specific physical definers. This ambiguity allows for a loose and fleeting, yet, almost definable narrative as the intentionally forward-facing figures confront the viewer with a hollow gaze. The significance of employing Freud’s tactics of psychoanalysis on Freud’s collection of objects is not lost on Brown. A sincere interpretation of Freud’s physical possessions, Brown’s work acts as an imagined dream record, providing insight into the unconscious mind of Freud. Much like Freud lived among his obsessive collection of seemingly incongruous icons, we now live in a homogenized culture of diverse beliefs and the relevance of myths in popular culture has become largely overlooked. Current thought includes belief
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in all possible mythologies and belief in none. This diversity provides opportunity for artists, like no other time in human history, through access and appropriation. Artists, like Kelly Garrett Rathbone, borrow from their own varied ethnic and spiritual heritage, as well as a myriad of cultural immersions. Having lived in Singapore, Indonesia, Norway, Italy, and the United States, Rathbone finds an affinity with mixing various culturally specific icons to construct identity and meaning.10 Employing an amalgam of archetypes, while comparing the narratives from various cultures, Rathbone constructs a trans-cultural personal mythology. In the piece, Metempsychosis, Rathbone explores the concept of both physical and non-physical rebirth. Metempsychosis is described in Encyclopedia Britannica as: In many local religions, belief in multiple souls is common. The soul is frequently viewed as capable of leaving the body through the mouth or the nostrils and of being reborn, for example, as a bird, a butterfly, or an insect. The Venda of southern Africa believe that, when a person dies, the soul stays near the grave for a short time and then seeks a new resting place or another body — human, mammalian, or reptilian.11 In Lost Mariposas (translated from Spanish as, “Lost Butterfly”), a recent body of work
in which Metempsychosis was produced, Rathbone acknowledges a disconnect with the tradition of a cultural narrative describing the new admixture as “Lost.” Weaving various archetypal forms, Rathbone combines symbols that defy traditional religion and thousands of years of cultural narrative and iconography. In doing so, she fabricates new narratives, based upon intuition, that serve to connect personal identity and spiritualism.12 With the rise of science and psychology during the 20th century, mythology is no longer required to explain humankind in its present existence and the origin of our universe. Science — rather than religious constructs — now serves as the agent of comprehension, classification, and explanation. Rather than relying on mythology to provide explanation for the “intangible,” the contemporary pursuit of mythologically inspired narratives have grown out of the exploration of the self. These stories are generally specific to an individual, yet ring true in the universal human experience and/or collective unconscious. Artist Bonnie Marie Smith reveals the connection to the unconscious and the archetype, finding inspiration in dreams and symbols. Smith states, “My work is inspired and informed by myth, dreams, and symbols. Most often I explore in my art themes of home, childhood, loss, nature, and the feminine experience.” Artists like Smith reflect on these stories and the cast of archetypes, and add
Bonnie Marie Smith, Pandora’s Boxes (detail), Goddess, 2014, ceramic, wood, found objects, 13 x 7 x 6".
10 http://kellyrathbone.com/artist-info 11 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked /topic/496541/reincarnation 12 http://eutecticgallery.com/kelly-garrett-rathbone -archive/
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Sarah Millfelt, “Re: Residency at Northern Clay Center,” email to Christopher Singewald, Mike Arnold, and Heather Nameth Bren. November 18, 2013.
