Connections and Directions (in Conjunction with NCECA)

Art League Houston (ALH) is pleased to present Connections and Directions, a group exhibition co-curated by established ceramic artist Rebecca Hutchinson and Art League Houston’s Visual Arts Director Jennie Ash in conjunction with the National Council on Education for Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Conference.

The exhibition features an exciting selection of work by eight emerging US-based artists, all UMass Dartmouth alumni, whose works in ceramic are daring and diverse, and represent a growing expanse of ceramic direction. Artists include Birdie Boone, Dawn Stetzel, Claire Hedden, Colleen Toledano, Ryan Blackwell, Lauren Mayer, David Katz and Matt Ziemke.

The artists in Connections and Directions reflect a rising number of emerging artists who are challenging the expectations of ceramic art. The works in this exhibition are mostly installation-based and include not only clay but found objects such as metal, plastic, cardboard, textile and wood.

All I wanna do is use you, too by Birdie Boone features a variety of traditionally handmade cups that are precariously balanced on two slanting wooden shelves. Housedress by Dawn Stetzel is a photograph of the artist wearing a traditional housedress with a 3-dimensional shantytown clinging to and jutting out from the fabric. Claire Hedden’s floor sculpture My Mountain interweaves domestic furniture with layers of cardboard, fabric, and foam to create an ambiguous - yet familiar – form. Half Full by Colleen Tolendano features a surreal mixed-media sculpture consisting of two hollow porcelain figure-heads that are conjoined at the base by adorned metal piping.

Spick and Span by Ryan Blackwell consists of a socio-political charged floor installation featuring thousands of tiny ceramic dustpans that are organized into an American flag-like design. Untitled by Lauren Meyer features a delicate series of folded clothing made of porcelain that hang effortlessly along the wall. David Katz’s installation features a series of ceramic cages interspersed throughout a corner of the gallery connecting web-like forms between the floor, the ceiling and the walls.
And finally, Defining Borders and Conglomerate No 2 by Matt Ziemke feature diverse multimedia sculptures that combine clay, vinyl, metal and wood to create sprawling map-like structures that explore the relationship between urban and natural landscapes.