Northern Clay Center: Self-Contained

Northern Clay Center

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Northern Clay Center

] D F E L N I E S NTA sse, ada i s a N ndy uke Yam A , s s n de Men , and Ke y n n h y, Je underlic e n r o ael Cs Mars W h c i i ue, Merg, Jan g a l C Lisa k Weisb N lis, M Dere 012 eapo

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Theresa Downing

Multiplicities of Self in Clay ‘Who is the I who knows the bodily me, who has an image of myself and sense of identity over time, who knows that I have propriate strivings?’ I know all these things and, what is more, I know that I know them. But who is it who has this perspectival grasp? [...............] it is much easier to feel the self than to define the self.1 — Gordon W. Allport, Pattern and Growth in Personality

© 2012 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. http://www.northernclaycenter.org

A Note from the Director: This particular exhibition, the related workshops, and the catalogue were made possible through the generous support from several long-time donors.

These include the Windgate Charitable Foundation, Continental Clay Company, and George Reid and his late wife Francis. Additional support was provided by the arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the Legacy Amendment vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

Manufactured in the United States First edition, 2012 International Standard Book Number 978-1-932706-23-2 Unless otherwise noted, all dimensions: height precedes width precedes depth.

Thank you to Kelly Connole and Alfred Yeung for their collaboration on this publication. Additional thanks to NCC’s exhibitions committee and to Theresa Downing, Margeaux Claude, and Michael Arnold.

— Sarah Millfelt, Executive Director

Scientific studies reveal that humans — even in infancy — possess a hard-wired ability to discern a face within the arrangement of two dots and a horizontal line placed beneath.2 : | Not only do we associate this arrangement of marks with the face, but we also interpret specific feelings from them. Think of the difference between a straight line for the mouth versus an upward curving line or a downward curving one; each carries distinct sentiment. Given this specific innate response to such a simple visual stimulus, it is not surprising that we also respond to inanimate objects resembling the face with a wide range of visceral emotions. This response becomes all the more complex and nuanced when we are presented with artwork composed of human faces and full-length figures, which contain vastly more detail.

Self-[contained] features ceramic sculptures, vessels, and wall tiles, which evoke whimsy, mournfulness, and introspection through depictions of the human face or figure. Some of these works exaggerate the human form, thereby bringing private psychologies to the forefront. Others suggest a bodily transmutation into otherworldly chimeras, wherein animal traits intermix with and heighten our human senses and capabilities. For many viewers, an encounter with this artwork may set up a dialogue with or reflection of self: is there a part of me that is like this or that can relate to this?

The seven artists represented in this exhibition bring individual expressions of self to their ceramic work. Not strictly self-portraiture — some are, some are not — the works in Self-[contained] are based

on childhood memories, loss and longing, daily experience in contemporary life, or highly personal dramas. Though the artworks are specific to each artist’s associations with the vast interior space of the mind and outward expression in clay, the objects transmit a familiar sense of self to the viewer, a self that resonates on a universal level. As such, the artworks provide myriad entry points into an examination of interior being.

Recognizing our hard-wiring for facial recognition and our empathic response, and given the open-ended nature of the artists’ expressions of self, I think it is valuable to consider the artwork in this exhibition within the context of contemporary views of the self as multi-faceted. The English word “facet” has its origin in the French word facette, a diminutive of face and literally meaning “little face”.3 If we acknowledge that the self “may not be a single thing to be described,”4 but rather that it has many little faces, and that it is ever-changing, we can be more open to the possibilities for a human connection to these works of art.

In the 1990s, psychologist John Rowan suggested we think of the multi-faceted self as composed of “subpersonalities”.5 His theory of subpersonalities is useful for explaining those instances when we find ourselves behaving or thinking in ways that seem incongruous with our “typical” self. It is not uncommon to hear someone say, “I don’t know what got into me” or “I am of two minds on this issue.” We may also be conscious of the fact that sometimes we show a side of ourselves in public that varies from what we reveal

1. Gordon W. Allport, Pattern and Growth in Personality (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961), 128 and 137.

2. Scientists have conducted face recognition studies for several decades and are now using human face recognition findings to inform the design of computer systems for automated face recognition. See the following for a view into this fascinating research: Daphne Maurer and Maria Barrera, “Infants’ Perception of Natural and Distorted Arrangements of a Schematic Face,” Child Development 52, no. 1 (March 1981): 196-202. Pawan Sinha, Benjamin Balas, Yuri Ostrovsky, and Richard Russell, “Face Recognition by Humans: Nineteen Results All Computer Vision Researchers Should Know About,” Proceedings of the IEEE 94, no. 11 (November 2006), doi: 10.1109/ JPROC.2006.884093 (accessed June 24, 2012): 1948-1962.

3. Oxford Reference Online, “The Concise Oxford English Dictionary: facet | n. | : Oxford Reference Online,” http:// www.oxfordreference.com (accessed June 25, 2012).

4. Stanley B. Klein and Cynthia E. Gangi, “The multiplicity of self: neuropsychological evidence and its implications for the self as a construct in psychological research,” in “The Year in Cognitive Neuroscience.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1191 (2010), doi: 10.1111/j.17496632.2010.05441.x (accessed June 16, 2012): 2.

5. John Rowan, Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us (London and New York: Routledge, 1990), 8. Rowan’s theory of subpersonalities is not to be confused with multiple personalities, which is a highly dissociative disorder. For more information, see Rowan, 13.

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6. Rowan, 10.

7. Klein and Gangi, 1.

8. Klein and Gangi, 1.

9. Philip Cushman and Peter Gilford, “From Emptiness to Multiplicity: The Self at the Year 2000,” The Psychohistory Review 27, 2 (Winter 1999): 15-31.

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at home. Though it might be tempting to think of Rowan’s subpersonalities as homunculi, little people with distinct attitudes who battle within us for dominance at any given moment, Rowan clarifies this notion by explaining that subpersonalities “are in fact moments in a process of change and development which is lifelong.”6 Like a full spectrum, the self contains myriad subtle colors, or subpersonalities, that are unique yet integrated; the self is never exactly one definable thing at any given moment.

Akin to Rowan’s theory of subpersonalities, psychologists Stanley B. Klein and Cynthia E. Gangi view the self as one of multiplicities, or “a set of interrelated, functionally independent systems,” which comprise memory and states of being.7 They recognize that it is no longer possible to describe the self as “a single unified entity,” as professionals in the field formerly regarded it.8 In their view, multiplicities of self are tied up in the self of the past, the self of the present, and the future self.

Just as we experience transient moods and altering states of memory, our consciousness of self is in flux, changing from moment to moment and from year to year.

