Curatorial Assistant, Ashley Powell on Michelle Samour’s Installation

A couple of weeks ago Anna Walker, Curator, and I had the fantastic opportunity to assist artist Michelle Samour in the installation of her show, Truth and Transience, which is now up in the small gallery through May 15, 2011. Getting to know the artists, being able to watch them work and becoming a part of the creative process is always an awesome experience and working with Samour was no exception.

The show includes two wall installations, with the walls covered in hand-made pigmented abaca paper circles that have designs meticulously painted in gouache. In the middle of the gallery is a 10 by 3 ½ foot light box that glows.

Curator, Anna Walker, installing Michelle Samour's
Eyes of God: Conversations about Science and Faith

The piece, Eyes of God: Conversations about Science and Faith, was the first piece of the exhibition to go up. Samour brought a template the size and shape of the space she wanted to fill with her abaca circles. This template, which you can see in the picture above, was taped on the gallery wall and provided the exact area for her abaca circles. The oval shape resembles a giant open eye similar to the Eye of Providence (or the all-seeing eye of God) found on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States, which also appears on the Unites State’s one-dollar bill.

Anna Walker and Curatorial Assistant, Ashley Powell, arranging the abaca circles of
Michelle Samour's  Eyes of God: Conversations about Science and Faith.

Afterwards, the template was brought down and stretched across six eight-foot tables. All of the beautiful, vibrant and translucent abaca circles were then taken out and arranged onto the paper template. To help arrange the circles the template was divided into four quadrants. We used blown up photographs of a previous installation as our guide and worked one quadrant at a time, leaning and stretching across the tables to deposit the circles of paper onto the template. It quickly became an amusing puzzle of trying to replicate the arrangement in the photos. All the while, we noticed the patterns Samour had created with the specific placement of the various colors and sizes of circles.

The artist installing the pieces she made for the exhibition.

Once we had all of the abaca circles in their place on the table, it was time for us to hand them to Samour, one by one, as she stood on a ladder and recreated the piece on the wall. She would sporadically stop to improvise and switch the order of the pieces or slightly alter their placement. We started handing her the circles from the very center of the 4 quadrants and gradually worked our way out one circular layer at a time. The further along we got, the more interesting the installation became visually. As the individual pieces were viewed collectively on the wall, they start creating a three dimensional optical illusion. The entire form started to take shape. Once we were done, there was an excellent sense of accomplishment. I was thrilled to have been able to participate and to have the up close and personal vantage point to view how Michelle Samour works. Stop by HCCC to see the finished installation, the exhibit is open through May 15!

Ashley Powell,
Curatorial Assistant
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

Listen to the Artists This Weekend at HCCC

When artists are in town installing their work or live nearby, we frequently ask that they give an artist talk for the public. This weekend, you have a chance to stop by Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and listen to two artists speak about their work.

Ryan Takaba, Detail: On to Heaviness.
Porcelain, mums, water, steel pins. 2010 Photo by: Mark Menjivar.

Join us Friday, March 25, at 5:00 p.m. to listen to ceramicist Ryan Takaba talk about his work currently on display in the Artist Hall exhibit, Commonplace: Objects by Barbara Smith & Ryan Takaba, on view through April 3, 2011. Back in February of 2009, American Craft Magazine did a blog post on the work of Ryan Takaba. Watch below for a better understanding of Ryan’s ideas from two years ago, and join us Friday to see how these concepts have evolved.

After Ryan’s talk, please stick around for the opening of Michelle Samour’s exhibition, Truth and Transience, opening in the small gallery, 5:30-8:00 p.m. on Friday, March 25. If you can’t make it to Friday’s events, Michelle will be giving an artist talk on Saturday, March 26, at 11:00 a.m. We hope you will join us for what promises to be an engaging discussion about the process and ideas behind her pulp paper drawings.

Michelle Samour, Reflecting Pools: Beautiful Viruses.
Pigmented hand poured paper/vellum, light. Photo by Robert Schoen.

Empty Bowls Nourishes All of Us -- Thoughts from Co-Founder & Chair Thomas Perry

Thomas Perry is a potter and a co-founder and chair of Empty Bowls Houston, which has been held annually since 2005 to benefit the Houston Food Bank. He is a co-founder of ClayHouston, a regional ceramics guild, and has served as President, Secretary, and Treasurer and as co-chair of ClayHouston's first all-clay Festival. Thomas also serves as a docent and as a member of the Board of Directors for the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, where he was also once an artist-in-residence. Here, he shares his thoughts and inspiration for Empty Bowls Houston.

Photo of Thomas Perry by Karen Bruce.

