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:

New Artebella Gallery in Yakima and YVC Clay Sale in November

While I've been running ragged keeping up with big changes to my online classes, a 3D printer that stopped working, new educational technology and preparing curriculum for our upcoming accreditation visit, I've neglected pretty much everyone online that doesn't involved Canvas.

Artebella Gallery

I have small work like this on display in Artebella

Though I'm barely keeping up with any kind of studio work since my August show in Hood River, I do have some work in a new gallery in central Yakima, south of Astria (Regional) Hospital. The new-since-this-summer space, Artebella Gallery is nestled amongst the cozy little medical buildings and offices on West Spruce Street, right next to Taste and See Deli.

This gallery is owned and run by Pamela Searcy and she and Meghan Flynn both have studio spaces in the small gallery, which is open from 10-4 Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and by appointment. I have smaller sculpture on display at Artebella.

Another piece at Artebella Gallery

Oak Hollow Gallery

Though Oak Hollow Gallery, between Wrays and Inklings in the Chalet Place Mall, is now under new ownership, I still have work in their regular sales gallery section. Stop by to purchase some cat mugs before Christmas.

Cat mug, like the ones I have at Oak Hollow Gallery

YVC Clay Sale

Speaking of holiday pottery, the Fall Clay sale at YVC is coming up in November. This year the Thanksgiving holidays fall early, which means we've moved the clay sale time back a week to November 29. 

The only official clay sale photo I can find (from home, because I forgot to photograph the new poster at school)

Not only that, we've also extended the time of the sale. Stop by Palmer Martin (Building 20) on the Yakima Valley College campus anytime between 11am and 7pm on November 29 to stock up on pottery made by current and former YVC students and faculty. Proceeds from sales go to support studio operations. 

Palmer Martin hall (which we now are supposed to call 020)

We can take cash, checks, or credit card and while you're on campus, stop in and see our beautiful clay studio!

The clay studio, pre-students

Art Club Juried Show & End of Quarter Firing

Art Club Juried Show

Escapism Juried Show

Last week the YVC Art Club installed their juried show, Escapism, in the hallway gallery of Palmer Martin Hall. The show runs through April 23 and is open whenever the building is open.

Escapism 3D work, featuring lamp by Les Delzer, bust by Emily George, dinner set by Sara Lawrence, fox by Chelsea Blodgett

The show features work by high school and college students in and around Yakima. Some of the work was completed during classes and some was done on the students' own time. This show is not the same as the annual Department of Visual Arts Student Exhibition at Larson Gallery in May.

  

Escapism Juried Show, 2d work on display

This show was organized by Art Club students. This was the first year and we had over 50 entires including painting, drawing, photography, and ceramics.

fox and bunny by Chelsea Blodgett

 The four ceramic items in the show are all made by students in my clay classes this quarter, though only two were actually made this quarter. The fox, by Chelsea Blodgett, was build for the second project in my flipped hand-building class and was taken out of the kiln within an hour or two of when it was put into the display case for this show.

Frog vase and dinner set by Sara Lawrence

One of my intermediate wheel students, Sara Lawrence, created this frog themed dinner set during the winter quarter, too. Her frog vase and dishes feature a glaze recipe she tested this quarter during class. Her work was out of the kiln at least a day before the show was installed.

Last Firings of the Winter Quarter 

Reduction fired work in the gas kiln (before unloading)

Today is Sunday, but I went in to unload and load kilns both today and yesterday. My students were told that the last day to glaze cone 10 reduction work in the gas kiln was Thursday by 3pm and the last day to glaze cone 10 or cone 04 work in the electric kilns was Friday 3pm. I also warned students that I would be loading the kilns during the day on Thursday and Friday and once they were full, they were full.

Batman, by Humberto Urrutia-Jr (before unloading)

My students and I finished loading the gas kiln on Thursday about 3:10. There were a handful of pieces that wouldn't fit in the kiln at that point, based on how and what we had to load. Moments later, an intermediate student walked in with her 10" tall piece ready to load. She was unhappy when I told her she could load it in the "oxidation" firing in the electric kiln. 

Sculpture with copper red glaze in reduction by Jordan Miller

Some of our glazes look different when fired in a reduction atmosphere vs the neutral atmosphere of an electric kiln. Copper Red and Shino glazes are particularly impacted. Reds in reduction will look green and transparent in the electric kiln.

3D printed turtle pencil holder by Chelsea Blodgett

An extra firing in the electric kiln is relatively easy to add, because the kiln is smaller and the kiln can be programmed to fire to temperature. The gas kiln is larger and requires hourly adjustments to the gas, air, and damper during much of the firing process. I did not offer to unload that kiln on Saturday and reload it with one piece in it to fire all day on Sunday.

Lady with flowers by Autumn Nugent (picture taken from inside the kiln before unloading)

I did, however, end up loading and unloading more than expect on the weekend. Next week is finals week Wednesday through Friday, but I am presenting at NCECA in Pittsburg on Wednesday and Thursday, so I will not be here for finals week. The upshot is that I have adjusted our finals due dates and, by extension, our firing schedule.

3D Printed vase in high temp oxidation firing by Humberto Urrutia-Jr

At the start of the week I had anticipated firing one of each type of kiln (cone 10 reduction, cone 10 "oxidation", and low fire), but by midweek it was clear we had more work than that, so I loaded an extra cone 10 firing in the smaller electric kiln.

cone 10 oxidation fired vase by Humberto Urrutia-Jr

This small electric kiln was too hot to unload on Friday when we were loading the second cone 10 in our larger electric kiln. I knew that I would be coming in to unload it and reload it with low fire work on Saturday, but the kiln was small and the load/unload would be relatively quick. 

oxidation fired crab (before unloading) by Cigdem Collins

I had just finished loading and had started the second cone 10 in the electric kiln on Friday morning, when a student came to me with a problem. For context, most students had finished glazing already and I only had about 5 students finishing work during class that morning. I had already checked in with every single student about what they were glazing. They all assured me their cone 10 work was done and they were glazing only low fire work.

