Photos and text by Robert Kokenyesi, Ceramic Artist, Beachfront Pottery, Godfrey, IL 62035, USA.
The Venue
The Bradford National Bank celebrated its 150th anniversary on September 2, 2017. The official name of the event was the “150th Anniversary Grand Finale Spectacular”.
These are the panoramic views of the space behind the Bradford Bank building in Greenville, Illinois. The picture on the left is the performance stage where several bands entertained the gathered. The picture on the right shows you the space in front of the performance stage.
There was free ice cream!!! Chocolate and vanilla, and swirl.
Great idea!!
The Call for Entry
There was no formal call for entry, as this was an unjuried show. The Our Common Ground Artist Guild members were notified about this opportunity to show our works, and to interact with and engage the locals.
The Ceramic Art Pieces
Most of the Guild artists work in 2D media, so there were a lot of paintings and drawings set up on easles. Jerry Prater had a few wood and mixed media pieces that were set up on pedestals.. My pieces were the only ceramic pieces.
On the left there is a panoramic view of the Our Common Ground Artist Guild tent, and you can see the pedestals. On the right you see my two pieces that I brought to the show. It was difficult to take a good photo with the bright, direct sunlight. Below are the larger photos of the two pieces.
I will be submitting this piece into several juried exhibits, and I’m also working on further exploration of the theme, and the construction technique. I will be writing more about the details of the modular construction of this piece in a couple of months.
This piece has been to a number of juried exhibits, so it was good to be able to place it on the pedestal here in Greenville. This platter was inspired by the Aboriginee dreaming stories, and served as proving ground for the “Under the Waves” platter series, as well as the exploration of using slumped glass and pigments in combination with glazed ceramics.