In analyzing the concept of the multiplicity of self, some researchers warn that a stable self with a singular subjectivity is no longer a viable state of being in twenty first-century culture. Philip Cushman and Peter Gilford argue that our environment is one in which the “valorization of speed, efficiency and productivity” are paramount.9 They suggest a deep sense of self is morphing into a more exteriorfocused multiplicity of self as a coping mechanism against a rapid-paced society with the consumerbased goals of gain and accumulation. Today, we are expected to quickly change our pace and tasks, and, therefore, our state of mind in order to remain competitive, but to what end? Cushman and Gilford assert that this state of multiplicities increasingly sacrifices our ability to develop a significant inner life, making it difficult to attain happiness and satisfaction.

Whether reflective of subpersonalities or multiplicities of self, the artwork in Self-[contained] affords the opportunity to ponder how the self exists within us and how it is contained — or not — by our expressions and our actions. Through a mental dialogue with the work, we can explore how the self exemplifies an inner spectrum influenced by external forces and circumstances. Opening up the possibilities of narrative through their human connection, these artworks tap into our internal selfperception and external projections of self. What our sense of self becomes, how we know or imagine the self, can be viewed in different aspects of self manifested in the artwork.

In several of her wall tiles, Jenny Mendes illustrates the self-extended. For example, she depicts the self of a little girl connected by invisible threads to her beloved deceased pet deep underground. In another tile, Mendes portrays the boundaries of the self-extended far beyond the bodies of two girls as they float protected inside a large encompassing bubble. While Mendes touches upon superhuman powers, Derek Weisberg reminds us of the very human emotions associated with the self-extended. His sculptures, some with blocky, tombstone-like bodies, make raw the process and journey of grieving the loss of a loved one.

Weisberg’s vessels resonate by turns with the rollercoaster ride of feelings following a death: extreme anguish, vividly happy memories, and utter abandonment.

In different ways, Michael Corney and Andy Nasisse bring us the self-identified. Corney emblazons his figural vessels with symbols of the many facets of self: happy faces, bundles of dynamite, and crying babies reflect the varying states of one’s emotions. The viewer can easily resonate with Corney’s imagery and find aspects of their own humanness in these graphic monikers.

With his double-faced sculptures, Nasisse’s work embodies the idea of being of two minds at once.

Nasisse decorates his large-squat or tall-thin heads with contrasting identities. In examining an

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indifferent expression on one side of the head and a devious looking visage on the other side, the viewer feels that they have become part of a secret about this distinct and yet multiple self.

Kensuke Yamada’s sculpture Yellow Line represents the self-transcended. When viewed as a landscape of presence, it seems to impart yesterday, today, and tomorrow with its central horizon. We glance above, below, and at that distant intangible place where earth and sky meet, to our minds existing within our perception and still much greater than the self.

We find the self-imagined in the work of Lisa Clague and Janet Mars Wunderlich. Through Clague’s mythical and futuristic busts, she shares with us what it is to be at once human and animal.

With surface areas cracked and scored, silken smooth, or encrusted like mud on coarsely woven cloth, Clague’s figures are visceral to the eye and the mind. Wunderlich similarly discloses an imaginary world, though one of an over-extended but contented mother. In Baby Teeth Bust, a woman’s hair is composed of miniature swirling children and animals who simultaneously enliven and tap the mother’s energy. Upon close inspection, it is apparent that even the woman’s teeth are actually tiny meticulously rendered babies writhing within her full, parted lips.

Having discussed potential psychological connections to the visual properties of the artwork in Self-[contained], it is important to note how the physical connotation of clay as a medium reflects the human body, an integral aspect of the self. Within our sense of self, the mental and the physical are inextricably commingled. Like the self, the “bodily me”10 presents an ever-changing constant, which facilitates our varying perception of being. The corporeality of clay, its tangible solidity, and its earthly source are reflective of the physical self. Unlike figural work in other media, the reference to the earth as body in ceramics inheres in its very material. Artists who work in clay often speak of the clay body, perhaps without immediate

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consciousness of what their words convey.

Nonetheless, the material itself is a subtle reminder that both it and we are earthen, unique, and also united in a meta-body.

Imaginative, yet grounded in the reality of emotion, the artwork in Self-[contained] gestures toward the physical body we inhabit and the consciousness within which we exist. Whether we approach these artists’ works as a reflection of their private imaginations or begin to entertain them as reflective of thoughts and feelings we may have experienced, the tangible emotion evident in the pieces invites us to look deeper, to listen to the inner dialogues they portray externally. These works in clay exist as viable reflections of culture in the twenty-first century. They also tap into timeless aspects of human experience, our secrets, our desires, our imaginings, our subconscious layers of self. The artworks bring the peripheries of sentient experience into full view, even if they are not clearly defined. They call attention to the endless forms clay can take as well as the endless facets of self.

Indeed, we are reminded of our ability to mold our polymorphous self and to be molded.

10. Gordon W. Allport, Pattern and Growth in Personality (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961), 128.

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Lisa Clague

By Kelly Connole 1. Lisa Clague, “Lisa Clague Sculptor: Artist Statement,” Lisa Clague, http:// www.lisaclague.net/artist_statement. htm (accessed May 20, 2012).

2. Ibid.

Lisa Clague brings to life the stuff of dreams.

In each of the three works in this exhibition, Clague gracefully celebrates elaborate selves — conglomerated beings with multiple heads, masked identities, and discerning glances. “My work evokes a place between the subconscious and the intangible. My masked figures are hybrid creatures, mistresses of ambiguity and disguise, of seduction and deception.”1

Clague’s incredible facility with materials expresses itself in each of her works. The coldness of raw clay and metal contrast delicately ornamented surfaces. Fine lines, both inscribed and sitting on top of the clay, trace the folds and describe the features of her characters. These rich treatments, at times covered in a thin coat of wax or a heavily textured glaze, bring a visceral quality to the work that defines her unique expression. Though influenced by small works such as “Great Mother” figurines from the Neolithic period and bird-headed Egyptian goddesses, the scale of her works in Self [contained] is noteworthy. Each of the heads in the exhibition is nearly life-size, creating a dynamic relationship between the object and the viewer.

Peering into the eyes of Clague’s figures is like looking into a mirror and seeing deep into your own self.

The triplets comprising Delirium lend reference to the three mystic apes embodying the proverbial principle to see, hear, and speak no evil. Clague’s figures, however, are engaged in a dialogue quite their own. While conjoined at the base, this trio possesses three unique identities, each perhaps an individual segment of one complete self — unmasked, true, and vulnerable. The piercing golden eyes of a rabbit-creature and the equally sharp beak of a cloaked bird create bookends on either side of a contemplative central figure. Dressed in a beanie, this androgynous figure peacefully stares into a place beyond the gallery, beyond any comprehensible destination, and into the deepest depths of self. Perched upon a set of wheels, Delirium appears as though it is halted temporarily, allowing us to catch a glimpse of this new reality, before it slips off into the space “between what is dreamt and what is lived, what is remembered and what is to come.”2

Delirium, 2012 23 x 20 x 10” clay, wood, and metal

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Michael Corney

By Theresa Downing 1. Michael Corney, interview by Theresa Downing, Minneapolis, MN, May 10, 2012.