In 2004, I proposed to HCCC staff how wonderful it would be if Houston held an Empty Bowls event and if HCCC would host it. The staff agreed, provided I could enlist the working team. Marie Weichman, Lydia Busch, and I recruited other team members and brought in the Houston Food Bank. At our inaugural event in April 2005, people were waiting in line for HCCC's doors to open. They wanted to help fill the empty bowls of those in need and to fill a need in their own lives for a handmade bowl.

This is just what Marie, Lydia, and I had hoped for. We were building on a tradition that began 20 years ago when a Michigan high-school ceramics class created 120 bowls to raise money for a local food drive, the first-ever Empty Bowls event. We were also building on the millennia-old tradition of bowls being utilized for serving food and drink. What better symbol than the empty bowl to represent the need for nourishment!

Sending out the Call for Bowls is like flipping a switch to activate individuals and groups. Many local college ceramics departments host Bowl-A-Thons, where students, staff, and a few outside potters spend a half day making dozens of bowls. During the following weeks, as students trim, glaze, and fire all these bowls, they improve their skills and gain insight while working on others' bowls as well as their own. Jennifer Herzberg of Baytown's Lee College fosters collaborations—always great learning opportunities—between ceramics and life drawing students, producing bowls decorated inside and out with drawings of the human figure.

SJC Bowl-A-Thon. Photo by Paula Murphy.

Early on, we reached out to the broader craft community, inviting woodturners, fiber artists, glass artists, mosaicists, blacksmiths, and other artists to create bowls. They won't be functional, they argued. It's not about bowl function, we countered, it's about bowl spirit. Artists working in all types of media have accepted the challenge of the bowl, then unleashed their imaginations and problem-solving skills.

We promote Empty Bowls through hands-on and demonstration events, such as HCCC's Hands-On Houston. Kids experience playing with clay and expanding their creativity. And so do adults. More than one father has kept his kids waiting while he completed his second bowl. Urban Harvest Farmers' Market offers us a center space, and we multi-task, making bowls, while explaining what we're doing, how long it takes to make a bowl, and what Empty Bowls is all about. We're educating people about clay and craft, as well as hunger.

Empty Bowls Houston at HCCC. Photo by Paula Murphy.

Empty Bowls Houston at HCCC. Photo by Paula Murphy.

Come to this Saturday's 7th Annual Empty Bowls Houston, 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM, at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and Lawndale Art Center. The event is free, and you can enjoy musicians, demonstrators, and even a stilt-walker. But to really make a difference, purchase one or a dozen handmade bowls, entitling you to a light lunch from Whole Foods Market. For each $25 bowl, you'll help the Houston Food Bank provide 25 people three nutritious meals for a day. And your bowl, forged by hand, passion, and talent, will remind you that you've "taken a bite out of hunger" and will nourish you with the pleasure of owning it, as it once nourished an artist who made it.

To learn more about Thomas Perry and his pottery, visit thomasperrypottery.com

Metalsmith Lisa Gralnick Speaks about “The Gold Standard”

Earlier this month, Houston Public Radio, KUHF, broadcast Bob Stevenson’s interview with artist and metalsmith, Lisa Gralnick, on their daily arts show, “The Front Row.”  Stevenson interviewed Gralnick when she was in town for the opening of her exhibition, The Gold Standard, which is on view at HCCC through May 28. This interview provides a wonderful overview of the exhibit, and we encourage you to listen to the extended version.

Also, if you want to hear a few one-to-two minute “sound bites” about some highlights from the show, Bellevue Arts Museum has been kind enough to provide audio clips of Lisa Gralnick discussing some of her works. Whether or not you are able to see the show in person, you have a chance to listen to the artist talk about her work and learn a little bit more about the ideas behind this impressive show.

Below are images of the pieces she talks about with an audio file below each image.

Lisa Gralnick, The Gold Standard Part III: Tool, Medical Device or Implement.
Recycled gold, and acrylic, 2007. Photo: Jim Escalante.

Lisa Gralnick, The Gold Standard Part III: Military Brooch, 1940.
Recycle gold, garnets and fragments of gold chain, 2007. Photo: Jim Escalante.

Lisa Gralnick, The Gold Standar Part III: Fourteen Unusually Small Rings.
Recycled gold, gemstones (amethyst, aquamarine, citrine, emerald, green amethyst, moissanite, morganite,
peridot, ruby, sapphire, sunstone, tanzanite, tourmaline), pearls, enamel, and acrylic, 2009. Photo: Jim Escalante.

Lisa Gralnick, The Gold Standard Part III: Foucault’s Panopticon.
Recycled gold, leather, mirror, and acrylic, 2010. Photo: Jim Escalante.

