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An exhibit of work titled “Unearthed” by six ceramists from the Red Lodge Clay Center in Montana opens in the college’s Northwest Gallery Wednesday, Jan. 16. The exhibit will conclude with a closing artists’ reception Friday, Feb. 15, from 2:30-4 p.m. in the gallery.
This is the 11th year Red Lodge Clay Center ceramists have exhibited their work at NWC, bringing together artists with distinct styles from many different regions throughout the country.
“Unearthed” is a combination of functional and decorative ceramics that includes both wheel-thrown and hand built pieces.
Featured artists this year are Crista Ann Ames, Kelsey Bowen, Emily Nickel and Karl Schwiesow.
Viewers will find a spectrum of work that stretches from functional to purely fun and from colorful to rustic.
Ames is a sculptor working primarily in ceramics, wood and textiles. Raised on a small hobby farm in Washington State, she often draws on her own experiences to explore pastoral life, animal husbandry, women’s craft and fertility. She earned her bachelor’s in ceramics with a minor in art history and disability studies at Washington State University. She later went on to earn her master of fine arts from the University of Montana.
Bowen spent her childhood in the rural California foothills, growing a strong root system of inspiration in animals and nature. She is a recent graduate of the California College of the Arts Ceramics Program. She has participated in various exhibitions including the California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Arts in Davis, the American Museum of Ceramic Arts in Los Angeles and her bachelor of fine arts solo exhibition in Oakland, California.
Nickel is an artist and arts educator who uses human and animal forms to interrogate societal pressures on individual identity. She holds a master of fine arts in ceramics from Indiana University. Her work has been exhibited throughout the U.S. and internationally. She’s participated in several residency programs including Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts and Red Lodge Clay Center.
Schwiesow, originally from Homer, Alaska, earned his bachelor of fine arts in sculpture and ceramics from Sierra Nevada College. He went on to earn his master of fine arts from the University of Montana. He was the Ceramic Artist in Residence at the Sonoma Community Center in Sonoma, California, and was an adjunct faculty member in the art department at the University of Montana Western in Dillon, Montana. Schwiesow has exhibited works in California, Nevada, Washington, Montana and Pennsylvania.
Also contributing to the exhibit are Red Lodge Clay Center staffers David Hiltner and Sean O’Connell.
The Red Lodge Clay Center exhibit is displayed through Friday, Feb. 15, in the Northwest Gallery. Located in the Cabre Building, the gallery is open from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays and Thursday evenings from 7-9 p.m. Admission is free.