2. Darwin Awards, “Darwin Awards,” Darwin Awards, http://www. darwinawards.com/darwin/ (accessed June 4, 2012).

Though Michael Corney’s Skull cups are reminiscent of skull forms, they are not completely skeletal. The hollows of the eyes and simple concave voids for nostrils suggest a skull, but these characters have skin. We can observe furrowed brows, upturned noses, rosy cheeks, and razor stubble. They grin and grimace, or look completely stunned. Are we to view these selves as living or dead, or both? Studying these forms, one may be reminded of the Mexican festival, Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

During this celebration, small, decorated skeletons are often depicted in vignettes as if participating in the activities of the living, working and partying, even though they are only bones.

According to Corney, the real subject of his Skull cups is emblazoned on the reverse.1 Here we find health-related symbols like disembodied human hearts and lungs, or markers of excess like wads of cash and jugs of moonshine. Like a fortune-teller, the symbols seem to key us into the individual’s identity and forecast their death — Will this person die of a heart attack or heartache? Will they perish from excessive drinking? Or, like the infamous Darwin Awards, an organization that pronounces distinction for death by reasons of human stupidity, some of the emblems on the back of Corney’s cups make the viewer ponder the light bulb “good idea”, which may be the cause of one (last) silly smile.2

Whether on his multi-sided boxes or on small shot glasses entitled Tattooed Man cups, Corney’s drawings present a narrative through an economy of images. He first sketches on the blank bisque clay forms and then carefully overpaints and shades with glazes to achieve the final image. When viewing these works, it is difficult to know whether we should be horrified by or just enjoy them. While drinking out of the head of another human being would be a vile act, the brightly colored interiors dispel much of the macabre content. Corney’s subjects lampoon human nature and playfully remind us that to err and die are human.

Skull cup (purple interior, heart), 2012 5¼ x 4 x 4” porcelain oxidation fired to cone 10 with ceramic stains, underglaze, and glaze

Skull cup (blue interior, XXX jug), 2012 5¾ x 3¾ x 3½” porcelain oxidation fired to cone 10 with ceramic stains, underglaze, and glaze

Skull cup (red interior, light bulb), 2012 5¼ x 3½ x 3½” porcelain oxidation fired to cone 10 with ceramic stains, underglaze, and glaze

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Jenny Mendes

By Kelly Connole 1. Jenny Mendes, “Jenny Mendes: Biography – Artist Statement,” Jenny Mendes, http://www.jennymendes.com/ Bio/BioArtState.htm (accessed May 18, 2012).

For Jenny Mendes, painting and drawing on clay provides an entry into her subconscious self. “I create a structure that I overlay with painted patterns of emotional experience, sensory based memories, cellular formations, and other discoveries. Working within a human/animal narrative, I engage in a dialogue that witnesses and reflects an invitation into my world.” In revealing her most inner self, Mendes allows her tales to unfold into visually rich pieces that speak to the shared experience of being human. Her figures express delight as they play in magical environments composed of elegant floral designs, infinite space, and the brilliance of light.

In this exhibition, Mendes presents a wide range of colorful objects, including small figurative cups that serve as delightful counterparts to those by fellow artist Michael Corney. In addition, pillowlike wall pieces depict scenes of wonderment as figures float through boundless backdrops.

Through her masterful hand, Mendes’ singular style transcends form.

2571 Ashurst Road, a wall-tile triptych, captures Mendes’ unique narrative structure in the reduced palette of black and white. Through ethereal lines and shadows, Mendes discloses a coming of age tale of two girls, a boy, and an experience. Without diminishing the work to a simple anecdote, Mendes provides visual cues to spark memories of the poignant moments in life when innocence is lost.

As the young girls in the triptych move from left to right, they encounter the nakedness of another soul. The boy, though uncovered from the waist down, is not menacing in any way — he, too, is a fractured and unprotected self. The interaction of the three characters in this tale happens outside the frame of tile segments — perhaps inviting the viewer to reflect upon their own experiences within the periphery of the narrative. The girls emerge on the right as more mature, beings with a newfound confidence. As they mature their path becomes unstable, the house behind them in the distance fades, and their world is forever changed.

2571 Ashurst Road, 2010 14¾ x 40½ x 2¾” earthenware fired to cone 03 with underglaze

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Andy Nasisse

By Kelly Connole 1. Andy Nasisse, “Andy Nasisse Ceramic Art: Artist Statement,” Andy Nasisse, http://www.andynasisse.com/html/ index.php?cat=15 (accessed May 16, 2012).

Andy Nasisse writes of his interest in “the tension between opposites; between light and dark; male and female; between expansion and contraction; good and evil; organic and geometric; ration and intuition; mind and body; night and day; between our conscious lives and our subconscious self; between matter and spirit.”1 Included in this exhibition are a series of Nasisse’s larger-than-life sized sculptural portraits, whose countenances straddle a thin line between friendly and frightening. They are caricatures, exaggerations of beings both familiar and foreign. His technique combines a raw improvisational feel with intricate crackled surfaces. Color, both muted and vivid, appears to come from a place beneath the wet, reflective glazed surface, while fissures in the glaze, redefined by black lines, sit on top. The covering is complex, layered, and inviting. Nasisse’s hand is ever present — a reminder of the maker, perhaps the self [contained] in the work.

While these works are not self-portraits, per se, they have an autobiographical feel about them, as they reveal multiple faces burdened with remnants of memories, fears, and dreams. We are welcomed to the task of searching into the souls of these figures as we sort through the hidden patterns, underlying geometry, and unsettling

gestural bits of clay that make up a sub-conscious spray of information atop each head.

White Head exemplifies Nasisse’s spontaneous method of creating energetic constructions resembling ghosts, monsters, and tortured souls sprouting from the head of an unsuspecting chap. With a face on both the front and backside, White Head, is vulnerable and self-conscious, yet confrontational due to its scale and striking appearance. The main character’s nervous mouth reveals a darkness deep inside, while his yellowed eyes refuse to make full contact with the viewer.

The second face, on the back of this head, presents a much more confident self, staring rather unassumingly into space.

This object, while primarily constructed as a sculptural expression, is also a container. With the vessel serving such a prominent role in ceramic traditions, the thin slit of a mouth in White Head can only be seen as an opening to the interior space of this vessel rather than a tear into an empty continuous void. With each bit of detail in the surface of the work the viewer is charmed to come closer, to peek inside, to decipher the code and unlock the complex, multilayered mystery contained within the piece.