College Art Association Annual Conference in New York: A Report from HCCC Curatorial Fellow, Anna Walker (Part II)

On the final day of the conference, Saturday, Feb. 12, I began with the session, Textiles and Social Sculpture, chaired by Hazel Siegel from the Pratt Institute. Three of the four presentations were by artists about their own art and one was by art historian Julie Schlarman, of University of South Dakota, about the public art of Janet Echelman. Echelman creates monumental public sculptures out of high-density polyester fibers, which are frequently used by NASA or engineering companies. She uses traditional knotting techniques practiced by fisherman to fabricate her sculptures. Her public works react to the surrounding natural environment and sometimes include other architectural elements. In her sculpture, Water Sky Garden, created for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, the netted “sky lantern” hangs from a steel structure over a bridge of red painted cedar.

Janet Echelman. Water Sky Garden at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
Painted galvanized steel rings, TENARA® Architectural fiber,
red painted cedar, water fountains. Image courtesy Janet Echelman, Inc.
Photo: Peter Vanderwarker.

Following the presentation by Schlarman, artist Olivia Robinson presented Temporary Spaces for Resistant Histories. She discussed recent projects she and her group, “Spectres of Libery,” have pursued in communities in the Northeast. Robinson’s organization describes itself as “an on-going public, hybrid media project about the history of the movement to abolish slavery in the United States.” The projects she spoke about included The Great Central Depot in the Open City and Ghost of the Liberty Street Church. Both public pieces seek to make visible the history of hidden people and
movements of resistance. Ghost of the Liberty Street Church recreated a demolished church out of inflatable, transparent fabric. In the 1840s, the church was the sight of historic gatherings fighting to abolish slavery under pastor Henry Highland Garnet. I was struck by the soft, almost delicate appearance of the structure as the backdrop for such serious discussions surrounding human civil rights.

Spectres of Libery. Ghost of the Liberty Street Church.

Also presenting on the topic of Textiles and Social Sculpture was artist Elaine Reichek. She spoke about the 16 hand-embroidered samplers displayed in her digital exhibition, madamimadam, at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The research for this project was completed while Reichek was an artist-in-residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, in February 2001. The final project was not a traditional exhibition, due to the Gardner Trust’s stipulation that the current display of work had to be permanent and could not to be altered except for purposes of maintenance or loan. To get around this rule, Reichek installed her work on easels, tables and empty spaces on the walls, while the museum was closed. The works were then photographed and, 10 years later, still live on in the original format of a digital exhibition.

After this session, I joined a room of artists, academics, curators and persons interested in craft for the Critical Craft Forum: Platform for Exchange. Co-chairs Namita Wiggers, Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Craft, and Elisabeth Agro, Curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, led a conversation about how to foster more critical dialogue around craft. After the 2010 CAA conference, many individuals expressed the need for a space to explore and discuss research, exhibitions, ideas and publications surrounding craft. Out of this meeting, the “Critical Craft Forum” was formed on Facebook. Since its initial founding, the group on Facebook has become stagnant. The co-chairs discussed possibly changing the forum from a Facebook group to that of a blog and inviting guest writers to create posts on different issues surrounding craft. A majority of the audience was receptive to this idea, with many of us signing up to volunteer and be part of the next steps of a “Critical Craft Forum.”

Overall, I was excited to attend my first CAA conference and find so many thought-provoking sessions that related to the field of craft. Historically, craft tried to prove itself to the “fine” art world and was frequently overlooked as an amateur art form. It was inspiring to participate in discussions and listen to presentations that are leaving that debate behind and looking ahead to articulate craft’s importance within its own field. Through the development of more research and critical dialogue, craft will become more widely represented in academia and articulate its own place in the field of the visual arts.


Anna Walker
Curatorial Fellow
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

College Art Association Annual Conference in New York: A Report from HCCC Curatorial Fellow, Anna Walker (Part I)

I didn’t know what to expect as a first-time attendee at the College Art Association’s (CAA) Annual Conference in New York City, February 9 - 12, 2011. I have always been familiar with CAA as a tool for educators and students, but I was excited to attend the panel discussions surrounding craft and curatorial topics.

I arrived on Thursday and began the day in the session, The Art of Pranks, with chair Beauvais Lyons, University of Tennessee.  Lyons began the session flipping through slides of pranks by artists, including Marcel Duchamp, Damien Hirst, and Jeff Koons.  Humor is at the core of Prank, particularly how it is used to engage with political discourse. With such an engaging topic, I was glad many of the papers took a more lighthearted approach in presentation format. For example, self-proclaimed “artivist,” Clark Stoeckley, presented his talk in the guise of “Officer Stoeckley of the NYPD.”  Stoeckley provided an overview of pranks by graffiti and performance artists that were both playful and illustrative of political resistance.  This made me curious about which craft artists have engaged with prank theory through their work. Surely, Wendell Castle’s 1978 piece, Coat Rack with Trench Coat, in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, would be considered prankster?  (Although, made of wood, it mimics a coat in the style of trompe l’oeil.) Another example of prankish craft is the recent exhibit from the Wood Turning Center, Challenge VII: DysFUNctional, which features objects that subvert function and are made with the kind of humor and whimsy frequently found at the core of Prank.

