MEETING: THE ARTIST'S CRITIQUE - March 22

Hello Everyone,

Next week Louisville Clay will be hosting the first of four meetings for the year. We are calling it "The Artist's Critique".

A "self critique" is one of the hardest and most challenging parts of being an artist. To help us with the process we have two talented ceramic artists and speakers, Gwen Heffner and Pam Korte. They will be giving a presentation that will include, among many things, what is a critique, how to identify elements that create a strong design regardless of the medium and, most importantly, some models/techniques with which we can begin examining our own work.

This is a very daunting topic and we are excited to find not one but two people willing take it on. We hope you all can make it.

WHERE:  University of Louisville
                   HPES Building – Room 136
                   Corner of Floyd and Warnock
                   (parking is free at UofL after 7:00pm)

WHEN:  Tuesday, March 22, 7:00 p.m.

AGENDA:  This is a first in a series of meetings for this year that will prepare us for the bourbon bottle show in 2012.  Pam Corte and Gwen Heffner will discuss the important aspects of critiques, composition and aesthetics.

Members are welcome and encouraged to bring their own work to include in the discussion.

About the guest speakers:

Over the years Gwen Heffner, marketed her own line of wholesale pots, as well as participating in retail and gallery shows. For thirteen years she owned and operated her own gallery, Contemporary Artifacts in Berea, KY. Currently, besides her own studio work, she works at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea and directs the PR, programs and exhibitions.

Since 1984, Pam Korte, has been teaching ceramics at the College of Mt. St. Joseph, where she was named Outstanding Art Alumna in 1987, Outstanding Adjunct Professor in 1993, and recipient of the 2007 John Nartker Medal in recognition of commitment to teaching and creative excellence. In 2004 she was promoted to Assistant Professor. Her work has been published in Ceramics Monthly, Functional Ceramics and Contemporary Porcelain.

PLEASE NOTE: We are no longer doing potluck dinners.  If you would like to bring something to snack on, please feel free to do so.

The following has been added to give you a little more information on our guest speakers.

Gwen - in her own words:

I come from a family of musicians and grew up in an environment rich in the arts as well as the vibrant natural world that is the blessing of rural living.

I have marketed my pots via both wholesale and retail shows, and I owned and operated my own gallery, Contemporary Artifacts in Berea, KY for 13 years, marketing my work alongside that of over 300 artists. I now sell to a limited number of galleries nationwide and also from my studio. I work at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea and direct the PR, programming and exhibitions.

My work continues to get simpler and simpler. I am aware of volume, curves and inside space more, and my printmaking background is given free rein when I draw and carve low and high relief imagery on the altered and flattened surfaces of my pots - a reflection of the beauty I find around me on the ridge where I live in Kentucky.

For me, pots offer a uniquely human connection, for they are an inevitable extension of the potter’s hands, inner force, and sense of beauty. Their intimate use continues a long standing tradition and unspoken communication between maker and user.

For as long as I can remember, I have been a keen observer of nature and form. My work has always been balanced within an asymmetrical vein and intrinsic to nature.

The things I observe become ideas that are then either intentionally or unconsciously integrated int the work of my hands.

Her Agenda:

-The Creative Being
-What is a Critique?
-Cultural Blocks
-How and Why to do a Critique – Some Guidelines
-Evaluation – Success of Failure?
-The Self-Critique - Your Challenge as an Artist
 

Pam - in her own words:

Pam Korte is a graduate of the College Of Mt. St. Joseph and the University of Louisville, where she received her M.A. in Ceramics. For seventeen years she was the owner and potter at Stillpoint Pottery in Cincinnati. In 1996 she opened Madison Clayworks with Sandra Gantzer. 2001 marked the opening of a studio built at her home featuring a show room and a studio space. Her work is a combination of wheel thrown and handbuilt porcelain, oxidation fired at 2350°F.

Since 1984 she has been teaching ceramics at the College of Mt. St. Joseph, where she was named Outstanding Art Alumna in 1987, Outstanding Adjunct Professor in 1993, and recipient of the 2007 John Nartker Medal in recognition of commitment to teaching and creative excellence. In 2004 she was promoted to Assistant Professor. She has served as an Artist-in-Residence for three tile projects in  Cincinnati area schools.

Her work has been featured in Ceramics Monthly magazine and is included in Contemporary Porcelain (Lane, 1995), and Functional Ceramics (Hopper, 2000).

In addition to ceramics she is currently participating in classes in Metals at Middletown Fine Arts Center and Letterpress Printmaking at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Korte lives in Cincinnati with her husband, poet and essayist, Richard Hague. They garden and restore (constantly) a 120 yr. old Victorian house.

Her Agenda:

Intro -  topic – why I value seeing/writing process

·      why do we need words when we have our visual work

·      some uses of artist’s words

Critique – A framework for understanding choices

·      Sayre’s process: describe, analyze, interpret

·      Example: David Whiting’s Jennifer Lee review

·      Goldberg/Wilson process: what are you trying to say

 

Statements – The Artist’s connection to their work and concept

·      Fears to get over

·      Best practice

·      Exercise: imagine your work talking to you

 

Handouts:

Artist’s personal inventory

Whiting review

Bibliography – resources for the artist writer/thinker