Dust: YVC Faculty Exhibition

Kekino Motes, installation 2024

 

I am excited to announce “Dust” the Yakima Valley College art faculty exhibition at Larson Gallery. The show opens Saturday, January 13, 2024 with a reception from 3-5pm

This is the first faculty exhibition in my 17.5 years at YVC, and it comes at a great time, when our campus gallery, Larson, is in a beautiful large and still new space and our art program is bigger than ever.  

The show features works by our four full-time faculty: Chris Otten (photography and Digital Design), Kayo Nakamura (drawing, painting, and printmaking), Monika Lemmon (drawing and painting in Grandview), and me (clay, design, and various other classes over the years). It also features artwork by part time faculty Timm Wauzinski and David Lynx, as well as research by our part time (and occasional full-time) art historian, Robert Millard.

I am thrilled to have this opportunity to show together locally. This week I spent about 5-6 hours delivering and installing my work, as well as a few more packing and doing inventory and pricing.

“Pseudo Equisetum East”

I’ve started working on this show back in May, as soon as then-Gallery Director David Lynx agreed to the show. (David has since accepted a position running the Kirkland Arts Center).

Psuedo Equisetum West

The newest group of work is my installation of standing forms. I call these “Psuedo Equisetum” after the horsetail or puzzle grass plant that partially inspired them. 

In the gallery Wednesday wondering if I brought enough stuff

I made a ton of these stacking Equisetum forms (and learned a lot in the process), but I didn’t end up showing all I made. I narrowed it down to just 21 pieces or stacks for the show.

The most directly lymphedema inspired new sculpture

I also created a bunch of new wall hanging sculpture, much of it wheel thrown during my OT prescribed daily throwing time in spring and summer. I ended up installing this work with a mix of older wall pieces and some that I think I never got around to showing.

The title that made me giggle “Etreudamine Hirsuta” 

Besides these two installations I have an installations of my familiar bulb forms, including my chemo port bulbs started during my cancer treatment in 2022. This is a gridded installation of 100 bulbs, both abstract and cancer-related, the newest ones just out of a kiln this past weekend. I haven’t even seen this installation because Kate at the gallery finished installing it while I was in class.

The name that made me laugh the longest: “Duosenes Magnamassa”

Thought I’ve already described at least 145 ceramic objects, I also have several (11) individual sculptures, too, all of them new since the pandemic, and several new this year, in case you were wondering what I’ve been up too.

Psuedo Equisetum in my home studio

It should be pretty clear why I’m so excited for this show, did I mention there are 5 other artists and an art historian with work in this show? It’s gonna be great! I hope you can join us for the reception on Saturday. If you can’t, Larson Gallery is open Tuesday - Friday 10-5 and Saturdays 1-5. The show runs through February 24. I hope you are able to see it. For my distant friends, I’ll plan to get good in-gallery pictures this month.

Obligatory cat/glazing photo