White Head, 2012 24 x 14¾ x 11¼” ceramic, multi-fired with overglaze

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Derek Weisberg

By Theresa Downing 1. Derek Weisberg, “Lowdown | Derek Weisberg: Memory Is a Living Thing and Makes Alive Chiyuvim,” Derek Weisberg, http://derekweisberg.com/low-down/ (accessed March 1, 2012).

2. Emily Teeter, Ancient Egypt: Treasures from the Collection of the Oriental Institute University of Chicago (Chicago: The Oriental Institute of The University of Chicago, 2003), 69-70.

Much of Derek Weisberg’s artwork deals with memory and the formation of memory. While blending aspects of Jewish tradition and street culture in his work, Weisberg confronts his myriad feelings and the many unanswerable questions, which the death of his mother forced him to ponder.

It is through the production of his work that he actively ensures her living memory: “In traditional Jewish thought, the voyage of the soul is dependent upon the actions of the ones who are living.…

Making this work became a ritual to continue the existence of my mother or at least a spiritual existence.”1

Both a monumental and understated piece, the muted clay body of Grieving Jar VII allows the gravity of sorrow to become the central focus.

Created from terracotta, this vessel honors the memory of Weisberg’s deceased mother and, through its medium, references her body, a body that has returned to the earth from which it originated.

The clay remains cool to the touch, yet the natural colors provide a warmth and comfort. Imbued with a solemn mood, the figural lid of the jar possesses a deep and soulful attitude of mourning.

Utilizing a coiled construction based on ancient Egyptian canopic jars, Weisberg’s Grieving Jar VII is a contemporary and very personal expression of self. Egyptian canopic jars often depicted the deceased or a protective deity and were used to contain vital organs for the afterlife.2 In this case, Weisberg has chosen to make a finely rendered self-portrait head with a stylized coiffure and enlarged, downturned eyes, which stream cobalt tears. The knitted brow shows consternation and the eyes exude a look of supplication, perhaps begging to be released from extreme sorrow. The base of the jar features overall patterning in shades of brown, white and dark cobalt. Here, larger patterns of stylized flower medallions are superimposed upon smaller patterns, much like the way tender memories layer and fade over time. Though the empty cavity inside the jar is assumed, the viewer is not privy to its contents. This allows for further contemplation upon the vastness of the sacred space inside, like the cavernous emptiness felt at the loss of the beloved.

Grieving Jar VII, 2012 23¼ x 10¾ x 10½” earthenware reduction fired to cone 2

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Janis Mars Wunderlich

By Theresa Downing 1. Barbara A. Babcock, and Guy and Doris Monthan, The Pueblo Storyteller: Development of a Figurative Ceramic Tradition (Tucson and London: The University of Arizona Press, 1992).

2. Janis Mars Wunderlich, “Janis Mars Wunderlich: About,” Janis Mars Wunderlich, http://www. janismarswunderlich.com/about.php (accessed March 14, 2012).

For the mother figure in Janis Mars Wunderlich’s sculpture, Family On Her Mind, boundaries of self are almost non-existent, as children radiate within her sphere. These welcome individuals bombard her, and they extend from her like aspects of her self, as she is deeply in tune with their actions and desires.

This mother’s thoughts of family are literally made manifest in the towering figures and heads atop her own. Intricately carved and full of expression, the five stacked figures also have faces on the backs of their heads, revealing even more facets to this complex display of self. With the composition of this piece, Wunderlich allows us to consider family as an extension of self and, alternatively, self as an extension of family.

Wunderlich’s dynamic sculptures embody the lilt and drama of nursery rhymes; however, her stories are not all sweetness and happily-everafters. Figures fly into this piece, bisecting heads like Mother Goose poems, which slide into the imagination, opening up a vivid, bizarre realm. Here, magical children in footed pajamas, frilly collars,

tutus, and booties masquerade as deer, cats, and rabbits. These Grimm’s fairytale-like characters don grotesque faces, moody and menacing. Multi-fired in bright, candy colors, the tiny sugar-stoked figures buzz about, while others sit sleepily on the verge of dreamland.

The form of Family On Her Mind is reminiscent of the storyteller sculptures created by Native American ceramicist Helen Cordero. Inspired by memories of her grandfather’s voice, calling the grandchildren together for this special time, Cordero’s sculptures featured up to thirty children clutching a seated male figure.1 Similarly, many of Wunderlich’s works in this exhibition host innumerable children-animal-selves, which cleave in a symbiotic relationship, ever present and ever needy. Indeed, about her recent sculptures, which reflect her maternal self, Wunderlich notes, “the mother figure seems hidden or lost behind all the clingy creatures. But in reality, she is strengthened, clothed, and made beautiful by them. They give her layers, textures, identity.”2

Family On Her Mind, 2012 33 x 17¼ x 17” earthenware fired to cone 04 with multi-fired slips, underglaze, and overglaze

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Kensuke Yamada

By Kelly Connole 1. Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life (Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1860), 257.

2. Kensuke Yamada, “Kensuke Yamada: Artist Statement,” Kensuke Yamada, http://www.yamadakensuke. com/#!artist-statement (accessed May 18, 2012).

Ralph Waldo Emerson describes beauty as ”the moment of transition, as if the form were just ready to flow into other forms.” 1 Kensuke Yamada’s ceramic work poetically illustrates this kind of beauty in both quiet and profound ways.

In his work, the clay itself embodies the inherent texture of a material full of potential and ripe for expression, paired with the action of the sculptor’s adept hand. His work feels effortless, as though the forms effortlessly emerged from the clay.

Yamada’s surfaces capture the transition between spontaneous eruptions of color and subdued tones of pure clay.

Yamada’s Yellow Line is many things and many selves, simultaneously. As a container, this piece references the endlessly long and honorable history of earthenware vessels found in nearly every civilization on Earth. The pot’s hybrid form borrows from Pan-shan type Neolithic Chinese pottery, Japanese Jomon ware, and traditional African beer pots. As a figurative object, the work depicts a

feminine self, an aspect of every woman and every man, through the simple construct of the human face. This particular face is a landscape of the mind — of a universal self. Her closed eyes rest just above the vivid yellow horizon line, juxtaposing a far juicier, viscous world below.

Since moving to the United States from Japan ten years ago, Yamada has been an observer of the interactions between people and places.

Through his experience as a foreigner in a new place Yamada understands his commonality with other people through gesture, facial expression, and other non-verbal methods of communication.

“I look for sculptural conversations that evoke the beauty, the subtleties, the sadness and the humor of our everyday life. In viewing my sculpture I hope for people to enjoy the moment rather than the movement of time.”2 In Yellow Line, time is indeed paused, providing us a brief instant to study the beautiful face of a figure engaged in the act of peaceful contemplation.

