Full Volume
By John Shea
EXHIBITION DATES: Through April 13, 2025
LOCATION: Walker Atrium at Walton Arts Center
ARTIST STATEMENT:
My work is a reflection of a personal interest in the way that abstraction acts as both an indicator of individual and collective meaning that coalesces around random matter. I use abstraction as a metaphor that combines geometric and organic elements and looks to build tension between those forms. Each piece looks to highlight the way it both is and isn’t something recognizable at the same time. I believe we pay the most attention to something when it doesn’t fit right, that when confronted with something that disrupts our normal routines and reminds us of something it is not, we can see an object for what it really is. The work questions the way we perceive space in different contexts, it requires a reconciliation between our perception of an object and what we know to be true about an object. Seeing and being aware of this difference is what interests me in our relationship to objects that surround us.
ARTIST BIO:
John Shea is an abstract sculptor working with clay to examine the way in which objects form relationships and exist in the world. Incorporating geometric and organic forms John’s work looks to highlight where we construct boundaries between individual objects in groups and the way we differentiate between objects and ourselves. He has shown nationally and internationally including in Los Angeles and New York City through HostlerBurrows, as well as in Milan and London through Officine Saffi. John’s most recent solo show “standard, abstract” opened in January 2023 at HB381 in New York City. He currently teaches at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock as a Visiting Assistant Professor.
CJ Carter
EXHIBITION DATES: Through Oct. 27, 2024
LOCATION: Walker Atrium at Walton Arts Center
ARTIST STATEMENT:
Throughout the ages, places of worship were the focal points of a community. They were the seat of power, the strength of the citizens. Just as worshipers were drawn to those cathedrals, I want my monumental sculptures to draw viewers. I am chasing that fine line between overwhelming and comforting. The protective presence of a parent to a small child.
Like our buildings, we humans are vulnerable and require upkeep. We seek perfection but are hopelessly handbuilt. We spend so much time nurturing and tending to our facades, but are lonely if no one takes the time to notice what we contain. We want to live in beautiful yet functional spaces that are secure but also near others. We want privacy and floor-to-ceiling windows.
These contradictions fascinate me. I want viewers to reconsider their notions of both power and beauty with my work. If they see strength that is simultaneously masculine and feminine, impressive yet relatable, delicate yet enduring, then I will have been successful.
“ the liminality of yonder”
Between, Below, Beyond, Before
By Daniel Johnston
EXHIBITION DATES: Through June 31, 2024
LOCATION: Walker Atrium at Walton Arts Center
ARTIST INFO:
Daniel Johnston is the leading exponent of North Carolina’s pottery tradition and simultaneously one of that state’s most contemporary and cerebral artists. His debut on the national art scene in 2014 with the intention that he could “make pots that reflect the culture and times in which I live,” was swiftly followed with three critically-acclaimed installations, sold out exhibitions and accessions by museums.
With modest beginnings in Randolph County, North Carolina, and little formal education, Johnston began apprenticing in nearby Seagrove, North Carolina, at the age of 16, learning directly from generations of American potters in the country’s oldest pottery mecca. “This unconventional and diverse apprenticeship provided me with the skills and the perspective to return to North Carolina and pursue my craft on a conceptual level. I have mastered a level of craftsmanship that has left me disillusioned with the merits of displaying skill for its own sake. By making archetypical forms that transcend their historical function, these works point outward towards larger ideas about architecture and the role it plays in our perceptions of security and permanence.”
Working in this vein, Johnston places his large jars in wooden structures that reference the vernacular architecture of the American South. The resulting architectural spaces acknowledge the historic contexts of vessel-making traditions and reflect Johnston’s evolving ideas about how vessels function symbolically, economically and culturally. Johnston states, “This work does not abandon my roots or pedigree, but embraces it without falling into the trap of nostalgia. The structures I make have as much to do with this sense of security as with the vulnerability of the actual impermanence of architecture and our own existence. Putting my ceramic vessels in a temporary architectural space is much like placing them in the houses we live in, surrounding the permanence of the human spirit with an ephemeral structure. I am always seeking ways to collapse my own criterial definitions between Art and Craft, to be able to operate in the realm of both, but without the psychological restrictions of these labels.”
For purchase inquiries, please contact bryce@communitycreativecenter.com.
Cajun/_____
By Michael Louis LeBlanc
EXHIBITION DATES: Sept. 1-Nov. 15, 2023
LOCATION: Walker Atrium at Walton Arts Center
ARTIST INFO & STATEMENT:
Cajun/_____ is a celebration of iconography and perspective. Michael Louis LeBlanc personally identifies the imagery as Cajun while opening acknowledging it as not exclusive to a single culture or community. LeBlanc believes that his role as an artist is to invite the community into the art scenario with recognizable imagery and material to allow a participant to have a greater and relatable experience with art and people. He chose cast iron because it is a humble material, historically reserved for pedestrian roles of utility, automotive, and cookware. He believes cast iron is the “people’s metal”, a metal every person has a relationship with. He hopes when a participant views this work, one could recall their personal association towards the imagery and are aware that other participants are having an individual yet similar experience.
Michael Louis LeBlanc specializes in Metalsmith and is from Bentonville, AR.