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November 2009

• Gabriel Craig (MFA 2009) will be speaking at VCU's 17th annual on Architectural History and the Decorative Arts, Friday November 13th at the Virginia Historical Society. He will be presenting his research on early American Arts & Crafts wrought ironwork, which was funded by the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design. Gabriel was also a visiting artist at the Savannah College of Art and Design November 5th and 6th, and participated concurrently in the Making Meaning in the Marketplace symposia sponsored by the American Craft Council.
  
  
• Also this weekend, on November 13 from 6-10 several alumni from VCU are involved in the Open Studios at Lab 307 at 307 N 26th Street. From our department: Akiko Jackson (MFA), Katie Hudnall (MFA), Elizabeth Perkins (MFA), Aaron Stubbs (MFA 2005), and Sayaka Suzuki (MFA 2005).

• Brooke Hine (MFA 2004) also received a bunch of great press recently. Her installation "Allogamy" was in the current issue of Philly HOME Magazine. Eileen Tognini curated a Salon exhibition that included Brooke's work entitled, Insitu: 628, in April 2009. Check out this article on Eileen's website http://eileentognini.com/pages/house.html
  Other articles recent on Brooke: "House as Art: If Walls Could Talk" by Caroline Tiger, American Style Magazine and "Artists in Residence", Philadelphia Home Magazine, Fall 2009. Brooke was also in CfEVA Exchange at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts from September 25 - November 8
  
  
• Caitie Sellers (BFA 2007) is in Sparkle Plenty at Quirk in Richmond, VA through December 23.

• Elaine Butcher (BFA 2009) has work at an exhibit at the Studio Gallery at Jason McLeod in Charlottesville, VA through November 16. She also has a new website: www.elainerb.com
  

• Kent Perdue (BFA 2009) was also included in the exhibition Generously Odd: Craft Now. This exhibition attempts to chronicle the unique territory currently being examined by today’s avant-garde craft artists. Travis S. Townsend (MFA 2001) curated the exhibition. As previously reported, several other alumni are in the exhibit as well: Cynthia Myron (MFA 2004), Debbie Quick (MFA 2006), Adam Welch (MFA 2003), and Lizzie Perkins (MFA 2004)
  
  
• Amy Weiks (5th year student): Five pieces from her 'Lick', 'Ritual', and 'Lines of Communication' Series will be included in 'Topeka Competition 29', a national juried 3-D exhibition. The exhibition was juried by Joyce Jablonski and will take place at the Alice C. Sabatini Gallery at the Topeka & Shawnee Public Library in Topeka Kansas Nov 6 - Dec 30, 2009.

• Katie Hudnall (MFA 2005) and Tina Boy (BFA 2007) are in an exhibition at Arrowmont titled, Woman in Wood in Tennessee. Katie Hudnall (MFA 2005) and Travis Townsend (MFA 2003) have gotten some good press recently for their work. Check it out http://postgazette.com and http://www.pittnews.com. Katie Hudnall (MFA 2005) gave an artist presentation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison called "Subversive Joinery: Illustrating in Three Dimensions" as a part of the Colloquium Series.
  
  
• Adam Welch (MFA 2003), Elizabeth Perkins (MFA 2004), and several other alumni as well as Susan Iverson (faculty) and Bill Hammersley (faculty) are in an exhibit co-curated by Howard Risatti (former chair) and Steven Glass of craft work for exclusive showing in the Sawhill Gallery at James Madison University. The exhibit runs through December 4.

• Aaron McIntosh and Andrea Donnelly, MFA 2010 candidates, have been selected by the editors of Fiberarts magazine to appear in the annual Student Showcase feature for the November/December 2009 issue

• Andrea Donnelly, MFA 2010 candidate, presented on a panel called Philanthropy: the Impact of Scholarships at SOFA Chicago last weekend. She talked about her experience as a winners of the Windgate Fellowship. Andrea also had her piece, Systems Meditation #7 featured in the November/December issue of R.Home magazine. The entire Systems Meditation Series will be on the R.Home website.