Yellow Line, 2012 17½ x 14 x 13½” stoneware fired to cone 04

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Lisa Clague Education 1991 MFA, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA • 1985 BFA, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH Selected Solo Exhibitions 2011 Udinotti Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ • 2010 Udinotti Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ • 2009 Blue Spiral Gallery, Asheville, NC • 2008 John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA • 2007 Blue Spiral Gallery, Asheville, NC • 2006 Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, MI • 2004 Blue Spiral Gallery, Asheville, NC • 2005 Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, MI • 2003 John Elder Gallery, New York, NY • 2000 John Elder Gallery, New York, NY Selected Group Exhibitions 2012 SOFA Chicago, John Natsoulas Gallery, Chicago, IL • NCECA:The Realm of the Feminine; Interior Edge, Gage Gallery, Seattle, WA • La Mesa, Santa Fe Clay, NCECA, Seattle, WA • 2011 The Figure Has Soul, Lacoste Gallery, Concord, MA • Fresh Figurines, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA • Figurines, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, NM • Containment, Crimson Laurel Gallery, Bakersville, NC • 2010 The Human Figure in Clay, Arrowmont School of Craft, Gatlinburg, TN • Ceramic Annual of America, San Francisco, CA • 2009 South & Southeastern Artists, Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA • Small Works, Miniatures, & Machetes, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA • South by Southeast, Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA • La Mesa, Santa Fe Clay, NCECA & the Udinotti Gallery, Phoenix, AZ • 2008 Contemporary Ceramic Figures, Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY 2008 • Convivium 33: Alumni Show, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, Ohio • Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, GA • Reconfigurine, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, NM • Seven Deadly Sins, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, NM • The Narrative Figure, The Ellipse Art Center, Arlington, VA • 2007 Pursuing Excellence, The Center for Creativity and Design, Asheville, NC • Form and Imagination, women ceramic sculptors, AMOCA, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA • 2006 National Biennial Ceramics Invitational, Parkland Art Gallery, Champaign, Il • Beasties, Penland Gallery, Penland, NC • 2005 Trans-CeramicArt, 3rd World Ceramic Biennale, Icheon, Korea Selected Awards 2011 Virginia Groot Foundation

Grant, 3rd place • 2000 Virginia Groot Foundation Grant, 2nd place Selected Writing/Publications 2011 Ceramics Monthly, “Containment II: The Inside Story,” Volume 59, Issue 6 • Ceramics Monthly, “Figurative Association,” by Kate Lydon, Volume 59, Issue 1 • 2010 Ceramics Monthly, “Build, Cast, Carve: The Sculptor’s Life,” Volume 58, Issue 1 • 2009 500 Ceramic Sculptures: Contemporary Practice, Singular Works, senior editor Suzanne J.E. Tourtillott. Published by Lark Crafts • 2008 Lisa Clague, catalogue, John Natsoulas Press • 2006 Poetic Expressions of Mortality, Figurative Ceramics from the Porter/Price Collection, by Martha Stamm Connell • 500 Animals in Clay: Contemporary Expressions of the Animal Form, senior editor Suzanne J.E. Tourtillott. Published by Lark Crafts • 2004 500 Figures in Clay, senior editor Veronika Alice Gunther. Published by Lark Crafts • 2003 Visual Perspectives: 14 Years of the Virginia A. Groot Awards. Preface by Candice Groot. Edited by Margaret Carney. Published by Virginia A. Groot Foundation • 2001 Terrors and Wonders: Monsters in Contemporary Art. Published

by DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park Michael Corney Education 1985 MFA, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI • 1980 – 83 Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Sun Valley, ID • 1980 BFA, California State University, Fullerton, CA Selected Exhibitions 2012 Yunomi Invitational 2012, AKAR Gallery, Iowa City, IA • La Mesa, Santa Fe Clay, NCECA , Seattle, WA • The Cup: 50 Artists, 250 Interpretations, College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL • Drawing Clay, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI • 2011 Mad about Teapots, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI • Exposed: Sculpture and Promised Gifts from AMOCA’s Permanent Collection, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA • 2010 One and Only, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI • Tell Me A Story: Contemporary Narrative Ceramics, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA • Encore, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD • 2009 A Head of the Need:

SELF-[CONTAINED]

an invitational exhibition to benefit CERF (Craft Emergency Relief Fund), Curated by Lana Wilson and Anthony Schaller, Red Lodge Clay Center, Red Lodge, MT • Michael Corney & Bart Johnson, Lillstreet Art Center, Chicago, IL • 2008 –10 Innovation & Change: Ceramics from the Arizona State University Art Museum, Organized by the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ • Exhibition travelled to: The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AK; Texas A&M University, College Station, TX; Roswell Museum and Arts Center, Roswell, NM; Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND; Las Cruces Museum of Fine Art & Culture, Las Cruces, NM; Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL; Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS; Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, FL • 2007 The Diane and Sandy Besser Collection, The de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA • 2006 Michael Corney; New Work, Harvey/ Meadows Gallery, Aspen, CO • Comic Mischief, Twist, Portland, OR • 2005 Art of the Pot, Austin Ceramics Studio Tour, Austin, TX • 2004 8 Fluid Ounces, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA • Our Cups Runneth Over, The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA • Tea, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, NM • 2003 Beastiary, The Odyssey Gallery, Asheville, NC • Go Figure, Obsidian Gallery, Tucson, AZ • “Tea Anyone?” The Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI • 2002 Drawing on Clay, The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA • Functional Pottery Invitational, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, NM Selected Awards 2005 Presenter, Utilitarian Clay Symposium, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN • 2000 Artist in Residence, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA • 1998 Visiting Artist, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH • Artist in Residence, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH • 1997 Individual Artist Fellowship Grant, Idaho State Commission on the Arts • 1995 Artist in Residence/ Arts in Industry, Kohler Industries, Kohler, WI • 1990 Artist in Residence, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH Selected Writing/Publications 2010 Ceramics for Beginners: Surfaces, Glazes & Firing, by Angelica Pozo. Published by Lark Crafts • 2009 Innovation

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and Change: Great Ceramics from the Ceramics Research Center, edited by Mark M. Johnson, Arizona State University Art Museum • 2008 500 Plates & Chargers: Innovative Expressions of Function & Style, senior editor Suzanne Tourtillott.

