Photos and text by Robert Kokenyesi, Ceramic Artist, Beachfront Pottery, Godfrey, IL 62035, USA.
On Friday, March 24, 2017 the all media exhibit titled “Still Life: Reverberations of Humanity” opened in the building/gallery of the Our Common Ground (OCG) Guild in Greenville, Illinois. The exhibit was juried by William H. Neukomm, painter from the St. Louis area.
At the time of the publication of this blog the exhibit is still open (till April 28). A good reason to visit is because this is the last OCG exhibit in this building. Our host, the restaurant/store, the 2Marthas, will be closing for business after this exhibit. I hope that in a few months I can report here that we at OCG have found a new venue for future exhibits.
These two pictures are showing the main gallery room on the first floor. We set up food and drinks potluck style.
This photo was taken from the corner of the entry hallway. You can see the yellow main gallery room at the back. The entire inn/restaurant is turned into a gallery for the exhibits.
These pictures were taken in the upstairs rooms that are also turned into gallery rooms.
There was an unexpected variety of art works considering the theme. “Still life” is style of painting, so in a still life exhibit you typically see paintings and drawings. Here at the OCG exhibit there were 3D pieces carved from gourd, and several ceramic pieces. Here I’ll be reporting on the ceramic pieces.
The two small clay squares were made at a workshop by Beth Rodgers. The terra cotta clay bodies were shaped into acorns on one of the squares, and into milkweed seed pods on the other. I should have taken a closeup.
This is my piece. The still life theme of the exhibit motivated me to consider how starfish lying on a sandy beach would appear with a very slight difference of the hue of wet versus dry sand. So this tile is more of a study not only of the basic construction technique, but also the shading and contrast.
The technique is still very experimental; I will detail the progress in a future blog.