Wendell Castle (American, b. 1932.) Coat Rack with Trench Coat. 1978.
Honduran mahogany.The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston;
Gift of Roy M. Huffington, Inc. and anonymous donors, 1984.299.
Art Copyright Wendell Castle Inc.

Following this session, I attended Narcissism, a topic organized by the Queer Caucus for Art: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus for Art, Artists, and Historians.  With a strong schedule of presenters, I would need to devote multiple posts to each presentation. I thought the strongest presentations were It’s all about ME, Not You: The Art of Greer Lankton, by Jonathan Weinberg, independent artist and scholar, and Shame-Flushed Flaming:  Narcissism and the Queer Potentials of Photography, presented by Jill Casid, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Overall, I am most interested in applying queer theory and the topics discussed to practices surrounding craft. Fiber artists, Lacey Jane Roberts, Josh Faught and Aaron McIntosh are just a few artists that come to mind who are dealing with issues surrounding queer identity and hetero-norms of society and craft.

Looking ahead, Friday promised another full day of sessions, with many surrounding craft specifically. In the morning, Betty Crouther, University of Mississippi, and Crystal Hui-Shu Yang, University of North Dakota, chaired and presented papers in Cultural Diversity and Human Creativity:  The Continuation of Traditional Craftsmanship.  Presenter Joshua Almond, of Rollins College, discussed the simplistic approach of the art-versus-craft debate in his presentation, Liberal Arts Colleges as Stewards of Traditional Craftsmanship. He referenced Glenn Adamson’s new book, Thinking through Craft, and his discussion of craft as a process. Almond explained how the interdisciplinary model of liberal arts schools is similar to the model with which we should discuss craft—a dialogue that is not solely about material exploration. Following this talk was the much anticipated session, Where Is Tradition in American Studio Craft?, chaired by Katie Lee, Assistant Director of the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design.  The three presentations in this session were topical and gave constructive criticism to the notions behind the loaded word, tradition.  Audio recordings and PDF documents of this session can be found on the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design’s website.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, tradition is cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs and institutions. When examining the relationship of craft to society, the presenters agreed that, while craft references traditions of the past, it is a nimble and responsive medium that engages with current society on a variety of levels.

Lin Yillin (Chinese, b. 1964) Safely Maneuvering Across Lin He Road. 1995.
Still image from single channel video, sound, 36 minutes, 45 seconds.
Asia Society, New York: Promised Gift of Harold and Ruth Newman.

With this in mind, I found the presentations of Elisabeth Agro, Curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Tom Loeser, Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, highly engaging and relevant.  Agro articulated the need to shift the rhetoric of tradition to that of heritage. She used the material history of porcelain and cleverly highlighted how objects created today reference those from the past. Contemporary works are not made in a traditional style, but instead honor certain stylistic or material references from the past, the heritage of the material. Loeser presented artists and works that re-contextualize traditions of the past, placing craft into a successful relationship with art and design. One such example was Safely Maneuvering Across Lin He Road, a performance piece by Chinese artist, Lin Yillin, in which he continually rebuilds a concrete wall, while crossing a pedestrian crosswalk during traffic. Loeser mentions how this work displays the radical act of a mundane action, the traditions of wall building and even labor practices. Following this panel, Namita Gupta Wiggers, Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Craft, was the discussant and led the beginnings of what could have been a provocative discussion had our session time not lapsed.

Lin Yillin (Chinese, b. 1964) Safely Maneuvering Across Lin He Road. 1995.
Single channel video, sound, 36 minutes, 45 seconds.
Asia Society, New York: Promised Gift of Harold and Ruth Newman.

Anna Walker
Curatorial Fellow
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft




Anna Walker continues with her report, reviewing the final day of presentations and her conclusions from the conference in Part II.

Nurturing “Commonplace” Objects

Ceramic artist Ryan Takaba’s works are currently on display in the Artist Hall exhibit, Commonplace: Objects by Barbara Smith and Ryan Takaba. His “Mums and Water” series is a collection of organic and delicate porcelain bud vases that mount to the wall, holding green mum flowers. To sustain these simple flowers, each vase must be carefully filled with water several times a week, as it holds only a small amount. The vases are linked by the stems of the plants, which serve as carriers for tiny drops of water to flow to another vase, creating a unique and visually interesting watering system.

