January 4, 2016
Purdue Galleries to feature 'Sixty Square Inches' and '360 Degrees of Separation'
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Ina Kaur (Tampa, FL) Eccentric spheres II, multi-plate etching and stencil on handmade paper, 8 inches diameter. (“Sixty Square Inches” exhibit) (Photo provided) |
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. –Purdue University Galleries will open two new group exhibits of small printmaking and international ceramics on Jan. 11 and 12.
“Sixty Square Inches: 18th North American Small Print Exhibition” will be presented from Jan. 11 through Feb. 20 in the Robert L. Ringel Gallery in Stewart Center.
The Sixty Square Inches exhibition continues a tradition that began in 1977. The exhibit presents a current review of North American printmakers working within a format of less than 60 square inches in image area, as delineated in the title of the show. These small works present the viewer with an intimate experience and invite close attention to the visual message.
Purdue Galleries are committed to the practice of acquiring new works from each Sixty Square Inches exhibition and building the collection of contemporary North American printmaking, while helping to support the community of modern artists.
The Galleries’ periodic printmaking exhibits feature hands-on relief printing demonstrations and presentations on the history and development of printmaking for the regional K-12 educational community.
From 5:30-7 p.m. Jan. 14, Purdue Galleries will host an opening reception and “print talk” in the Ringel gallery, with additional notable prints from the Galleries collection.
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Keith Ekstam (Kansas City, MO), Manifest Destiny-Scholar Toys Series, wood-fired and low-fired stoneware, 15-by-28-by-10 inches. (“360 Degrees of Separation” exhibit) (Photo provided) |
“360 Degrees of Separation” will be presented Jan. 12 through Feb. 20 in the Fountain Gallery in downtown Lafayette.
“360 Degrees of Separation” suggests both a circle and the global nature and provenance of the ceramic artists who are participating in this show. Chosen from countries all over the world, the common denominator for the artists’ selection is having spent a residency at the Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center in Skaelskor, Denmark. This residency provides an intimate and well-run studio space that allows one to work and explore new ideas while rubbing elbows with fellow artists working in the same medium but with extraordinarily diverse methodologies and ideas.
Artists included in this show use building, glazing, and firing methods that range from the ancient, such as wood firing and terra sigillata burnishing to the most recent innovation in 3-D printing with clay.
360 degrees Fahrenheit is also the approximate temperature at which organic material begins to burn out of a clay body in a kiln firing. Sigrid Zahner, exhibit curator and associate professor of ceramics, says, “Sometimes the ceramic artist is only too aware that their own physical body will burn out well before the work they make disintegrates and, thus, one experiences both humility and awe for the material, one of the most ubiquitous and varied on earth, when faced with this reality.”
From 5:30-7 p.m. Jan. 15, Purdue Galleries will host a reception and gallery talk by Zahner in the Fountain gallery.
The Robert L. Ringel Gallery is located in Stewart Center on Purdue’s main campus. The gallery is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and until 8 p.m. on Thursday.
The Fountain Gallery is located at 330 Main Street, Lafayette, in the historic Perrin Building. The gallery is open noon to 7 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. All Purdue Galleries exhibitions and events are free and open to the public.
For class and group visits, contact Craig Martin at Purdue Galleries at 765-494-3061. Regional K-12 teachers are reminded that Galleries has funds available for bused class visits to exhibits through a grant from the Indiana Arts Commission through the Tippecanoe Arts Federation. For more information, visit http://www.purdue.edu/galleries or follow @PurdueGalleries on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Contact: Craig Martin, 765-494-3061, cdmartin@purdue.edu