to the narrative by defining their own. Artists seek to know, exploring the narratives and archetypes for answers, combing through the mythologies themselves for some previously undiscovered thought. For the purpose of better understanding of the self and the world we live in, the artist has liberty in mixing mythologies and deconstructing archetypes, in the effort of self-discovery. Like the artist, contemporary culture can learn from these ancient lessons. First, looking back through a contemporary lens at the psychology observed in ancient narratives, engaging both reflective and deconstructive techniques, we may develop additional insights into the human psyche. Also, following the practice and models of mythology, contemporary myths, inspired from the personal narrative, can reveal universal truths. Looking at myths that have survived the scientific revolution may provide insight into contemporary thinking and values. In fact, Thai-born Australian artist, Vipoo Srivilasa, researches mythologies that have evolved from various people, by looking at the remaining remnants of mythologies. As a cultural transplant himself, Srivilasa pieces together the fragments of lingering stories — which are often abstracted and misshapen from the original source — in order to approximate cultural identity. He often invites various sub-cultures of non-indigenous groups to engage in an identified project. The project designed for the Northern Clay
Center involves the Twin Cities’ “East African immigrant, and Minneapolis’s rich mix of communities. [Srivilasa’s] workshops center around a particular population’s childhood or cultural background, and the role the mythical water creature plays in [their] childhood and background.”13 Within the discovery of commonality and abstraction of evolved culturally specific narratives, a new dialogue emerges, simultaneously reinforcing and distancing our connection to our ancestors and the human experience. Similarly, the artists selected for the exhibition, Mythology Meets Archetype, approach the concept of mythology and archetypal forms with diversity, yet all of the artists seem to be part of the same cloth. And indeed, they are linked. They are linked in the pursuit of deciphering the universe, humanity, and the condition of existence as a portal for meaning and identity through the exploration of the self.
Opposite page: gallery view, facing east
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Christie Brown
Pschoanalytic theory and a deep interest in the workings of the unconscious mind has informed my figurative sculpture throughout my career. In 2012 I made Sleepover, an installation of 23 figures installed in Sigmund Freud’s bedroom at The Freud Museum in London. The four characters to be shown in the exhibition Mythology Meets Archetype were part of this group and are loosely based on Freud’s large collection of archaic figurines. He likened his analytic theories to the practice of archaeology, where layers are carefully stripped away to reveal truth or knowledge. And his collection informed his use of this metaphor as a way of presenting his ideas about psychoanalysis to a skeptical public. Building on his association with Freud’s theories, Carl Jung developed the concept of the archetype, an idea that inspired an earlier body of my work entitled The Cast of Characters (1995–6), a group of figures that reflected certain shared aspects of humanity and suggested the existence of a collective unconscious. This interest in the inner mind, and especially Jung’s ideas about the significance of mythology and legends which demonstrate
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connections between different peoples, has inevitably been complemented by a love of archaic collections and ancient objects of ritual, and the rich imagery offered through the mimetic world of toys, dolls, and narratives associated with uncanny representations of the human figure. The characters in this exhibition at the Northern Clay Center were further inspired by ideas from Freud’s dream work theories, as well as the importance of objects in human lives and how we project emotions onto them. Drawing parallels between falling asleep and leaving the museum or studio, the work suggests that inanimate objects come to life when we are not looking. They have a life of their own, which becomes animated in ways that are beyond our control, like dreams.
Christie Brown, Sleepover, 2012, ceramic. Pictured left to right: Hybrid, 34 x 9 x 10", Mercury, 31 x 10 x 8", Etruscan Youth, 34 x 11 x 9", Etruscan Man, 35 x 15 x 7", Goddess, 32 x 11 x 8".
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Bonnie Marie Smith
Making art is part of a healing and discovery process for me. In my work I am exploring the materials, and I am exploring myself. In life and in art, I am drawn to small and intimate things, to the strange, the wounded, the outcast, the mystical and mysterious, the hidden parts and pieces. I started out in art with drawing and painting, but I work primarily in ceramics now because I fell in love with clay, its feeling, and its vast potential. It is very meaningful to me to be working with the body of the earth itself, and I consider myself in partnership with her in all that I make. Creating with clay is for me much like a conversation. I touch the clay, and then look and listen, watching for the expression that comes through the clay. The clay itself informs and inspires me and I like to find the balance between expressing my own ideas and letting the nature and beauty of the materials shine through. My ceramic figurines explore most often themes of nature, childhood, home, loss, and the feminine experience. Inspirations for my figures
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come from things I see in dream state or catch out of the corner of my eye, from fairy tales and myths, from nature, or my collection of old and tiny toys. These creations are deeply personal, and yet the figures seldom depict specific people or events. Rather, they are meant to speak to universal human experience or to depict fantastical worlds and interior happenings. In my sculptures, I work intuitively to reveal something of the inner world of each figure.
