C L A Y +/ I N V I T A T I O N A L

---

Exhibition Title: Clay+/Invitational


Invited Artists:
Audrey An, Kyle Triplett, Salvador Jiménez-Flores, Kourtney Stone, Julie Malen, Jason Hackett, Ling Chun, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Heather Nameth Bren, Andrew Castaneda


Dates: 10/2022- 12/2022


Venue: Sarah Moody Gallery of Art, The University of Alabama


The overarching goal of Clay+/Invitational, the
second iteration of the Clay+ exhibition series, is to assemble and highlight ten artists from across the country who identify as ceramicists but explore a multitude of interdisciplinary strategies in their varied and robust studio practices. The exhibition is supplemented by the timely publication of “Clay+: Expanding the Lexicon” which appears in the October 2022 issue of Ceramics Monthly. The article details the work of five artists included in the original 2021 Clay+ juried exhibition. Returning in the invitational exhibition are Audrey An, Kourtney Stone, and Kyle Triplett. Clay+/Invitational celebrates divergent material inquiry and exemplifies the breadth and depth of approaches evident in the field of contemporary ceramic art.
 
Exhibition Statement:
For time immemorial, the meanings and processes associated with clay objects have reflected the cultures which produced them. This vast history and subsequent tie to tradition simultaneously inspire and confounds many artists and critics in our field. For decades, a subset of ceramicists has challenged long-established ceramic paradigms and formed the groundwork for current and burgeoning innovation and investigation. Now accepted widely, ceramicists’ use of multiple materials in conjunction with clay is a means to enhance and support the content of the clay material within an artwork. Clay+ seeks to highlight ceramic artists who nurture a kinship of materials in their practices in order to elevate and reflect the potency present in contemporary ceramics sculpture.