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S T A T E M E N T:
Architectural design and construction endeavors to be the pinnacle of art production and a prominent form of new utilitarian sculpture. By analyzing stylistic commonalities, modes of production, and the utilitarian objectives of contemporary structures, global societal characteristics are identified and consequently addressed. The bridge between ceramics and architecture is multifaceted and synergetic. Both address social dilemmas through their aestheticism and utilitarianism. By heightening this correlation through the contextualization of the table and the use of multiple construction materials a more affable human quality to contemporary architecture emerges. As architectural models, viewers gain insight into their unique place within a larger social landscape. Clay acts as a conduit between past and present notions of material innovation challenging our concepts of new architectural paradigms as well as questioning our responsibility in the global twenty-first century. As a studio artist, I embrace handcraft and digital methodologies as I work toward defining sculpture that is personally and culturally significant. I build ‘vessels’ with sections formed by pressing terra cotta clay into plaster molds the way bricks are formed, yet their final structures recall the dynamism of digitally rendered architecture through their complex planar relationships. Through the process of research, ideation, and practice, I have formed the groundwork for celebrating the human element of contemporary architecture and the vessel and their relationship as common structures or ideas that reflect similarly the complexities of existing within a twenty- first century global society. |
A B O U T:
Wade Folger MacDonald was born in Nashville, Tennessee to parents who had been opera singers. He was raised in
Kalamazoo, Michigan and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art Education from Western Michigan University. Upon graduation,
Wade traveled extensively, conducting research in Germany and the Czech Republic. Before attending graduate school,
Wade worked as a Ceramic Laboratory Technician and Instructor at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He
obtained a Master’s of Fine Arts Degree in Studio Art with a concentration in Ceramics from Michigan State University in 2014. As
a graduate student, Wade received the Stanley and Selma Hollander Graduate Fellowship in Studio Art, the Varg-Sullivan Award for
Distinguished Research, and the John and Susan Berding Family Foundation Endowment Juried MFA Prize. Wade has exhibited nationally
and has completed artist residencies at Centre, Anderson Ranch Art Center and Red Lodge Clay Center. In 2018, he was awarded
NCECA Emerging Artist and was featured inAmerican Craft Magazine's August/September 2018 Issue. Wade is Assistant Professor of
Ceramics at The University of Alabama.
A B O U T:
Wade Folger MacDonald was born in Nashville, Tennessee to parents who had been opera singers. He was raised in
Kalamazoo, Michigan and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art Education from Western Michigan University. Upon graduation,
Wade traveled extensively, conducting research in Germany and the Czech Republic. Before attending graduate school,
Wade worked as a Ceramic Laboratory Technician and Instructor at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He
obtained a Master’s of Fine Arts Degree in Studio Art with a concentration in Ceramics from Michigan State University in 2014. As
a graduate student, Wade received the Stanley and Selma Hollander Graduate Fellowship in Studio Art, the Varg-Sullivan Award for
Distinguished Research, and the John and Susan Berding Family Foundation Endowment Juried MFA Prize. Wade has exhibited nationally
and has completed artist residencies at Centre, Anderson Ranch Art Center and Red Lodge Clay Center. In 2018, he was awarded
NCECA Emerging Artist and was featured inAmerican Craft Magazine's August/September 2018 Issue. Wade is Assistant Professor of
Ceramics at The University of Alabama.