First Thursday Seattle Art Walk in Pioneer Square

Monday, February 27, 2012

Opening First Thursday: March 2012

The Lawrimore Project

Grover/Thurston Gallery

Shift Collaborative Studio

Pratt Gallery at TK Studios

Zeitgeist Coffee

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Kind of a Big Deal: NCECA in Seattle

Thousands of ceramicists will be in Seattle next month for the NCECA 46th Annual Conference. From March 28th through the 31st, professional artists and educators are celebrating the art of ceramics with the theme, "On the Edge". From the NCECA website:

"Seattle, as well as the entire Puget Sound region, is located in a unique geographical position; on the EDGE of the country and on the EDGE of the Pacific Rim. From this location ON THE EDGE, quite naturally, we have a broad perspective on objects, places and issues, and see great distances. We thrive on the intersection of old and new worlds. And we respect distant and historic cultures…Asian, Pacific, Native American, and all of our neighbors in North America. Most of all we appreciate how they have influenced our contemporary ceramic practices."

As locals, we can see exactly how being "on the edge" has influenced ceramics in the Pacific Northwest. To welcome the NCECA to town, special receptions and exhibitions are taking place at these First Thursday galleries: Davidson Galleries, Greg Kucera Gallery, Grover/Thurston Gallery, Pratt Gallery, SOIL, Stonington Gallery and more. See the official First Thursday Facebook and Twitter for updates.

The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA for short) promotes and fosters the appreciation for the ceramic arts around the world. Through education, community-building, and research, the NCECA promotes ceramics as an art form and has thousands of members, including several major American ceramic artists.

Labels: Event

Friday, February 17, 2012

March Preview: Pratt Gallery

Pratt Fine Arts Center is pleased to present Earth & Fire: Materials and Methods, a group exhibition curated by Seattle-based artist and Pratt instructor Susan Balshor, concurrent with the 2012 National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Conference in Seattle. Earth & Fire: Materials and Methods includes work in both clay and glass, materials comprised of earth and transformed through fire. Participating artists include Susan Balshor, Nancy Blair, Granite Calimpong, Judy Hill, Patricia Haase, Jessi Li, Julie Lindell, Crista Mateson, Carol Milne and Sue Rose. The exhibition opens on March 1, 2012 and will be on view at the Pratt Gallery at Tashiro Kaplan Studios through March 31, 2012. An additional NCECA reception (open to the public) will be held on March 27 from 5-8pm.

The Pratt Gallery at Tashiro Kaplan Studios showcases the artwork of its instructors, students, and renters, demonstrating the quality, strength and range of talent that is cultivated and made possible by programs offered at Pratt Fine Arts Center.

What: Earth & Fire: Materials and Methods: Susan Balshor, Nancy Blair, Granite Calimpong, Judy Hill, Patricia Haase, Jessi Li, Julie Lindell, Crista Mateson, Carol Milne and Sue Rose

Where: Pratt Gallery at Tashiro Kaplan Studios, 306 South Washington Street, Studio A1

When: March 1-31, 2012

Opening: First Thursday, March 1, 5- 8pm

NCECA Reception: Tuesday, March 27, 5-8pm (open to the public)

Gallery Hours: Wednesdays - Saturdays, 12-5pm and by appointment

Guest curator Susan Balshor holds Master of Arts degrees in Sculpture and Philosophy. Balshor teaches at Pratt Fine Arts Center and has been a scholarship recipient, teaching assistant, artist assistant, and instructor at Pilchuck Glass School. For over twenty years, she has worked in both fine and industrial arts, creating primarily mixed media work incorporating bronze, wood, glass, plaster, steel, and paint.

Crista Mateson, Banana Neck (detail of Shiitake Head), Kiln cast glass and low fired ceramic, 2011. Photo credit: Artist Eye Studio

Labels: First Thursday, Preview

March Preview: Linda Hodges Gallery

Bay Area artist Piper Snow returns to The Linda Hodges Gallery for her second Seattle exhibition in March. Presenting a new body of earthenware and porcelain figurative sculpture, Snow's declares "These are the people I know: playful, alienated, dressed in imagination, souls in search of a funky groove."

Featuring deep, saturated colors and high gloss glazes, Snow's sculpture ranges from maquette sized pairs and threesomes to life-sized heads and free standing individuals over three feet tall. Snow enjoys the rawness of clay, and she quickly carves and sculpts her work in order to give it a sense of spontaneity.

Referencing the resemblance of her work to ancient Sumerian Tell Asmar votive figures, Snow says her individuals are, like the Sumerian work, "open-eyed, mesmerized" but …"it is my America they stand in for, they are Sly Stone's everyday people."

Piper Snow participated in the Mendocino Art Center's Ceramics Certificate Program in 1986, and received a BFA with Honors from The California College of the Arts in 1990, where she studied independently with Viola Fry. She has exhibited in galleries throughout California and Washington.

Piper Snow, Proud and Obtrusive 2011, Earthenware, 38” tall.