At that moment... Beyond the Pedestal
February 15 - March 26, 2005
Gallery Talk and Reception: Friday March 18, 2005
Beyond the Pedestal features four recent grant recipients and resident artists who received support from the Regional Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation in 2004, including two major multi-room siteworks (one by DC area sculptor, Carolyn Bernstein and another by New York artist Nancy Blum,) as well as recent large freestanding sculptures by Ghanan immigrant and Virginia resident Ampofo-Anti as well as Nicole Fall, Maryland’s recent resident artist at Philadelphia’s Clay Studio. Bernstein’s installation was begun last year during a residency at the Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, New York, and only recently completed after months of arduous work. Her multifaceted career began in music, which can be perceived when viewing the complex interrelationships between hundreds of similar (yet unique) tubular objects that have been meticulously twisted and arranged into a silent and seemingly benign and gentle ‘wave’ that is oddly reminiscent of astonishing images that we have seen broadcast worldwide in recent months, illuminating potential power and monumental forces that may reside within and become unleashed at any moment. Tangentially, Nancy Blum’s career has incorporated arts often seen in public venues, such as her iron manhole covers installed throughout the city of Seattle in 2001, and recent expansive wall installation at the Seattle/Tacoma International Airport. Blum’s most recent installation (created during her residency at the Hand Workshop Art Center in Richmond, VA) balances delicately between memories of Pop Art while exploring complex conflicts and issues in contemporary culture. In Butterfly Wall, installed for the first time at MAP, Blum presents nearly one hundred huge butterflies, cast in the same material as Victorian dolls and incorporating what appears to be natural patterns one would naturally find on the insects’ wings. However, Blum’s inspiration for the symmetrical patterns in this graphic design is evidence of unsettled attitudes and her need to comprehend more about the culture of Islam, in which representational imagery was historically replaced by meaningful repetitive patterns. Ampofo-Anti also focused on stylistic and theoretical designs found in other cultures. The architecture and mythology of his native Ghana has been incorporated into two major architectonic works, made during his residency at Baltimore Clayworks. This duo was named after the site where they were made; Mondawmin I and Mondawmin II make little reference to the specific site, unless one considers a landscape where boarded-up doors and windows are a common sight, while the potential for amazing journeys and experiences abound. Finally, artist Nicole Fall used her residency as an opportunity to stray from her comfort zone, to make new works from fragile clay and hardened steel. The dichotomy between these two materials are evident: one work is akin to a huge mass of greenish intestines perched dangerously on a delicately balanced lacey steel perch; the other a pair of odd hornets nests hanging precariously from the wall. In both works, Fall touches a sense of vulnerability and strength, paired in each work represented by her singular style.
The other exhibition, At that moment, I was an artist: from Bauhaus to Missoula to Baltimore traces work by ceramic artists inspired by studies with three seminal mentors whose careers, teaching and lives were intertwined and significantly contributed to the dynamic evolution of contemporary culture of clay sculpture, while tracing the ‘lineage’ of many prominent artists around the nation. These mentors include: renowned Montana artist Rudy Autio, considered to be one of a few premiere artists who transformed his media and continues to inspire a generation with his energetic production of large scale objects and murals; as well as his longtime colleague and Kansas City-based artist, Jim Leedy, whose significant mixed media works are reminiscent of ancient architecture while exploring dark and monumental issues of our time; and their former student and longtime Baltimore artist, Doug Baldwin, whose whimsical duck-like characters equipped with World War I helmets and ridiculous mock authority address themes as wide-ranging as art history and the psychology of culture.
Each of these three mentors chose to feature several former students whose work they respect and whose dual careers (in many cases) have been based in the production of contemporary artworks as well as the art of teaching new generations of artists. Autio chose SuperMud founder and renowned ceramicist and teacher, Dave DonTigny and Virginia area artist Linda Wachtmeister; Baldwin selected mid-career Chicago sculptor Philip Capuano and Baltimore new media artist Rich Lipscher; while Leedy identified a number of younger artists, including New York area artist Adam Welch (whose modular handmade brick works represent a new aspect of minimalism,) Oklahoman Brandon Reese (whose large scale modular works are reminiscent of architecture, yet move to a new realm of sculptural representation,) while Kansas and Missouri artists Marshall Maude, Araan Schmidt, Bill Lane and Michael Wickerson explore themes reminiscent of archeology, anthropology and history in their energetic recent works.
Read the Review in the Baltimore Sun›