• Aaron McIntosh, MFA 2010 candidate, was recently accepted into the Punch Gallery International Juried exhibition in Seattle. He is 1 of 9 artists selected from over 300 who applied. The show was juried by Marisa C. Sánchez, curator of Contemporary Art at the Seattle Art Museum. It runs December 4 - January 2. Aaron also has a new website: www.aaronmcintosh.com
  
  
• Eum Younseal (Sheal) MFA 2010 candidate, has her 'Over the Rainbow' piece is in the Riverview Juried Art Show in Lynchburg, VA. The show opened November 4th

• Jack Wax (faculty) received a 45,000 DKr (approx. $9000 USD) "Ole Haslunds Kunstnerfond Grant." It is an unsolicited grant from a private foundation in Kobenhavn, Denmark. Jack was honored for his work as a visiting artists @ The Bornholm Skolan.
  

• Natalya Pinchuk (faculty) is in Arts Santa Monica in Barcelona, Spain from December 15 December 2009 through January 10 2010. Natalya's project, Ugly Objects: AMSTERDAM, will be up at Centrale Bibliotheek Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands December and January. Natalya's work was also at SOFA Chicago last weekend with Charon Kransen Arts.o.
  
  
• Sonya Clark (chair) will be in Rockstone and Bootheel: Contemporary West Indian Art, at Real Arts Way Gallery in Hartford, CT Nov. 14 through March 14. Check out the review: Hartford Courant. See the listing in the New York Times

October 2009

• Andrea Donnelly (MFA 2010 candidate) won First Prize at the Fiber Artistry: Journey of the Imagination exhibition in Duluth, Georgia
  
  
• Eum Youn Seal (Sheal), (MFA 210 candidate) was written about in a review by Michael O'Sullivan in the Washington Post of the Options exhibition curated by curator Anne Collins Goodyear of the National Portrait Gallery

• Olivia Desoria (BFA 2009 candidate) wrote: "I have been in Qatar for a month now and have been busy busy busy researching the history and traditions of this place...I posted a blog about my pearl diving research in the Gulf. For those of you that are interested: http://desoriadesign.blogspot.com/

• Check out the OCT/NOV issue of American Craft Magazine. The cover article, The Transgressions of Lauren Kalman, was written by Gabriel Craig (MFA 2009). Also, Nanda Sodeberg's (MFA 2007) company, Solos Glass, was featured. Gabriel Craig (MFA 2009) was recently hired as an adjunct faculty member in Metals at Houston Community College, the largest public school in Texas.

• Adam Welch (MFA 2003) gave the keynote lecture at the conference called Figuration to Fragmentation as well as an artist lecture the following day. He also composed a catalog essay for the exhibitions that were the centerpiece of the conference. All of this was held the University of Kentucky this month. Adam had work in the Hightstown New Jersey Harvest Fair on October 10th. Adam also wrote a 9-page article on a theory of ceramics and criticism, "The Ceramic Sphere: Newer Ceramics Criticism and the Expanding Field" in the newest issue of Ceramics Art & Perception no. 77 p. 48-56.

• Dave Williamson (MFA 1976) and Roberta Williamson (MFA 1976), who have made jewelery that has been collected by Hillary Rodham Clinton, Robin Williams, Bill Murray, Warren Buffett, and Carol Burnett are in the Peabody Award winning PBS documentary Craft in America

• Cynthia Myron (MFA 2004), Debbie Quick (MFA 2006), Adam Welch (MFA 2003), and Lizzie Perkins (MFA 2004) are included in Generously Odd: Craft Now. This exhibition attempts to chronicle the unique territory currently being examined by today’s avant-garde craft artists. While all craft media are included, the exhibition will place emphasis on works that explore abundant decoration, obsessive techniques, and peculiar narratives or concepts. Travis S. Townsend (MFA 2001) curated the exhibition.

• Lizzie Perkins (MFA 2004) was juried into the Elder Gallery exhibition “Art of Fine Craft: National Juried Exhibition” which was held in conjunction with the Art of Fine Craft Conference

• Christina Boy (BFA 2007) exhibited her work at the Core Show at Penland in North Carolina. The opening was October 9. For more of Tina's updates check out her website

• Cari Freno (MFA 2009) was in the Feed show at 1708 Gallery in Richmond, VA and her work was reviewed in Art Papers, the September/October issue.

• Akiko Jackson (MFA 2009) led a group discussion on "The Need for Camaraderie in Community and Public Involvement in the Arts" at Sydney College of the Arts in Australia in October.
  Akiko will also be in "The Object: Found, Multiplied, Manipulated" at the Ridderhof Martin Gallery, University of Mary Washington, from October 23 - December 4, 2009.
  

• Dana Dabney (BFA) just got hired to be the new art teacher at Varina High School in Henrico County. She will be teaching their crafts class there.