Ryan Takaba, On to Heaviness.
Porcelain, mums, water, steel pins. 2010
Photo by: Mark Menjivar.

Takaba is interested in the delicate nature of these objects and their use in a common process of watering plants. His work allows the viewer to contemplate this somewhat mundane activity and also serves as a reminder of those moments in our daily lives that are so often deemed unimportant or overlooked because they are simple.

Ryan Takaba, Detail: On to Heaviness.
Porcelain, mums, water, steel pins. 2010
Photo by: Mark Menjivar.

So, while the works are on view, HCCC staff will be watering the mums on a regular basis—observing and documenting what happens during the process and any changes that may occur. Because this simple act is an integral part of Takaba’s concept, we are helping to complete his idea.

--Ashley Powell, HCCC Curatorial Assistant.

Ryan Takaba piece, photo by Ashley Powell using the Hipstamatic iPhone application.

Ryan Takaba's “Mums and Water” series updates:

• Friday, February 11, 2011 @ 2:30 PM: 3 - 4 drops of water added to vases
• Wednesday, February 16, 2011 @ 4:00 PM: 6 drops of water added to vases
• Tuesday, February 22, 2011 @ 2:30 PM:  6 - 8 drops of water added to vases
• Thursday, February 24, 2011 @ 2:43 PM:  Mums replaced and vases re-filled
• Tuesday, March, 1 2011 @ 4:40 PM: Mums watered, 6 drops each
• Tuesday, March, 8 2011: Mums watered @ 5:00 PM
• Friday, March, 18 2011: Mums replaced and watered
• Wednesday, March, 23 2011: Mums watered @ 2:43 PM
• Friday, March, 25 2011: Mums watered @ 3:00 PM
• Wednesday, March, 30 2011: Mums watered @ 3:00 PM

Q & A with Nora Atkinson, Curator of "Lisa Gralnick: The Gold Standard" – Part I

Nora Atkinson, Curator at Bellevue Arts Museum in Bellevue, Washington, curated the current major exhibition, Lisa Gralnick: The Gold Standard, at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. She was kind enough to answer some questions over email about the show.

HCCC: The general public may not be familiar with how an exhibition is conceived and organized. Can you explain why you approached Lisa Gralnick, what first drew you to her work and, inevitably, how the exhibition came together?

NA: My first encounter with this body of work was at the SOFA Chicago Convention in 2008. I was transfixed by the piece, Chastity Belt Necklace—first by the object: the beauty of the delicate gold links in harsh contrast with the menace of the hair and barbs, then by its anachronistic caption.  It was among a few pieces from the series that Lisa was showing at the fair, and it pulled me into her booth to investigate further and talk with her about her work.  She was giving a lecture the following morning, so our Artistic Director/Chief Curator, Stefano Catalani, and I took the opportunity to listen to her speak, and it was just after the lecture that we began discussions about the show. 

Lisa Gralnick, The Gold Standard Part III: Victorian Chastity Belt Necklace.
Recycle gold, hair.23” x 2” x 1”. Photo: Jim Escalante.

It was a very serendipitous meeting, since it seemed like the ideal moment for an exhibition of Lisa’s work.  A well-known jeweler with an impressive body of prior work, she was reaching the end of a monumental conceptual project that had spanned seven years and gone beyond the usual bounds of jewelry to explore something completely unique.  She had always hoped that the pieces would be shown all together. 

We discussed the prospect of the exhibition with Lisa on the spot, and then concreted the plan for the exhibition over the next several months, flying her out for an interview and site visit, locating and arranging the shipment of the pieces, and working on the catalogue with a talented team, which included writers Tacey Rosolowski and Michael J. McClure, and a wonderful photographer, Jim Escalante, who photographed the works for long hours, even as the last few were being completed.  Although Lisa’s prior work is worthy of a mid-career survey, it was a conscious choice to show this body of work as a single, separate exhibition on its own.  The recession had just begun to hit, and I felt that although the artist has dealt with many of the same issues throughout her work, this series, which is at its heart a meditation on value, deserved to take center stage and felt too important and relevant to current events in its own right to be placed in a larger historical context. 

HCCC: This exhibition is framed in three parts.  Obviously, this is partly chronological, but it is also grouped by theme.  Why is it important that the artist is exhibiting this show in three parts?  Why not three different exhibitions?

NA: The question is a good one.  As you can imagine, in working on the same project over the course of seven years, Lisa has displayed parts of the series alone along the way. The simple answer to this question would be that the work was always conceived of by the artist as a single series, to be shown together, but more than that, I think the works are individually stronger for their connection. 