Published by Lark Crafts • 2006 The Ceramic Narrative, by Matthias Ostermann. Published by University of Pennsylvania Press • 2003 Tea Anyone? The Donna Moog Teapot Collection, by Glenn Adamson and David S. Taragin. Published by Racine Art Museum • 2000 Teapots Transformed; Exploration of an Object, by Leslie Ferrin. Published

by Guild Publishing • 1999 “Imagining Chaos,” Studio Potter, June 1999, Volume 27, Issue 2 Jenny Mendes Education 1983 – 85 Penland School of Crafts, Core Student program, Penland, NC • 1982 BFA, Washington University, St. Louis, MO Selected Solo Exhibitions 2010 Heights Arts, Cleveland Heights, OH • 2009 Red Lodge Clay Center, featured artist, Red Lodge, MT • The Vault Project, Quirk Gallery, Richmond, VA • Iota Gallery, Dallas, TX • 2008 Sherrie Gallery, Columbus, OH • In the Niche, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA • 2007 Signature Gallery, Atlanta, GA • 2006 The Works Gallery, Philadelphia, PA • 2004 Signature Gallery, Atlanta, GA Selected Group Exhibitions 2012 Stories by Hand: Jenny Mendes & Shoko Teruyama, Crimson Laurel Gallery, Bakersville, NC • Pots at Rest, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA • Studio Practice, Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC • 2011 Red Clay Menagerie, Signature Gallery, Atlanta, GA • Dessert Plate Invitational, AKAR Gallery, Iowa City, IA • Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Clay Art Center, Port Chester, NY • 2010 Functional Comfort, Ogden Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA • Liquid Measure, Main Street Art Gallery, Edwardsville, IL • Nourish and Sustain, Mary Lou Zeek Gallery, Salem, OR • Bob Brady, Ron Meyers, Jenny Mendes, TRAX Gallery, Berkley, CA • From Woman II, Lakeland Community College, Lakeland, OH • 2009 Yokohama Art Fair, Yokohama, Japan • Handbuilt National, Wayne Art Center, Philadelphia, PA • The Animal Within, Brenau University, Gainesville, GA

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• Small Favors, Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA • Spoon It, Fork It, Cut It Up, Curated by Gail Brown, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD • Under Cover, Clay Art Center, Port Chester, NY • Fantasy Teapots from the Arthur Goldberg Collection, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA • 2008 Transformations: 6 x 6 Tile Show, Clay Art Center, Port Chester, NY • Table Tops Exhibition, Curated by Julia Galloway, Art Gallery at Lyndhurst, Tarrytown, NY • Stories From the Earth, Curated by Richard Nickel, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA • Symbiosis, Curated by Berndadette Curan and Krista Grecco, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD • Jenny Mendes and Michael Kline: New Work, AKAR Gallery, Iowa City, IA • Ahead of the Need: an invitational exhibition to benefit CERF (Craft Emergency Relief Fund), Curated by Lana Wilson and Anthony Schaller, Red Lodge Clay Center, Red Lodge, MT • Common Thread: Contemporary Craft, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL • The Shy Show, Curated by Susan Andrew and Carolyn Fellman, Still Life in G Gallery, Bradenton, FL • 2007 Recent Ceramics: Silvie Granatelli, Jenny Mendes & Ron Meyers, AKAR Gallery, Iowa City, IA • Opposites Attract, Curated

by Nick Joerling, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD • Plates and Platters: Salon Style, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA • 2006 Intimate Rituals of Daily Life: Krista Grecco, Kathy King, Jenny Mendes, Janis Mars Wunderlich, Signature Gallery, Atlanta, GA • The Other, Curated by William Skrips, Mary Lou Zeek Gallery, Salem, OR • Poetic Expressions of Mortality, Figurative Ceramics from the PorterPrice Collection, Curated by Martha Connell, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL • Just A Head: a Survey of Ceramic Heads, University of Montavallo, Calera, AL • Stories in Clay, Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus, Ohio • Our Cups Runneth Over, Society of Art and Crafts, Boston, MA • Likeness/Human Form in Clay, Xen Gallery, St. Louis, MO • 2005 New Work from the Barn: Work by Penland’s Current Resident Artists, Penland Gallery, Penland, NC • Mastery in Clay, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA • Enclosed Within, Penland Gallery, Penland, NC • Recuerdos/Remembrances, Obsidian Gallery, Tucson, AZ • Things Your Mama Said, Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA • Flowers That Bloom in Spring, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, NM • Body Language: the Figure in Clay, with Lucinda Gallery, NCECA,

Baltimore, MD • Stories and Visions of Nature in Clay, Signature Shop and Gallery, Atlanta, GA • 2004 Thirtieth Anniversary Auction, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA • Our Cups Runneth Over, Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA • Gather Round the Table, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, NC • “Here I Am,” Invitational, Obsidian Gallery, Tucson, AZ • The Drawn Surface, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, NM • Portraits, Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA Selected Awards 2010 Craft and Design Show, Best in Show, Richmond, VA • 2006 Smithsonian Craft Show, Artists’ Choice, Bronze Award • 2003 Ohio Arts Council, Individual Artist Fellowship, Columbus, OH • 2002 NCECA, Cups of Merit Award, Kansas City, MO • 1998 Ohio Arts Council, Individual Artist Fellowship, Columbus, OH • 1996 Ohio Arts Council, Individual Artist Fellowship, Columbus, OH Selected Writing/Publications 2012 Best of 500 Ceramics, senior editor Lisa Copp. Published by Lark Crafts • 2010 Techniques Using Slips, by John Mathieson. Published by University of Pennsylvania Press • 500 Vases: Contemporary Explorations of a Timeless Form, senior editor Ray Hemachandra.

Published by Lark Crafts • Ceramics for Beginners: Surfaces, Glazes and Firing, by Angelica Pozo.

Published by Lark Crafts • 2008 Ceramics Monthly, “Jenny Mendes: From Center to Surface,”

by Katey Schultz,Volume 56, Issue 5 • 500 Tiles: An Inspiring Collection of International Work. Published

by Lark Crafts • 2007 500 Handmade Dolls: Modern Explorations of the Human Form, senior editor Valerie Van Arsdale Shrader. Published by Lark Crafts • 2006 Ceramics Monthly, “Likeness: The Human Form in Clay,” Volume 54, Issue 10 • 500 Animals in Clay: Contemporary Expressions of the Animal Form, edited by Joe Bova. Published

by Lark Crafts • Design Language, Interpretive Edition, by Tim McCreight. Published by Brynmorgan Press • Ceramics Monthly, “Shining the Light on Craft in America,” by Judy Seckler, Volume 55, Issue 4 • 2005 500 Cups, Ceramic Explorations of Utility and Grace, senior editor Suzanne J.E. Tourtillott.

