JANUARY 13 – FEBRUARY 26, 2017
Main Gallery
Join us for talks by each of the artists: Friday, January 13, 4 pm.
Opening Reception: Friday, January 13, 6 – 8 pm
Three Jerome Artists features the work of the 2016 Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grant recipients: Bianka Groves, Brady McLearen, and Elizabeth Pechacek. Each artist spent the past 8+ months pursuing a unique project, the results of which will be featured in the exhibition.
Bianka Groves is grounded in functionality and design. She works “slowly, to produce clean forms and lines.” Groves took the opportunity provided by the Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grant to research Scandinavian architecture and post-war ceramics. She traveled to examine long-admired works of Gertrude Vasegaard, Lucie Rie, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Her journey led her to Denmark and the Grimmerhus Museum, to Germany and the Meissen porcelain factory, as well as to locations in Sweden and Norway; then she returned to her studio to consider the implications of her research on her own studio practice.
Brady McLearen’s work facilitates a sort of blurring of the viewer’s eye, making complex forms into abstracted simple shapes that carry a wide array of atmospheric hues and textures, both visual and actual. With the support of the 2016 Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grant, McLearen accepted an invitation to a six-week artist-in-residence program at Guldagergaard International Research Center, in Skælskør, Denmark. He says, “I was searching for how to be expressive with the time-based, transformative material [of plaster].” McLearen had the opportunity to create multiple-part molds for slipcasting techniques, to design patterns in a CAD program (Rhino), and to operate the 3D clay printer.
Elizabeth Pechacek creates forms reminiscent of past decades and yet the work is very much of today. She speaks of seeking a “positive disruption” to gently wake us from an automaton slumber. She sought support from the Jerome Foundation for her own awakening and found the room to develop her identity and reputation as an artist. Pechacek explored unifying her art, craft, and career by introducing her metal background to her clay practice, producing non-utilitarian forms.