• Keith Mendak (MFA 2009) got offered a job to teach Musical and Theatrical Performance and English in Seoul, Korea through a group called Hello Kid Actor.

• Kazue Taguchi (MFA 2007) worked as an Artist Assistant for Czech artist, Jan Ambruz, at Pilchuck.

• Jackie Brown (MFA 2008) has work at the Shore Institute of Contemporary Art's 6th Annual International Juried Exhibition which runs October 16th - November 13th in Long Branch, NJ.

• Professor Susan Iverson had her work included in the Conversations exhibit at the SAS Gallery in Sewanee, Tennessee which ran from August 22-September 30. Susan received an award from the Handweavers Guild of America for her work exhibited in Woven Visions at the Anderson Arts Center in Anderson, South Carolina until October 16.

• Professor Susie Ganch has work in the exhibit and film A Soul's Journey: Inside the Creative Process. The exhibit is up at the Art Museum of Myrtle Beach in South Carolina from October 11- January 8.

• Professor Natalya Pinchuk is in the traveling exhibit, 10th International Shoebox Sculpture Exhibition, which was at the Soma Museum of Art in Seoul, Korea this summer and has now traveled to the University of Mississippi Museum and will be there through November 1, 2009. Natalya was also in the travelling exhibit, the Garbage Pin Project this summer at the Silke&the Gallery in Belgium, Antwerp over the summer. She is also in Touch in Los Angeles, CA which opens this month and runs until November 14. Natalya's work was in two books recently: 500 Plastic Jewelry Designs. New York: Lark Books and Jewellery Using Textiles Techniques: Methods and Techniques, London: A&C Black.

• Professor Sonya Clark is in "The Mansion Project" exhibit at Rutgers University, Newark through November 11. I was also in "A Complex Weave" at the Stedman Gallery at Rutgers University, Camden through December 12. She was invited to exhibit at the Cheongju International Craft Biennale 2009 in Cheongju, Korea through November 1 and "Taking Time" at the Birmingham Museum in England through January 3, 2010. Clark gave the Keynote Address: The Art of Fine Craft Biennial Conference at Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE earlier this month. She will also be a speaker at the Creating A New Craft Culture, American Craft Council Conference this month. And on October 23 will be a speaker at the Maryland Institute College of Art conference, Transformations: New Directions in Black Art
  

September 2009

• Matt Isaacson (MFA 2008) and Susana Almuina (MFA 2009) made it into the $250,000 ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids, MI and will be showing at the Old Federal Building affiliated with the UICA! Here is the link to the info http://www.artprize

• Matthew Isaacson (MFA 2008) was also a teaching assistant at Pilchuck for Rob Stern in August. He was mentioned Ceramics Monthly for the exhibition that he curated Columbus State University earlier this year.

• Arthur Hash (BFA 2001) was in the Stimulus Project at Sienna Gallery in Lenox, MA in June in which all of the works were less than $500.

• Lizzie Perkins (MFA 2004) was juried into the Art of Fine Craft exhibition in the Elder Gallery at Nebraska Wesleyan University, Oct. 1-Nov. 8.

• Katie Hudnall (MFA 2005) recently received one of the Honorable Mentions for the Raphael Prize and Travis Townsend, MFA, got the Merit Award from the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh, PA.

• Meg Roberts (BFA 2009) was also in a show at One Tribe in Richmond in July.

• Kent Perdue (BFA 2009) has been busy on his Windgate Fellowship and at his residency at Arrowmont. Check out his blog to see what he's been up to: http://kentperdue.blogspot.com/. Kent was recently in the press about his Windgate and Residency too: http://www2.newsadvance.com/lna/lifestyles/features/article/form_and_function/18541/

• Jackie Brown (MFA 2008) will be teaching in sculpture at Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA this fall and was recently offered a solo exhibition at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia.

• Alissa Davis (MFA 2008) published a review in Whitehot on Roxy Paine. Check it out http://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/roxy-paine-on-met-roof/1889

• Cari Freno (MFA 2009) just launched new website. Check it out www.carifreno.com 
  
  
• Younseal Eum (MFA 2010 candidate) has had her work selected for the OPTIONS 2009 biennial exhibition at one of DC’s most established contemporary art galleries, Conner Contemporary Art, located at 1358-60 FLORIDA AVE, NE - WASHINGTON DC 20002. The exhibition dates: September 17 – October 31.

