This year-long
workshop/lecture series focuses on meaningful conversations with individual
craftspeople, artists and designers. The goal of the series is to link the
conversations with the “Makers” to the life of the viewer/user of
contemporary craft. This fall marks an exciting time for the UNC Asheville
Craft Campus initiative. This year’s Meet the Maker series will spotlight
our collaborative work with many of our wonderful partner organizations.
Together we will bring you an exciting line-up of speakers: makers,
curators, potters and artists alike. We will be hosting events both on our
campus and at several of our partners’ sites. The series aims to generate
awareness of contemporary craft practices and their significance in Western
North Carolina and beyond. Most events will be free; all are open to the
public. |
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ARTIST STATEMENT All my early influential teachers gave me the notion that art was a way of life, a lifelong vocation, a place where the spirit of one's own nature and Self could be sought and found. A college sophomore project involving Rembrandt's Polish Rider, captured my imagination as a doorway to the investigation of ancient traditions of the horse and rider in terms of function, spirit, and mystery, which for me, turned into a time travel to the early Native American and other indigenous shamanic beliefs in the ways of the Animal Powers. For me, the horse serves as magic guide, a guardian and protector, a force of soul, sometimes with entities I call Spirit Catchers, who manifest as luminous riders. The paintings are as pages out of a diary; very process oriented. I give the artwork permission to evolve of its own accord, with some pieces still on-going after many years. They are full of writings, scratchings, scars, windows for dreams, visions, energies, places that still hold mysteries for me. The sculptures are widely influenced by many sources, but more recently, I am taken by the simple elegance of many Native American fetish and doll makers. Functionally, the sculptures may serve as medicine pieces, reliquaries, works of intention and prayer, or votive offerings which honor and emulate the various indigenous traditions that I am attracted to. My horses are often about primal or elemental energies long-associated with the equine. In regards to scale, the sculptures are simply fetishes (intentions) made large. I work in stone, wood, clay, which are frequently translated into bronze editions. They are patinated (visualize watercoloring with acids) so they will resemble lapis, turquoise, jade, which I consider the healing stones. I have been doing this type of work for over 40 years, still fascinated with the path and what I find along the way. I have worked exclusively with Rick Frignoca, of Bronzart Foundry, in Sarasota, Florida, for over 30 years. It is a rewarding and on-going collaborative endeavor. They are a full service foundry, and do all phases…mold making, casting, welding, patination, enlarging or reducing. |
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The UNC Asheville Craft Campus presents three unique viewing opportunities for Origins and Process, the next two episodes in the Peabody Award winning PBS series Craft in America. Please join us for pre-screenings on September 30 and October 1 at the Fine Arts Theatre in downtown Asheville and a simultaneous national viewing party on our campus at the Highsmith Union on October 7. On the evening of September 30th special guest, NC potter extraordinaire and Craft In America featured artist, Mark Hewitt will introduce the first pre-screening at the Fine Arts Theatre. All proceeds raised will be benefiting the Sylva Billue Memorial Wood Studies Scholarship Fund and the Meet the Maker lecture series at UNC Asheville. Please come and bring your friends to see the continuation of this fabulous series.
Information about the first three episodes of Craft In America are available on the website: http://www.craftinamerica.org.
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Carl Powell
is a
National Endowment for the Arts recipient whose works have been displayed in the
Corning Museum of Glass, New Glass Review, and the Americans in Glass national
exhibition. From residential stained glass projects to complete glass environments for public buildings, Powell’s hand-ground and polished thick, clear bevels have transformed the art of glass into a visually kinetic experience. These unique, multi-faceted shapes form prismatic optical illusions of movement, surprising the viewer with an invitation for a closer inspection. Powell's public art and large commission pieces include (click for images): |
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Ramljak is guest curator for the exhibition, Different Tempers: Jewelry & Blacksmithing at the UNC Asheville Center for Craft Creativity and Design. While jewelry and blacksmithing are both grounded in metal, there is a curious gulf between the two fields. Just as George Bernard Shaw quipped that England and America "are two countries separated by the same language," Jewelers and blacksmiths remain foreign cousins in spite of their shared medium. Different Tempers will explore these two realms of metalsmithing to highlight their distinct properties as well as their commonalities. Showcasing the work of fourteen prominent and mid-career metalsmiths, the exhibition will reveal the engaging range of metal work emerging from both the jeweler's bench and blacksmith's forge. The traveling show, which opens September 2009 at the Center for Craft, Creativity & Design, that will be accompanied by a catalogue with essays exploring the vital issues related to these two creative spheres.
Fall 2008 Meet the Maker Schedule Spring 2009 Meet the Maker Schedule
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UNC ASHEVILLE CRAFT CAMPUS
| North Carolina's Public Liberal Arts University |