In Part III, for example, the pieces themselves are opulent and full of individual societal commentary, but they don’t go conceptually as far without thinking of them and questioning them in the terms of value that Part I sets up as a framework, or the context of gold as simultaneously being immutable and ever changing—able to maintain its brilliance through the ages and retain the knowledge of human history, while at the same time able to erase the past and leave no trace of its previous incarnations—as set up through Part II.  Similarly, the labels, which are laser inscribed in Part I and gradually slide to typewriter in Part II, and to handwriting in Part III, are a good example of the kind of subtle manipulations Lisa makes over the entire body of work that would be lost without the whole.  Without other labels to compare these to, they seem less deliberate, but this intentional juxtaposition, or others, like the use of vitrines—sparingly in Part I, not at all in Part II, but present in Part III—add a rich subtext to the work.

Lisa Gralnick, The Gold Standard Part I: #11 Tiffany Ring.
Gold and acrylic. 2” x 40” x 16”. Photo: Jim Escalante.

And not only does Lisa use these devices differently, but she addresses many of the same subjects from different angles, as she has often done in her oeuvre, and her larger meditations are always present, even in her very specific investigations.  The huge tiffany ring she presents us in Part I is interesting when played off of The Jeweler’s Revenge in Part III, where the form of the ring appears again, and countless such comparisons arise within the work. 

Although the title of the series refers to The Gold Standard, the exploration is about much more than this face value:  Lisa not only calls into question the essential and assigned qualities of gold (the express purpose of the work), but also all aspects of what we, as a society, place value upon, and how that value is derived. Any single part of the series would be an incomplete mediation on this subject.

Exhibition Information

• Lisa Gralnick: The Gold Standard
  On view at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft
  4848 Main Street. Houston, Texas 77002
  January 22 - May 28
  
  
• To view images of the Opening Reception and
  Lisa Gralnick's Gallery Talk, visit our Facebook Page
  
  
• To read Part II of our interview with Nora Atkinson, click here.

Jenine Bressner on Houston Visit

Mixed-media artist, Jenine Bressner, opens up and writes about her experiences while visiting Houston to install her first solo show at a major institution.  Inverted Harmony: A Handmande Environment by Jenine Bressner, is on view in our Small Gallery through March 13, 2011.

Detail of Jenine Bressner’s current installation at HCCC.
Handmade glass and lasercut, hand-sewn fabrics.
Photo courtesy of the artist.

Houston, Texas has surpassed my expectations by light years. I worked all week to install Inverted Harmony: A Handmande Environment by Jenine Bressner at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. In my mind, the working title is, “Why Are We Fighting When We're on the Same Team?” This installation is the biggest thing that I have ever made, aside from building rooms in warehouses.

The support from HCCC has been so incredibly thorough and generous. I have to especially thank Anna Walker, curatorial fellow at HCCC, for EVERYTHING! I am ineffably grateful to Anna, Randall Dorn, and Ashley Powell for their invaluable help and to Kerry Inman and Nyala Wright for their generous hospitality.

Jenine Bressner during installation – “As I hung plant forms,
I rearranged
the platforms of the scaffold to allow the pieces
to hang fully extended.”
Photo courtesy of the artist.

“Here, Anna Walker (r) and Ashley Powell (l) prepare strands of
glass rain
before I hang them.” – Jenine Bressner. Photo courtesy of the artist.

“I spent months lampworking Pyrex to make lots of glass rain drops.
 It felt like it took
forever to tie them all!  Thanks to Dave Olsen for 
teaching me how to make a fisherman's
knot, and for being so helpful to me.” 
– Jenine Bressner. Photo courtesy of the artist.

This is the text that accompanies my installation:

The idea of "Man versus Nature" fails to acknowledge that humans are animals. Though we exist in the context of nature, we are distinct from other fauna in many obvious ways. We try to control nearly every other type of living thing around us, from pests to pets. In relating to everything only as something we can manipulate, we fail to view and understand the rest of life with true empathy.

Our impact on the natural world is currently disruptive and unbalancing in unprecedented ways. We are turning the world upside-down, but I believe in the resiliency of nature--sans humans. If plants can grow through from underneath pavement, nature can eventually resolve much of the damage for which we have been responsible.

The most inspiring works I've witnessed have all been naturally occurring ones. I aim to make things that reflect my respect and awe for the natural world, my quiet sadness for our uncertain future, and the paradox of humans trying to control and recreate nature itself in artwork that can only strive to be as beautiful as authentic life.