Published by Lark Crafts • Making and Installing Handmade Tile by Angelica Pozo. Published by Lark Crafts • 2004 500 Figures in Clay, senior editor

SELF-[CONTAINED]

Veronika Alice Gunter. Published by Lark Crafts • 2003 500 Bowls, Contemporary Explorations of a Timeless Design. Published by Lark Crafts Andy Nasisse Education 1973 MFA, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO • 1967 First Ceramics Class, Instituto Allende, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions 2008 Two-person show, Signature Gallery, Atlanta, GA • 2006 Solo show, Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC • 2005 Solo show, Sherrie Gallerie, Columbus, OH • 2004 Solo show, Signature Gallery, Atlanta, GA • 2002 Two-person show, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, NM • “Big Pink,” Solo show, Arrow Gallery, Athens, GA • 2001 Solo show, Wyndy Morehead Gallery, New Orleans, LA • Solo show, Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC • 1999 Solo show, Barkins-Leeds Gallery, Atlanta, GA • 1998 Solo show, Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA • Inner Light Outer Dark, solo show, Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, GA • 1996 Solo show, Columbus College, Columbus, GA • 1994 Two-person show, Dorothy McRae Gallery, Atlanta, GA • Two-person show, Simone Stern Gallery, New Orleans, LA Selected Group Exhibitions 2009 Summer show, Sherrie Gallerie, Columbus, OH • SOFA WEST: represented by Sherrie Gallerie, Santa Fe, NM • 2008 Summer show, Sherrie Gallerie, Columbus, OH • Human Impulse, ASU Art Museum, Tempe, AZ • Seven Deadly Sins, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, NM • 2007 Contemporary Ceramics, Dairy Barn Art Center, Athens, OH • 2006 Sculpture National Invitational, Red Lodge Clay Center, Red Lodge, MT • Earthenware, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, NM • Alabama Clay Conference, Red Dot Gallery, Birmingham, AL • 2005 National Teapot Invitational III, Cedar Creek Gallery, Creedmoor, NC • Visceral Vessel, Southwest School of Art, San Antonio, TX • EXCESS, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA • Man’s Best Friend, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, NM Selected Awards 2005 Award of Excellence, National Teapot Invitational, Cedar Creek Gallery,

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Creedmoor, NC • 2001– 03 Nominator for Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowships • 2000 University of Georgia, Athens, Center for the Humanities • 1997 Senior Faculty Research Grant, University of Georgia, Athens • 1995 Albert Christ Janer Award for a Lifetime of Creative Research, University of Georgia, Athens • 1988 National Endowment for the Arts Regional Fellowship, SECCA WinstonSalem, NC Selected Writing/Publications 2012 The Craft and Art of Clay, 5th edition, by Jan Peterson and Susan Peterson. Published by Laurence King Publishers • 2005 The Figure in Clay: Contemporary Sculpting Techniques. Published

by Lark Crafts • 2004 500 Figures in Clay, senior editor Veronika Alice Gunther. Published by Lark Crafts • The End of Art, by Donald Kuspit.

Published by Cambridge University Press • 2002 Working With Clay by Susan Peterson. Published by Overlook Press • 2000 Contemporary Ceramics

by Susan Peterson. Published by Watson-Guptill • 1993 Parallel Visions by Maurice Tuchman.

Published by Los Angeles County Derek Weisberg Education 2005 BFA, ceramics, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA Selected Solo Exhibitions 2012 Porcelain Promises, Greenwich House Pottery, New York, NY • 2011 Auroral Dreaming, Anno Domini Gallery, San Jose, CA • 2010 You Were Almost Extinct Too, Florida Atlantic University, John D. MacArthur Library Gallery, Jupiter, FL • 2009 Olam Haba The World To Come, Rowan Morrison Gallery, Oakland, CA • 2008 Victoria Everlasting, Anno Domini, San Jose, CA Selected Group Exhibitions 2012 Pow Wow 2012, Loft in Space, Honolulu, HI • 2011 Modern Fabulists, View Gallery, Bristol, UK • Show and Tell, Zimmer Museum, Los Angeles, CA • Made in Clay, Greenwich House Pottery, New York, NY • 2010 Things Are Expanding, Swarm Gallery, Oakland, CA • Monster Show 5, Domy Books and Gallery, Austin & Houston, TX • Ceramics Annual of America, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA • The Travel Show, Dalet Gallery, Philadelphia,

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PA • Cynosure, Worth Ryder Gallery, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA • 2009 Mutant Anxiety, Michael Rosenthal Gallery, San Francisco, CA • House Warming, Terminal Gallery, Oakland, CA • Full Deck, The Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA • 2008 Diverse Chorus, Neurotitan Gallery, Berlin, Germany • There: New Art from Oakland, di Rosa Preserve, Sonoma, CA • Muchachos, Standard Clay Company, NCECA, Pittsburgh, PA • 2007 RoMoLoCo, Rowan Morrison, Oakland, CA • The There, There, Esteban Sabar Gallery, Oakland, CA • Inner Workings, Melting Point Gallery, San Francisco, CA • A Lasting Impression: Ceramic Figures, Esteban Sabar Gallery, Oakland, CA • Clay Figures, Red Ink Gallery, San Francisco, CA • Art Head, Swarm Gallery, Oakland, CA • Craft Now, American Craft Council Show, Baltimore, MD • 2006 Peep, Red Ink Gallery, San Francisco, CA • Virus, Lobot Gallery, Oakland, CA • The Family of Clay: 55 years of ceramic alumni at CCAC, Tecoah Bruce Gallery, Oakland, CA • The Board Show, The Unkown Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT • 2005 Moving Mountains, Architectural Elements, San Francisco, CA • Narratives in Clay, Virginia Brier Gallery, San Francisco, CA • Florjadores se Suenos, Casa de Ensuenos Gallery, Guadalajara, Mexico • From Tiles to Totems: a Century of Northern California Ceramics, Arts Foundry Gallery, Sacramento, CA • De Corazon a Corazon, Casa de Ensuenos Gallery, Guadalajara, Mexico • 2004 Pacific Rim Sculpture Group: Bay Area Student Sculpture Biennial, 600 Townsend Building, San Francisco, CA • 2003 Global Aerosol Dominion, at Liminal Gallery, Oakland, CA • Visions in Clay, Reynolds Gallery, Stockton, CA Selected Awards 2008 ACC Searchlight Artist, 1 of 10 nationally selected emerging craftsmen/ women • 2003 Honorable mention at Visions in Clay, Reynolds Gallery, Stockton, CA Janis Mars Wunderlich Education 1994 MFA, ceramics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH • 1992 BFA, ceramics, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT Selected Solo Exhibitions Quincy Art Center, Quincy, IL • Figurative Gallery, La Quinta, CA •

