Central Washington Artists' Exhibition Award Winner at Larson Galllery

 

my face bulbs at CWAE this weekend

This weekend was the opening of the Central Washington Artists' Exhibition at Larson Gallery in Yakima. I have two pieces in the show this year, my Chartreucat sculpture and a small wall-installation of face bulbs.

the CWAE program

This is the 64th annual Central Washington Artists' Exhibition and I believe this is the first year in the new Larson Gallery on the new west side campus of Yakima Valley College, behind Taco Bell. The show runs through December 11. The gallery is open Tuesday-Friday 10-5 and Saturdays 12-5.

my installation at CWAE this weekend (I really like the neighboring work by Yu-Hen Dade)

The new gallery is much larger and nicer than the already pretty decent gallery across the street. The new space has multiple rooms, including a totally separate sales gallery with small art and gifts for sale. The new gallery also boasts better parking.

Chartreucat, also at CWAE (picture taken at home)

This was the first year in a bit that I remembered to enter this show. I can't remember if they had a show last year, but it's been a busy couple of years for me. This Chartreucat sculpture was one of several abstract sculptures I started last spring and finished this summer(with one not quite finished yet). I felt pretty good about finding the time to make these pieces.

my award certificate

My wall installation was also built last summer and mostly finished in Spring 2021. This installation won an award, the Jeffery Schaap & Gilbert Young Award, which was great news, and even better when I realized it was a monetary award.

detail with sold stickers Saturday afternoon

The installation features 15 unique face bulbs with a range of features, colors and expressions. When I arrived at the gallery this weekend, a couple was in the process of purchasing a pair of the bulbs. The woman indicated that she liked the masked pieces. Someone asked about the bulbs with plants coming out of their mouths, thinking they were like a scene from Trolls 2 (which I haven't seen).

weeds as speech

I explained that when I made these, I was thinking of the weeds coming out of mouth as a metaphor for hateful language, the way it spreads quickly and chokes out the beautiful flowers or healthy vegetables that might otherwise grow in that space.

invasive choking weeds/speech

Most of the bulbs were specifically created as a reference to the hateful political climate of the past several years. The masks were clearly created post-pandemic, but the screaming faces started showing up before the pandemic in the lead up to the last election.

masked face

 

I believe more of these may have sold since I left the show on Saturday. I was asked to provide some written explanation yesterday for Larson Gallery to use on their social media. It's not up yet, but these may be featured later on Larson Gallery's Facebook or Instagram. 

detail of installation

I'm happy to get these seen. It is sometimes challenging to keep up with teaching, union work, and my own work. Especially when my own work includes making, applying, showing, advertising, and keeping up an online presence here, on my website, and (kind of) on social media. 

my face bulbs and other (abstract) bulbs in my home studio this September

I showed these pieces this summer at my home studio for the Yakima Artists Studio Tour in September, but this was the first year for this show and I think all of us are still kind of gearing back up from pandemic to semi-post-pandemic mode for attending shows and going out in public. It is strange how long it has taken to start to move back to operating how we did before the pandemic.

award page of the CWAE program

After I published this, Larson Gallery added a video tour of the CWAE show:

Central Washington Artists' Exhibition

Last week I found out that one of my sculptures was accepted to the 62nd annual Central Washington Artists' Exhibition at Larson Gallery this year.

my piece "untitled" for CWAE 2017

I was surprised by which piece that was selected for the exhibition this year. I entered three pieces, but I really had my mind set on one of them, the first large piece that I've finished in two years. I finished this piece just before the entries were due for CWAE this year. I like the piece, it worked out how I planned. I'm happy with the spinning blue parts on the bottom, and I'm fairly happy with the pictures of the piece. 

my sadly rejected new work

In completing the application, I decided to toss in a couple of small pieces just because they were ready. Besides the big piece, I had finished maybe 3 or 4 small sculptures and I have a few in various states of epoxying on the floor in my studio. I didn't think the small pieces were likely to get in, but one of them did. It is a pretty small sculpture, one that required no brain power whatsoever from me in the making, because I've made this kind of sculpture numerous times before.

