Traveling exhibit features clay art

• Traveling clay art exhibit

This work, titled Salute, by Ryan Matthew Mitchell is an example of wood-fired clay and porcelain that will be displayed on the exhibit.
• Traveling clay art exhibit

Heather Nameth Bren’s glazed and stained stoneware will be featured in the traveling exhibit featuring five clay artists.

Talk about it

Community Education in Alexandria is sponsoring a traveling exhibit, clay talk, opening reception and clay workshops featuring five McKnight clay artists.

The exhibit is open Mondays through Fridays, July 22 to August 22, at the Alexandria Area Arts Association Theatre, 618 Broadway in Alexandria. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A clay talk and demonstration, featuring artist Heather Nameth Bren is set for Saturday, July 23 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. An opening reception will follow at 4:30 p.m. There is a $5 suggested donation for each event.

The exhibit features the following 2010 McKnight Fellowship recipients Heather Nameth Bren and Linda Chirstianson; and McKnight resident artists, 2009 recipients Jonas Arcikauskas, Ryan Matthew Mitchell and Alexandra Hibbitt.

• Nameth Bren used her fellowship to explore large-scale work. She received her master of fine arts (MFA) degree from the University of Kansas in Lawrence. She is an assistant professor of art at Northwestern College.

• Christianson used her fellowship year to produce work that will be featured in exhibitions in England and France. She received a bachelor of arts in studio art from Hamline University in St. Paul. She has been a studio potter for more than 30 years and maintains a studio and wood kiln in Lindstrom.

• Arcikauskas received his bachelor of fine arts and MFA in ceramics from Vilnius Academy of Art in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he currently maintains a studio with his wife. During his residency, he created a composition of 21 sculptural figures.

• Ryan Mathew Mitchell received his MFA from the University of Montana-Missoula and his BFA from Montana State University-Bozeman. He recently completed an artist residency at the HAP International Tri-City Wood-Fire Festival in China. His large-scale works employ wood-fired stoneware and porcelain, as well as other mixed media such as steel rebar and concrete.

• Alexandra Hibbitt is the assistant professor of ceramics at Ohio University School of Art in Athens, Ohio. She received her MFA from New York State College of Ceramics. While in residence, she created a body of work that combined handcrafted and digitally formed materials as she created ceramic forms that will be scanned and later digitally fabricated into medium density fiberboard and Plexiglas.

The exhibition is made possible by financial support from the McKnight Foundation and collaboration of Northern Clay Center, Alexandria Area Arts Association and Alexandria Community Education.

CLAY WORKSHOPS

Following are two summer clay workshops for children with a visiting artist from the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis. Both are set for Tuesday, July 26.

• Totally Twisted Teapots for children ages 9 to 12 will be held from 9 a.m. to noon. Cost is $20 and includes all materials and firing.

• A Mug for Every Face for children ages 8 to 11, along with an adult, is set for 1 to 4 p.m. Cost is $25 per team and includes all materials and firing.

To register, visit the website www.alexandria.thatscommunityed.com.

Tags: variety, events, art