Bonnie Marie Smith, Pandora’s Boxes, 2011 – 2014, ceramic, mixed media, dimensions vary.
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Kelly Garrett Rathbone
I create surreal documentations of my life, thoughts, and feelings that make up a personal “cabinet of curiosities.� I strive to bridge the classical and historic European aesthetic with a modern sensibility that is reflective of my own cultural upbringing and experiences. My goal is to create sculpture that is interesting, beautiful, and provokes more questions, rather than give answers. Growing up internationally, studying classical sculpture in Italy, and most recently, returning from a ceramic residency in China, has all led up to a body of work with colliding cultures and duel-meanings. I not only explore recognizable iconography and culture references, I also like to mesh the traditional old-world techniques with those of my own.
My‥hology Meets Arche‥ype
Kelly Garrett Rathbone, Metempsicosis, 2013, ceramic, glaze, luster, 31 x 33 x 20".
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Michelle Erickson
My career-long fascination with ceramic history during the period of Western exploration, expansion, and dominion began with exposure to archeological ceramics in the “colonial triangle” of Virginia. Fragments of British, European, Asian, and Native American pottery unearthed in early colonial excavations embody a remarkable global convergence of cultures in clay. My practice in the rediscovery of lost ceramic techniques, and the context of this history, define my approach as a contemporary artist. I use the depth of history through the art of making to draw parallels through time, such as the 18th century Staffordshire pottery industry and global design giant Nike, Wedgwood’s abolitionist ceramics and 21st fossils as prescient to our perilous addiction to fossil fuels. I make objects of the past from an imagined future in the present.
My‥hology Meets Arche‥ype
Michelle Erickson, Medicinal Virtues, 2005, tin glazed stoneware with overglaze decoration, each 11 x 4 x 4".
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Vipoo Srivilasa
My development as a professional artist began when I moved from Thailand to Australia in 1997. Now working and living in Melbourne, I work predominantly in ceramics, but also produce animation, works on paper, and mixed media sculptures. Much of my recent work has been concerned with the ideas of contemporary social, political, and ethical issues. My work comes out of my experience living between two homes, Australia and Thailand, and is informed by my passion for historical ceramic production. In addition to exhibiting my work, I am actively involved in cultural exchange projects aimed at creating opportunities for contacts between ceramicists internationally. As a result, in 2012, I was elected a member of the International Academy of Ceramics, the foremost organization representing the interests of ceramicists worldwide. Last year, I was offered the opportunity to lead a month of South East Asian artists’ residency at Medalta International Artists in Residence, Canada. I was also invited to Arita City, a porcelain town in Japan, to help create international projects as part of the town’s 400th anniversary celebrations in 2016.
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I am currently working on a mentoring camp project between Australian and Korean ceramic artists at Clay Art Museum, Korea, as well as a co-curating an exhibition between The Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, and The Art Center, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, in 2015.
Vipoo Srivilasa, Water Spirits, 2014, ceramic, underglaze, glass, pebbles, water, dimensions vary.
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Artist Biographies
Christie Brown is an artist and Professor of Ceramics at the University of Westminster where she supervises research students within the Ceramics Research Centre (CRC-UK) and is Principal Investigator of an AHRC-funded project, Ceramics in the Expanded Field. The broadening agendas and interdisciplinary dialogues within contemporary ceramics are the main focus of the CRC-UK. The reexamination of the discipline through history and new approaches to presentation — such as installation and intervention — are key areas of research interest. Brown graduated from Manchester University with a BA in general arts, and from Harrow School of Art with a Higher Diploma in studio ceramics, and she has worked as a ceramic artist from her north London studio since 1982. She has exhibited her ceramic sculpture widely in the UK and abroad and her work is in several private and public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, UK, and the Mint Museum, USA.