Coil build low fire vase by Margarita Cruz

The student who came to me with the problem had spent a couple of days very carefully applying underglaze to her sculpture. She had already assured me, twice, that the 24" tall sculpture would be going in the low temperature firing. I just had to figure out how to fit it and some of its larger friends. 

low fire stuffed elephant sculpture by Margarita Cruz

The high temp kiln was at a little over 200 degrees when this student came out of the glaze room and explained to me that she had glazed her work with the high temperature clear, instead of the low temperature clear over the underglaze. She couldn't wash off the glaze because it would wash off the underglaze she had spent so much time on. She couldn't fire the work to a low temperature because the glaze wouldn't melt and become clear. I happen to know, from other students being confusing about firing temperatures, that this high temperature clear glaze looks rough and white when fired at low temperature.

student coil vase, low fired

So, of course, I ended up coming in on Saturday to unload the small high fire kiln and load and fire the low fire work. The large low temp kiln I had loaded on Friday was too hot to unload. I came in Sunday morning to unload the low temperature work (both kilns were cool, but the smaller kiln was easier to unload alone) and load one last high fire with just this tall piece and one small friend who had appeared Friday afternoon. 

too much glaze on a thrown piece in the large high fire electric kiln

 Raku Firing

3D printed vase (which didn't survive the firing well) with horse-hair decoration

Last week we also ran two class raku firing days. On Tuesday, students in wheel classes were able to fire their work, but somehow I didn't get any pictures of it. On Wednesday hand-builders fired. The students really seem to enjoy using horse hair on their work. 

Horse-hair 3D printed and hand-built bunny by Nadene Orlando-Urlacher

A few students also took advantage of the raku glazes and one that was particularly nice was a vase by Chelsea Blodgett. She used wax resist for the black areas and white crackle glaze for the rest. Her coil-built vase was modeled on Ancient Greek vases, I believe.

Vase and cat mug by Chelsea Blodgett

DoVA Student and Faculty Exhibition 2017

Intermediate student work at DoVA

This past week the Department of Visual Arts Student and Faculty Exhibition opened at Larson Gallery. The exhibition features artwork by YVC students who took art classes during the Spring, Summer, and Fall quarters of 2016 and the Winter quarter of 2017. The exhibition runs through May 27, 2017. Larson Gallery is open Tuesday - Friday 10am-5pm, and Saturday 1pm-5pm.

student pottery on display at DoVA

The exhibition features work from drawing, painting, design, printmaking, digital photography, digital design, and clay classes. The ceramic works come from students in beginning levels of wheel pottery, hand-building, and Intro to Clay, as well as intermediate and advanced students in these classes.

Best of Show

Best of Show this year went to a ceramic sculpture, Mother. There were also several other ceramic specific awards as well as awards for other media, purchase awards, and awards sponsored and selected by YVC's president, the faculty union, the Associated Students of YVC board, and others.

 

work by students in intro to clay, I believe

The faculty picked some awards last week. I enjoy picking out award winners with the other faculty because it is fun to talk about what the students did and hear from other instructors about what media specific skills or conventions the students used (or failed to use).

Boston tea

 

As usual, our reception was pretty packed. The exhibition is easier to see when it isn't so packed, but it's fun to have an event where students can show off their work, see their instructors and classmates from a previous quarter, meet some of the Larson Gallery folks, and, of course win accolades for their work.

student work at DoVA

Much of the work in the exhibition is for sale at very low prices, though more of the ceramic work could be for sale if I could convince my students to part with it. Every year I suggest that students could have their work for sale, every year most students refuse, and every year I bring back some leftover forgotten work to be stored in the art building indefinitely.

Janice Buckler's fountain during DoVA

This year's exhibition had a sad tinge, especially for me as I was getting the work ready and bringing it over. Janice Buckler, who passed away early last month, has helped with the show and exhibited work in it for years. She has two pieces in the exhibition, which were displayed prominently, and we funded an award in her name in an inadequate attempt to remember her when I'd rather she just be there.

faculty work at the DoVA show

Of course it is the student and faculty exhibition, so the art faculty had work in the exhibition as well. This year's faculty contributions are a little more entertaining than usual, as one of our number had her work hung in an entirely different section of the gallery from the rest of us, one of our number showed as a student, too, since she took a class this year, and one of us had work which elicited a literal shriek during the show when his student realized that the subject was a cat. 

Stephen Robison & Kathleen Guss, Rachel Hall Kirk, and Meghan Flynn

Work by Stephen Robison and Kathleen Guss

If you are on the Yakima Valley College campus during Fall 2106, stop by Palmer Martin to see our newest display, featuring work by Central Washington University art professors, Rachel Hall Kirk and Stephen Robison, who collaborates with his wife, Kathleen Guss, and work by our new art instructor, Meghan Flynn.

drawings by Rachel Hall Kirk and ceramics by Stephen Robison and Kathleen Guss

Wood fired ceramic sculpture and functional forms from Stephen Robison and Kathleen Guss fill the center vitrines and one of the wall display cabinets in the downstairs hall of the new art building.

work by Stephen Robison and Kathleen Guss in the display cases

Rachel Hall Kirk's drawings features patterns found in nature.

work by Rachel Hall Kirk

Also featured in this space is work by the newest member of the YVC faculty, drawing and design instructor, Meghan Flynn.

work by Meghan Flynn.