Linda Arbuckle on wed 6 jun 01
In correspondence about the NCECA invitational, I received a copy from
Exhibition Director Michel Conroy of her response to a member's question
about the show. I thought it might be of interest, and with Michel's
blessing I pass this along.
_____________________________________________________________
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "clifford Ross"
> To:
> Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2001 7:23 PM
> Subject: 2002 entries
>
> > How about more time than 15 days to decipher your intentions as to
the '02
> > theme,making some products, taking pictures, getting same developed,
and
> > sendingsome pics in for your selection committee. I cannot believe
any
> show
> > would only give two weeks time for all the prep work required. MAYBE
60
> > days would be enough time for this.
> >
> >
> > Please reconsider your time requirements for the 2002 show. Member,
> > Clifford Ross
Clifford,
Hello. I am writing to respond to your request that the deadline for
the NCECA
2002 Invitational Exhibition be extended for 60 days.
First, I would like to clarify the intent of the 2 formats that are used
for
the NCECA sponsored conference shows. In odd numbered years, the
Council
sponsors the Clay National, a juried exhibition open to all U.S. artists
and
international Council members. This show features individual works and
covers
a broad range of styles and methods employed by ceramic artists. It
cannot,
however, accommodate work created by artists who are not making discrete
objects (e.g. installation works) and does not typically include late
career or
established artists who no longer participate in juried exhibitions.
Because
of these limitations and the Council's aim to serve the full spectrum of
ceramic art, and to provide a diverse exhibitions program, the Council
instituted the Invitational exhibition. In this format, the show is not
the
product of a jurying process, but of a curatorial viewpoint.
The Invitational exhibition, sponsored in even numbered years, is a
curated
(not juried) exhibition. It is intended to examine a specific theme or
issue
in order to further critical discourse as well as to provide an
educational/aesthetic experience for exhibition visitors. The
Invitational
generally features more than one work by each artists, making possible a
more
comprehensive view of an artist's work than is possible in the juried
show
format. It is by its nature different from a juried exhibition where it
is
appropriate to enter one or two works. In this case, we, as curators,
are
considering a body of work, not single works.
The 2000 Invitational Exhibition was the first Invitational I
co-curated. The
theme was the artist's search for the spiritual in/through their work.
There
were twenty artists included. The 2001 and 1999 Clay National
Exhibitions each
included more than 60 artists' works.
It seems to me that you have a misconception of the intent and format of
this
show. The theme is not intended as an assignment given to artists to
then work
on and later to submit results, as you suggested. Through the call for
submissions we are asking artists who's on-going work explores this
theme to
send representative examples of their work. In this case, I do not
believe
artists need time for all the prep work you mentioned and I do not
believe the
short turn around time is an undue hardship. In the case of the Clay
National
I agree that it is essential to provide artists with generous advance
time to
prepare entries. For the 2001 Clay National, the prospectus was
distributed to
the membership at the conference in March, more than 5 months before the
deadline. Please start to plan now for the 2003 Clay National
Exhibition in
San Diego. Entries will be due in September of 2002.
As NCECA Exhibitions Director I proposed several possible exhibition
themes for
the 2002 NCECA Invitational Exhibition to my co-curator, Raechelle
Smith,
Director of the H&R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute,
which will
host the exhibition. She chose "new materiality" as the focus of the
show. I
intentionally left the call for submissions open to interpretation in
order to
allow for a broad range of responses.
It is not possible to make an object in clay without the material being
at
issue. It affects our expectations, perceptions and
interpretations. Our discussion of this theme began with an
understanding that
the seminal change Voulkos et. al brought to ceramic
art turned on materiality, exploiting clay's expressive potential and
its
plastic, responsive nature. We next asked if ceramic artists are
now working from a somewhat different paradigm (excuse the buzz word).
Is
there a shift taking place in how artists see the medium and how we
employ the
ceramic process? This is an on-going discussion and as curators we are
committed to seriously considering all submissions.
Sincerely,
Michel Conroy
NCECA Member and Exhibitions Director
MC15@swt.edu
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