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 White Plains, NY - From October 3 to December 15, 2008, in its Museum Gallery, The White Plains Public Library will present “Tell Me a Story - Contemporary Narrative Ceramics”, an art exhibition in conjunction with All Fired Up! A Celebration of Clay in Westchester.
The opening reception will take place October 7 from 6 – 8 PM. The exhibition features the artwork of Lauren Ari, Mary K. Cloonan, Michael Corney, Max Lehman, David Linger, Peter Morgan and Janis Mars Wunderlich. Kathleen Masterson is guest curator of the exhibit, which features whimsical and decorative clay works, each in a narrative vein. On display just across the hall from The Trove children’s library, the “Tell Me a Story” exhibit is sure to entice children as well as adults into the Museum Gallery.
Lauren Ari works with very old dictionary pages that are mounted together and often painted in bright colors. Selected words or images on the pages suggest characters or objects that Ari then draws in colorful tableaux. The drawings are whimsical, strange, and engrossing studies of language. Often, they are accompanied by three-dimensional ceramic representations of one or two of the words or images from the page.
Mary K. Cloonan believes that art strives to re-create the fragile and complex facets of our lives. Her works are narrative constructs that unify disparate objects to create a metaphor. The figures are on the cusp of reflection and action, held by worry and wonderment.
The underlying theme of Michael Corney’s work is chaos. It comes out of his take on contemporary life, as fast-paced, information-packed, media-driven frenzy. Not one for subtleties, Corney tends to pack a lot of visual information together to create an abstract narrative. Each piece usually springs from a general theme. He may lead the viewer in a general direction, but not everyone will read it the same way.
Max Lehman has been making art in the southwest for over twenty-five years. Quirky, unusual, and most of all fun is often how viewers describe Max’s work. His pieces are often a conglomeration of unrelated ideas that somehow just seem to work together. “I try to think about a series of disjointed or unrelated things and place them in new relationships to each other.” His works include brightly glazed surfaces that meander over odd collections of thrown and hand formed pieces, with mold-made objects thrown into the mix.
David Linger uses text and image on fine porcelain to reflect commonality through the examination of events in his own life. One of his principal goals has always been to find a way to elevate human quirks, including his own, to iconic status. In quoting historic forms such as mud tablets and medieval illumination, he joins techniques from printmaking and ceramics to create narrative works in a modern framework. These objects communicate on multiple levels: with words, with images, and with the mediums and processes he employs.
Peter Morgan’s work is an exploration of issues of perception and representation and how these mold our understanding of the world. He is interested in both actual representations and cultural perceptions of the way things are and what makes them significant. His work explores how much of what we know of the world is through illustrations and representation rather than from personal experience and the difference between “real” versus simulated experiences.
Janis Mars Wunderlich’s recent work explores the idea of “accessorizing” with children. Sometimes she feels as though her wardrobe consists of kids from head to toe. Wunderlich comments, “Instead of artsy or fancy accessories and jewelry, I have children hanging from my ears, neck, and arms! In a sense, the mother figure seems hidden or lost behind all the clingy creatures. But in reality, she is strengthened, clothed, and made beautiful by them. They give her layers, textures, identity.”
From October 3, 2008, sixty venues throughout Westchester County will join together to present All Fired Up! A Celebration of Clay in Westchester. This consortium project is being organized by the Westchester Arts Council and the Clay Art Center, with a steering committee of eight cultural institutions. All Fired Up! will include parallel exhibitions of regional, national, and international works of art that explore the breadth and depth of ceramic expression- from folk arts to fine arts, historical to contemporary.
Participation in All Fired Up! at the White Plains Public Library is being made possible by funding from the Friends of the White Plains Public Library and the City of White Plains. Countywide, the project will be made possible in part through funding provided by a grant from the Empire State Development Corporation, and through grants awarded to the Westchester Arts Council from the National Endowment for the Arts, from the Art and Business Council of New York, and from Westchester County Government, with additional support from media sponsor Ceramics Monthly.
White Plains Public Library Museum Gallery hours are 10 AM - 9 PM, Monday through Wednesday; 10 AM - 6 PM Thursday and Friday; 10 AM – 5 PM, Saturday; and 1 PM – 5 PM Sunday.
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