The screening of Handmade Nation at Lawndale Art Center last weekend was packed beyond capacity, with people lining the walls and sitting on the floors.  225 people attended the film, and 100 came to my artist talk! It was a lot of fun to meet everybody and talk with folks, so thank you if you were able to be there!  Also, the band What Cheer Brigade from Providence (the band in the bookbinding scene in Handmade Nation) will be playing at Super Happy Fun Land on March 10th!

Jenine Bressner while teaching the Ruffled Accessories workshop at

Sew Crafty Houston.  Photo courtesy of Sew Crafty Houston.


Thanks also to Sarah Gabbart and Sew Crafty Houston for hosting my workshop on sewing ruffled textile forms and accessories, and thanks to everyone in the class!  Sarah, you're a gem!

--Jenine Bressner

For more information, visit Jenine’s…

• Website

• Blog

• Flickr
• Etsy
• YouTube

Meet Sarah from Sew Crafty

For some of our upcoming events, we have developed exciting partnerships with several Houston arts organizations, such as Lawndale Art Center, Aurora Picture Show and Sew Crafty Houston. On Saturday, January 22, Sew Crafty Houston will host our special workshop, “Ruffled Accessories with Jenine Bressner.” (Spots are still available—click here to learn more and register.)  So, this week, we’ve invited Sarah Gabbart, owner of Sew Crafty Houston, to tell us a bit more about her sewing lounge in the Heights.

Sarah Gabbart at Sew Crafty’s December craft fair. Photo by Ellen Chen.

Crafters, makers, DIYers and indie artists have flocked to Houston in the last few years, presumably for our low cost of living, and have found a city that’s ready to be part of what other places like Austin and Chicago have already experienced: a DIY community.

How do I know? I started a sewing lounge called Sew Crafty in 2008. For the past three years, I have found tons of folks who were ready to meet other people that enjoyed crafting as much as they did! There they were, yarn or fabric in hand, just waiting for someone to say, “Hey you guys! This is where you can craft.” That’s why I started Sew Crafty—so people could have fun and make stuff together.

At this point you might be asking, “What the heck is a sewing lounge?” Good question! In a sewing lounge, like Sew Crafty, you can take classes, buy supplies or rent space to work on your projects—but that’s not the whole story. You can meet other folks who like sewing, knitting, crochet, craft, DIY and fun stuff like that. You can be part of a craft community!

Many folks have found this kind of camaraderie online, through sites like Craftster.org and Etsy.com, but not in their own backyard. In the past, we have worked with groups like Etsy Houston (a group of makers who band together to fight evil… err… rather, create craft fairs, promote their wares and enjoy cupcakes) to help bring awareness to all of the cool stuff people are making in our very own city.

Sound like fun to you? It’s easy to get involved—visit a craft fair, join a meet up group or take a workshop with us or HCCC! I promise it’s a whole lot of fun, and there are usually cupcakes.

Mixed-media artist, Jenine Bressner—recently featured on The Martha Stewart Show—will be in Houston for her first solo show, a special workshop, and other events in January

Sample image of Bressner’s glass-bead and textile work.
Photo courtesy the artist.

Mixed-media artist, Jenine Bressner, will debut her first solo show, Inverted Harmony: A handmade Environment by Jenine Bressner, at HCCC this January in the small gallery. The exhibition will open on Friday, January 21, 2011, from 5:30-8:00 p.m. On Saturday, January 22, Jenine will teach a workshop from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.: Ruffled Accessories: Beards, Boutonnieres, and Headbands.  HCCC is partnering with Sew Crafty Houston to present this special workshop.

We will be posting more about Sew Crafty Houston and Jenine Bressner later in January, but for now, we thought everyone might enjoy a sneak peak about Jenine and her recent spot on The Martha Stewart Show. You can see a full clip of Jenine and Martha here.  And, read more about Jenine’s experience on her blog here.

Space at the workshop is limited, so if you want to join Jenine in Houston, and learn to make some fun and wacky accessories to spice up your wardrobe, sign up now!

Jenine will also give a gallery talk on the evening of Saturday, January 22, at 8:15 pm.  This will immediately follow the reception and screening of Handmade Nation, a documentary about the new wave of art, craft and design, at Lawndale Art Center.  Read more about these events here. 

Introducing Our New Artists-in-Residence: Clark Kellogg

A native of Houston, TX, Clark Kellogg has been interested in woodworking and furniture making since he was 14, when he and his father started building small projects in the family garage. He received his BA from the University of Virginia. He is formally trained as a furniture maker, graduating from both the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship's Nine-Month Comprehensive program and the College of the Redwoods esteemed Fine Woodworking Program.

Clark with his piece, Garden Bench,
for which he received  an
award-of-merit in Craft Texas 2010.