Michelle Erickson is a graduate of The College of William and Mary with a BFA in fine and performing arts. Erickson produces contemporary work and has also, for over twenty years, worked with 17th- and 18thcentury reproduction pottery. Her exquisite recreations and contemporary pieces have won critical acclaim internationally and have been featured in many national and international publications. She reproduces ceramics from archeological and acquired collections for organizations such as Colonial Williamsburg, the National Park Service, the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Parks Canada, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Historic Deerfield. She has lectured and demonstrated her work widely for scholarly groups and institutions that include Williamsburg’s Antiques Forum, Winterthur Collectors Circle, Sotheby’s learning weekends, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the St Louis Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the British Museum, and the Potteries Museums at Stoke on Trent.
Kelly Garrett Rathbone was born in Singapore and has called Indonesia, Norway, and Italy her home outside of the US. She studied at Parsons School of Design, The Art Institute of Chicago, Penland School of Crafts, and The Florence Academy of Art. She began working with clay as an apprentice for sculptor Cristina Cordova. Rathbone has been awarded ceramic residencies at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, the Archie Bray Foundation, and the Da Wang Culture Highland in Shenzhen, China. She is currently an artist-inresidence at the LH Project in Oregon, and her work can be found in national and international collections. Rathbone’s recent exhibitions have included Lost Mariposas, Eutectic Gallery, Portland, OR; COVET, Ferrin Gallery, SOFA NY; Homegrown, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX; and Figurines, Santa Fe Clay, NM.
My‡hology Meets Arche‡ype
Bonnie Marie Smith was born in western New York State, and grew up on the family farm, where she spent her childhood in the woods and fields, developing a rich inner life, exploring and drawing everything around her. After taking a ceramics class in college, she fell in love with clay and developed a passion for making. She went on to graduate with a BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, NY. Since that time she has worked in the field of decorative painting, while continuing to develop her art through ceramics, collage, drawing, and painting. She currently resides in Kingston, NY. Her work has been included in exhibitions at such sites as the Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY; the Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT; Badcock’s Gallery, Cornwall, England; and Oo Gallery, Kingston, NY.
Vipoo Srivilasa, a Thai born, Melbourne, Australia-based artist, works predominantly in ceramics, exploring the cultures of his native home, Thailand, and his adoptive home, Australia. Srivilasa often works with communities when creating his large-scale installations. His work is a playful blend of historical, figurative, and decorative art practices with a healthy dose of contemporary culture. Srivilasa moved to Australia in 1997 to further his studies in ceramics and earn a Master of Fine Art and Design (ceramics) from the University of Tasmania. Since 1997, his work has been included in 23 solo exhibitions and numerous curated exhibitions. His work has been exhibited in major international institutes, including Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe; Saatchi Gallery, London; L’Alcora Ceramics Museum, Spain; Galerie Handwerk, Germany; Ayala Museum, Philippines; Yingge Ceramic Museum, Taiwan; Nanjing Arts Institute, China; Fine Arts Museum, Vietnam; National Art Gallery, Thailand. Srivilasa’s major installation, “Thai Na Town – Little Oz” was exhibited at The Art Center, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, in 2013.
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Northern Clay Center
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 and expand the public’s appreciation and understanding of the ceramic arts.
Board of Directors Ellen Watters, Chair Mark Lellman, Vice Chair Rick Scott, Treasurer/Secretary Lynne Alpert Robert Briscoe Philip Burke Craig Bishop Mary K. Baumann Linda Coffey Debra Cohen Nancy Hanily Dolan Bonita Hill, M.D. Sally Wheaton Hushcha Christopher Jozwiak Bruce Lilly Alan Naylor Mark Pharis T Cody Turnquist Robert Walsh
Director Sarah Millfelt Exhibitions Manager Michael Arnold Exhibitions Installer Jamie Lang
Honorary Members Kay Erickson Warren MacKenzie
Unless otherwise noted, all photographs by Peter Lee.
Director Emerita Emily Galusha
Design by Joseph D.R. OLeary, VetoDesign.com
2424 Franklin Avenue East Minneapolis, Minnesota 55406 612.339.8007 www.northernclaycenter.org