• Aaron McIntosh (MFA 2010 candidate) will be doing a paper quilting demonstration with Etsy Labs at the Museum of Arts & Design, NYC, Aug. 27, 2009. Aaron will be exhibiting in "Fiber Artistry: Journey of the Imagination" at the Jacqueline Casey Hudgens Center for the Arts in Duluth, GA, September 24 – October 26. Aaron received a full scholarship to attend the 2009 American Craft Council Conference, Creating a New Craft Culture, Oct. 15 -18.

• Aaron McIntosh and Sarah Turner (MFA 2010 candidates) were juried into the Art of Fine Craft exhibition in the Elder Gallery at Nebraska Wesleyan University, Oct. 1-Nov. 8.

• Hiromi Takizawa (MFA 2010 candidate) exhibited June 25 – August 23 at Robert Lehman Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, http://www.urbanglass.org/
  Hiromi has also been invited to have a "one-person" exhibition in NYC The Heller Gallery opening October 29. Hiromi will also be in a group show, Young & Loving (Ung og Lovende), in Bergen, Norway of 5 international contemporary glass artists at S12 Galleri og Verksted DA. The exhibit opens in September. Check out the details at http://www.s12.no/

• Our incoming 2011 MFA candidates were busy in the months before they officially joined us:
  Mary Price was in the St. Tammany Art Association Summer Show Juried Exhibition in Covington, Louisiana which was on view July 11- August 8, and was juried by Greeley Myatt.
  Courtney Dodd won "Best in Show" and "Third Place" for two separate pieces at the Spring Into Arts, juried show, in North Carolina.
  Adrian Blackstock was in three exhibits this summer in Charleston, WV including one at West Virginia chapter of the Feminist Art Project and another at Buswater on the Boulevard.
  Gian Pierotti was in the NCECA 2009 juried student show at the Tempe Center for the Arts. Two pieces where accepted one piece made the poster. Just under 300 applicants applied with only 26 accepted into the exhibit.
  

• Former faculty member, Lydia Thompson has taken a job as Head of the Department of Art at Mississippi State University.

• Shay Church who has joined us this year in Ceramics, will also be included in the $250,000 ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids, MI. http://www.artprize.org/artist/id/1925  Check out this recent article on his work: http://www.mlive.com

• Jason Hackett (MFA 2005) has been selected to exhibit in the IX Bienal Internacional de Cerâmica Artística de Aveiro 2009, Portugal from 3 October to 15 November 2009 at the Museum of Aveiro

• Debbie Quick (MFA 2006) has been juried into artaxis.org, a juried site for ceramics artists. She is in the great company many fantastic clay artists, such as Adelaide Paul, Jeanne Quinn, Paul Sacardiz, and Ayumi Horie, all of whom have been visiting artists at VCU.

• Susie Ganch and Natalya Pinchuk (faculty) are in the Enamel Show at Velvet DaVinci in San Francisco which runs August 5 - September 6. The exhibit celebrates the publication of 500 Enameled Objects by Lark Books and is held in conjunction with The Enamelist Society Conference 2009. Also, Susie Ganch and Natalya Pinchuk were in the Stimulus Project at Sienna Gallery in Lenox, MA in June in which all of the works are less than $500.

• Susie Ganch (faculty), has a two film screenings of “Radical Jewelry Makeover: a traveling community mining and recycling project” (produced and directed by Dana Richardson and Sarah Zentz.) The first screening will take place outdoors at Binn’s Park in Lancaster, PA on September 4 at 8pm. The second screening will take place at the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC for the museum’s “Jewelry Study Day” on September 12 at noon. Radical Jewelry Makeover (RJM) is a community mining and recycling project that has been traveling since 2007 and is directed by Susie Ganch and Christina Miller. So far RJM projects have taken place in Richmond,VA, Lancaster, PA, San Francisco, CA, Penland, NC, and the next edition will be in Australia (summer 2010.)

• Sonya Clark (chair), was one of eight women from across the state of Virginia recognized as an Outstanding Woman in the Arts by the Virginia Commission on the Arts. An article on her work written by Lowery Stokes Sims, curator at the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC is in the September/October issue of Fiberarts Magazine, "The Currency of Craft". Reviews of the group exhibit she's in, Dress Codes: Clothing as Metaphor, at the Katonah Musuem of Art are in Lower Hudson Journal news - West Harrison, NY and the New York Times

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