I've known about the residencies at HCCC since the organization was founded in 2001, because I've visited the center all these years. I wanted to apply for a few years, but I wasn't settled in Houston. I was traveling back and forth between home and school. Also, I didn't have enough work until recently for a complete application. Once I knew I was going to be in Houston for a few years, and had a larger body of work, I applied.

Part of the plan for my residency is to use it as an opportunity to promote myself and my work in the Houston community. I want to interact with visitors, be part of educating them about what fine furniture can be and how much work goes in to making custom furniture. While in my residency, I hope to balance making some larger furniture pieces with smaller work focused on letter carving. Letter carving is a new area for me and it's exciting to explore and see where this new skill will will take me.

Hemlock Wall Cabinet,
by Clark Kellogg, photo by David Welter.

Music Box, by Clark Kellogg, photo courtesy the artist

.

Little Squam (detail image), 
by Clark Kellogg, photo courtesy the artist.

 You can find our more about our current artists-in-residence on our website.

Introducing Our New Artists-in-Residence: Kristi Rae Wilson

Kristi Rae Wilson is a mixed media artist who has returned to her hometown of Houston after being away for seven years. She received her BFA from Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, TX before earning her MFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Kristi in her studio at HCCC.

I found out about the residency at HCCC when I was in undergrad at Stephen F. Austin University. I didn't feel I was prepared for it at the time, but I stored away the information for later. When I graduated with my MFA, I sought out residencies in the USA and Europe. HCCC was the first to contact me and after accepting the position, I was excited to return back to Houston.

During my residency, I hope to continue researching fabrics and allow this research to influence my jewelry skills. I want to allow this relationship between fabric and jewelry to happen organically. In the end, I hope for two different outcomes. The first outcome being a high end production line of jewelry and the second developing large scale exhibition pieces.

Tea Infuser Earrings,
by Kristi Rae Wilson, 
photo by Motoko Furuhashi.

Detachment of the Bed Sheet,
still from 2 minute looped video
by Kristi Rae Wilson,
photo courtesy the artist.

Remnants Collar,
by Kristi Rae Wilson,
photo by Motoko Furuhashi.

You can find more about our current artists-in-residence on our website.

Introducing Our New Artists-in-Residence: Lisa Wilson

Lisa Wilson is a metalsmith and jewelry designer who creates a range of work, from sculptural objects to one-of-a-kind jewelry. An Ohio native, Lisa received her B.F.A. from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN, before going on to earn her M.F.A. from Miami University in Oxford, OH.

Lisa Wilson in her studio at HCCC.

I found the residency at HCCC by word of mouth while I was finishing graduate school. Although I enjoy teaching, I did not want to pursue a teaching career full time directly after school. Applying for the residency seemed like a good match because it provides me time and space to make work, but I’m also able to gain some teaching experience in the Houston community.

While in my residency, I want to focus on taking my large scale sculptural work down to a smaller, more intimate size. My larger sculptures are based on algorithms found in natural objects. By making the work smaller in scale, I hope to capture the way we interact with a majority of the natural world. I want to provide contemplative experiences in my work, similar to those found when picking up a seashell on the beach or a fallen leaf on the sidewalk.

Diffusion Study,
by Lisa Wilson,
photo courtesy Jeff Sabo.

Spiral Growth,
by Lisa Wilson,
photo courtesy Jeff Sabo.

Wave Particle Loop, by Lisa Wilson,
photo courtesy Jeff Sabo.

You can find out more about our current artists-in-residence on our website.

Introducing Our New Artists-in-Residence: Elizabeth DeLyria

Originally a landscape painter, ceramic artist Elizabeth DeLyria translates the concept of landscape into the functionality of clay. Prior to moving to Katy, TX, she received her MEd in Art Education from the University of Houston. She also attended the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, as well as the Art Institute of Chicago. We talked with her about why she came to HCCC and what she will be working on during her time here.

Elizabeth in her studio at HCCC.

I had visited HCCC in the past and was always very impressed with the organization. Once I retired from teaching a year ago, I realized I wasn't familiar with the ceramics community in Houston. I had always known Houston as a teacher, not as an artist. I decided to apply for the residency and learn more about the ceramics community.

While at HCCC, I hope to further develop the emphasis of merging sculptural and functional characteristics in my pieces. My work is derived from nature and I want to expand it and make forms that I haven't had time to explore until now.

Birch Forest,
by Elizabeth DeLyria,
photo courtesy of the artist.

Petoskey Cairn, by Elizabeth DeLyria,
photo courtesy of the artist.

Birch,
by Elizabeth DeLyria, 
photo courtesy of the artist.

You can find out more about our current artists-in-residence on our website.