"Petal/Pedal" was in CWAE 2016

I'm not sure what to think about which sculpture got in and which didn't. The juror could have been influenced by color, shape, size, title, or any number of factors. Maybe she doesn't like complex forms, but she does like complex color and texture. Maybe she likes yellow better than green.

this pod was in CWAE 2016

Certain types of galleries and art fairs that I've shown in over the years have preferred smaller, more affordable sculpture, especially sculpture that does something (like a fountain or a lidded box), but that seems unlikely to influence a juror's decision. On the other hand, last year I had four entries accepted and they were all small. Each year there is a different juror, so this year's juror presumably didn't have the same criteria as last year's.

this lidded set was in CWAE 2016

The possibility remains that I have overlooked a significant flaw in my newest large sculpture or a significant quality in the new small one. As the maker of the work, sometimes it is hard to see the works objectively. As I review the image in this blog post, my favorites are the top two, both finished this year.

my other (silly) new sculpture

I've avoided mentioning the other new sculpture that I entered in this show. This one's a bit silly, really. I've been working on this one for over a year as well, but the attachment angle and finished surface changed from the original plan. I had intended to attach a bicycle break handle, as I ended up doing, but I intended to attach it facing the other way. I intended to attach another piece on the end of the metal handle, but that didn't get done. I ended up changing the handle orientation because I liked how the handle echoed the angle and line of the body of the sculpture. But everything about this sculpture is a bit silly. The surface is unusual for me, the handle is just plain odd. Sometimes I want to try something, as I did here, but I'm not sure if I want to defend what I tried once it's done.

both of these sculptures were in CWAE 2014

If you'd like to see my new little sculpture, this year's Central Washington Artists' Exhibition opens at Larson Gallery on November 4 with a reception from 3-5pm. The exhibition continues through December 2, 2017. Larson Gallery is open Tuesday - Friday 10am - 5pm and Saturdays 1pm - 5pm.

Central Washington Artists' Exhibition 2016

I just found out that I had four separate entries accepted into the Central Washington Artists' Exhibition opening in November at Larson Gallery.

Storyteller Jars & Spoons

I entered two sets of mugs and lidded jars, which means, I guess, that I actually got eight pieces in the  exhibition.

Storyteller Cups

This is the first time I've entered wheel thrown functional work in a juried exhibition. It feels a little strange, since I've thought of myself as a sculptor for so many years and not a potter.

Pedal/Petal

I also got two pieces of sculpture into the exhibition, so I suppose I can't entirely overturn my definition of my role as an artist.

White Pod

The CWAE opens November 5 with a reception from 3-5pm. The exhibition continues through December 3, 2016.

Twisting Gear Form

I threw some clay parts the other day based on sketches I had done earlier in the year. The pieces are relatively simple stacks of gears, similar to a piece I built last year with gear parts.

I drew some of the sketches right side up, then changed the orientation of the others

Last year I was focused on getting the parts to fit together and incorporating enough bike parts. This year I am more able to focus on the form because I am more comfortable with the additions. (I feel like I should knock on wood about that last statement, since I haven't actually put the pieces together yet.)

last years gear stack

Incidentally, last year's piece, "Cyclical Adaptations", will be in the Central Washington Artists Exhibition at Larson Gallery next month. The CWAE opens November 2 with a reception from 3 to 5pm (though I'll be on my way to see my new nephew).

thrown parts for three forms

This year I threw enough pieces to build three of the four pieces in the sketches. The thrown pieces are mostly flexible tubes and bulbs. I measured the top and bottom openings of each piece based on the size of the gears I plan to use for the eventual sculptures.

gears and internal supports for stacked pieces

The size of the thrown pieces was about right, but I altered the angles of the pieces and their ends to create more movement in the pieces. First I roughed in the new shape, then I needed to add inserts to help connect the pieces after firing.

starting to alter the form of the sculpture

Unfortunately for blogging and picture taking, I can't balance the finished pieces of a twisting form without risking the whole thing collapsing, so after double checking opening measurements and finishing the surfaces, I had to let the pieces dry separately.

finished pieces drying

The finished piece should look similar to the form I originally drew, though the surface is different. I am still working on the other two pieces for which I threw parts.