Ford Gallery (Eastern Michigan University), Ypsilanti, MI • John Elder Gallery, New York, NY • Shaw Guido Gallery, Pontiac, MI Selected Group Exhibitions 2006 Intimate Rituals of Daily Life: Krista Grecco, Kathy King, Jenny Mendes, Janis Mars Wunderlich, Signature Gallery, Atlanta, GA • Poetic Expressions of Mortality; Figurative Ceramics from the Porter Price Collection, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL and Montgomery Museum of Art, Montgomery, AL • Two Media/Two Expressions; an Exhibition of Contemporary Clay and Glass, Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield, OH • Growing Pains, Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery, Columbus, OH • 2005 Diverse Domain – Contemporary North American Ceramic Art, Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taipei, Taiwan • Suspended Animation: Works by Janis Mars Wunderlich and Melody Ellis, Goldesberry Gallery, Houston, TX • Confrontational Clay, The American Craft Museum, New York, NY • 2002 Visual Perspectives: 14 Years of the Virginia A. Groot Awards, SOFA, Chicago, IL • 1999 Scripps 55th Ceramic Annual, Scripps College’s Chandler Gallery, Claremont, CA Selected Awards Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship (2008, 2005, 2002, 2000, 1998, 1996) • Greater Columbus Arts Council Individual Artist Grant (2008, 2004, 2000) • Virginia A. Groot Foundation Recognition Grant (2008, 1997, 1996) Selected Writing/Publications 2011 Ceramics Monthly, “Figurative Association,” by Kate Lydon, Volume 59, Issue 1 • 2008 Confrontational Ceramics, by Judith Schwartz. Published by University of Pennsylvania Press • Handbuilding,

by Shay Amber. Published by Lark Crafts • 2007 Ceramics Monthly, “Sandy Besser and the Fine Art of Collecting,” by Marko Fields, Volume 55, Issue 10 • 2006 500 Animals in Clay: Contemporary Expressions of the Animal Form, senior editor Suzanne J.E. Tourtillott. Published by Lark Crafts • 2005 The Figure in Clay: Contemporary Sculpting Techniques. Published by Lark Crafts • 2004 500 Figures in Clay, senior editor Veronika Alice Gunther. Published by Lark Crafts • 1999 Ceramics Monthly, “Janis Mars Wunderlich,” by Anderson

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Turner, Volume 47, Issue 7 • 1997 Best of New Ceramic Art: Featuring Winners of the Monarch National Ceramic Competition, by Toni Sikes.

Published by Hand Books Kensuke Yamada Education 2009 MFA, ceramics, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT • 2005 BA, ceramics, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA Selected Solo Exhibitions 2010 I and Love and You, Catherine Person Gallery, Seattle, WA • 2009 Empathetic, MFA Thesis Exhibition, Gallery of Visual Arts, University of Montana, MT • 2008 Reconfiguration, University Center Gallery, University of Montana, MT • Free Bird, Catherine Person Gallery, Seattle, WA • 2007 Yamadaville, Catherine Person Gallery, Seattle, WA Selected Group Exhibitions 2012 Forecast, A New Wave of Creative Talent, Penland School of Craft, Penland,NC • 23rd annual 30 Ceramic Sculptors, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA • Figurative Work in Clay, Grover Thurston Gallery, Seattle, WA • Figure/Figurine, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA • Ceram-a-rama-yaki, ASU Art Museum Ceramics Research Center, Tempe, AZ • 2011 Naughty and Nice, Lilstreet Art Center, Chicago, IL • Composing the Modern, Lilstreet Art Center, Chicago, IL • 60 Artists, 60 Artworks, 60 Years: Celebrating the Archie Bray Foundation, Montana Museum of Art and Culture, Missoula, MT • Contemporary Figurative Ceramics, The Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture, Bozeman, MT • Big Clay, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT • Figurines, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, NM • 2010 SOFA Chicago, with the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Chicago, IL • Positioning the Figure, Signature Gallery, Atlanta, GA • 2009 Fellowship Exhibition, Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT • Celebration of Missoula Artists, Dana Gallery, Missoula, MT • That Difference, Clay Studio of Missoula, Missoula, MT • Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts at NCECA, Phoenix, AZ • 2008 SOFA Chicago, with Santa Fe Clay, Chicago, IL • Montana Ceramics, University Center Gallery, University of Montana, MT • Emerging Talent, Santa Fe Clay,

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NM • East By Northwest, Kolva Sullivan Gallery, Spokane, WA • Go Figure, Gulf Coast Community College, FL • 2007 The People, Clay Studio of Missoula, Missoula, MT • 2006 At Once, Catherine Person Gallery, Seattle, WA • NCECA 2006 Regional Student Juried Exhibition, Northview Gallery, Juried by Nan Smith, Portland Community College, Portland, OR Selected Awards 2012 Artist in Residence, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA • 2011–10 LongTerm Artist Residency, Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT • 2010 – 09 MJD Fellowship, Long-Term Artist Residency, Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT • 2009 Bertha Morton Scholarship Recipient, University of Montana, Missoula, MT Selected Writing/Publications 2012 Ceramics and The Human Figure, by Edith Garcia. Published by A&C Black • Ceramics Monthly,“Ceramic Monthly Emerging Artist 2012” by Jennifer Harnetty, Volume 60, Issue 5 • 2011 Western Art and Architecture, “Ones to Watch, Spotlighting the Work of Sculptor Kensuke Yamada,” by Michele Corriel, Fall/Winter Issue • Ceramics Monthly, “Archie Bray Foundation 60th Anniversary Exhibitions,” by Emily Donahoe, Volume 59, Issue 8 • The Seattle Times, “The Things We Can’t Let Go,” by Tyrone Beason, August 6 • American Craft, “Archie Bray, Tradition Means Innovation,” by Joy Lovelace, Volume 71, Issue 3 • Ceramics Monthly, “From the Center to the Edge, The Archie Bray turns 60”, photo essay by Nelson Guda and Cover Image, Volume 59, Issue 4 • 2010 International Examiner, “Ceramic Artists Showcase a Playful Side,” by Na Young Kwon, Volume 37, Issue 11 • 2008 Seattle Times, “Dark and Sweet Fables for a Modern Age,” by Gayle Clemans, August 8 • Ceramics Monthly, “Yamadaville,” by Matthew Kangas, Volume 56, Issue 3

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NORTHERN CLAY CENTER

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 Teresa Matsui Sanders Rick Scott Lynne Alpert Robert Briscoe Philip Burke Sheldon Chester Linda Coffey Debra Cohen Nancy Hanily Dolan Bonita Hill, M.D. Sally Wheaton Hushcha Christopher Jozwiak Mark Lellman Bruce Lilly Alan Naylor Mark Pharis Jim Ridenour T Cody Turnquist Robert Walsh

Director Sarah Millfelt Exhibitions Director & Curator Theresa Downing Exhibitions Assistants Michael Arnold Margeaux Claude

Honorary Members Andy Boss Kay Erickson Warren MacKenzie Joan Mondale Director Emerita Emily Galusha

Unless otherwise noted, all photographs by Peter Lee Design by Joseph D.R. OLeary, VetoDesign.com

ISBN:978-1-932706-23-2

Northern Clay Center

2424 Franklin Avenue East Minneapolis, MN 55406 612.339.8007 www.northernclaycenter.org