Ceramics at Hand: Foraged and Formed
Work by Darren Emenau
September 20 – November 2
Ceramics at Hand:
Foraged and Formed
Launch: Friday, September 20, 6:00pm
End: Saturday, November 2
Donations welcomed and appreciated
AX, the Arts and Culture Centre of Sussex is pleased to present Ceramics at Hand: Foraged and Formed. This exhibition includes 10 ceramic artists from the Atlantic Maritimes who utilize sustainable processes in their practice and exemplify the spirit of sustainability
We are delighted to welcome the following artists to be part of this exhibition:
Judy Blake, Chris Colwell, Liz Demerson, Darren Emenau, Wendy Johnston, Jim Kitts, Emilie Grace Lavoie, Shauna MacLeod, Guillaume Provost, & Helen Stanley.
About the Artists
Photo by Drew Gilbert
Chris Colwell
Potter and teacher, Chris Colwell came to clay in mid-life, graduating with honours in Ceramics from the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in 1995. He owned and operated Colwell Pottery for eleven years, producing a well-received line of functional and decorative items. During this time Chris supplemented his income by teaching ceramics privately at his studio and for credit at the University of Maine in Presque Isle.
Circumstances forced the closure of his business, and Chris sought other work. He landed back at the College, working first as ceramics studio technician and teaching non-credit night and summer courses. Eventually Chris was given the opportunity to teach in the Ceramics program and is now a full-time instructor there. Chris still loves to make pots, but in a more experimental fashion.
Darren Emenau
Rooted in contemporary art, Darren Emenau’s work pushes the traditional boundaries of ceramic sculpture through the exploration of surface treatment, form, abstraction and installation.
Over his 25+ year career, Emenau’s work has been recognized through awards, grants and exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Shows include the International Craft Biennale in South Korea, the International Ceramic and Glass Exhibition in Turkey, The Zillman Art Museum in Maine, USA, The Beaverbrook Art Gallery in NB, CA, the Saskatchewan Craft Council in SK, CA., and Gallery 501 in AB, CA.
Recently, Emenau has shown at the Collect Art Fair in London, UK, which is the leading international fair for contemporary craft and design, representing the pinnacle of artistry and creativity. His work has been featured in the numerous publications, including Wood-Fired Ceramics: 100 Contemporary Artists, as well as in periodicals such as Ceramics Monthly and Canadian Art.
Emilie Grace Lavoie
Emilie Grace Lavoie is an artist, curator, and member of 3E Collective. She lives in New Brunswick, on the unceded traditional lands of the Wolastoqiyik, Mi’kmaq, and Pestomuhkati peoples.
She holds a diploma in fashion design from LaSalle College (2011), a bachelor’s degree in visual arts from the Université de Moncton (2016), and an MFA from Emily Carr University of Art and Design (2018).
Lavoie is interested in the paradoxes that exist between material practices and living ecosystems.
Guillaume Provost
Guillaume Adjutor Provost is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher and educator who experiments with forms of exhibition, collections, text, and curation. His artistic practice is motivated by a desire to update what has long existed on the periphery of dominant historical discourses: class consciousness, counter-culture, vernacular imagery — notably folklore and Quebec applied arts —, and experiences of queerness.
Guillaume Adjutor sees creation as a tool for ideation and projection; creating works — material or immaterial — reminds us of the humanist ideal of a life marked by experimentation, freedom, and critical thinking. Through various approaches, Guillaume Adjutor Provost makes use of referents, forms, and objects from grass roots imagery. A certain familiarity of the language stems from a deliberately inclusive or democratized artistic expression. His practice regularly takes the form of curated installations; by working with collaborators, these encounters influence the materialization of interdisciplinary works hybridizing collections, sculptures, drawings, photographs, performances, video or textual works.
Recipient of grants from the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman scholarship, in addition to having been a finalist for the Pierre-Ayot prize from the city of Montreal in 2016 and in 2019, as well as for the Sobey Prize in 2021, the projects of Guillaume Adjutor Provost have been presented in individual and group exhibitions in Canada, France, the United States, Austria, Belgium, Scotland, Germany, Lithuania, and Spain.
Photo by Clara Lacasse
Helen Stanley
Helen Stanley was born in Calgary Alberta, but spent most of her childhood in Burlington Ontario. She has always enjoyed time on her own spent in the natural landscape. An inspired art teacher in high school started the drive to create in clay, and considering where she lived, Sheridan College was the next step. She spent two years there absorbing everything about clay, glazes, firing and left to get married and move to New Brunswick. While her husband Patrick took a job blowing glass with Martin Demaine at Opus Craft Village, she decided on a third year of school at the New Brunswick Craft School on the Woodstock Rd. At the end of that year they were working on the first of three babies and decided to move to PEI where there was some family land to build their first joint studio.
Since 1990, home is Seeleys Cove in close proximity to the Bay of Fundy and surrounded by woods, the perfect spot for inspiration from nature. This fuels her work and renews her motivation daily.
Daily work in the studio includes teaching and participating in shows and markets.
Jim Kitts
Since failing retirement well over a decade ago, I’ve been playing with Fundy Mud Pottery, The Old Church Farmers Market, playing shakuhachi and rav handpan as ‘Jampan.’ Co-directed a 2021 youtube music video on digging and processing Fundy Mud Pottery clay; shot a couple of protest music/poetry collaboration video versions of ‘Curryville Forest Funeral.’ Play art openings and give away music for other’s video productions. Still can’t seem to part with my boots, rock and construction tools… maybe I never will.
Judy Blake
Judy Blake has been working with clay since the mid 1970’s. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is included in many private and public collections such as Canada House, London, UK as well as CollectionsNB and the NB Museum.
She taught for several years in the Ceramics department at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. She experiments extensively with burnished, unglazed surface treatments such as sawdust-firing, naked raku and saggar-firing and is one of a small number of Canadians using these techniques.
She has received many grants and awards and has had numerous solo exhibitions and as well, has had the opportunity to influence many students as a teacher for several years in the Ceramics Studio at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. Judy Blake maintains a studio practice in Lincoln, New Brunswick.
Liz Demerson
Liz Demerson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours in Anthropology, minoring in Women’s Studies, from the University of New Brunswick. She also has a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of New Brunswick, and a Master of Arts in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from Concordia University in Montreal.
A trained ceramic artist, Liz learned her craft at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. She was juried into the New Brunswick Crafts Council in 2001 and has sold her work across the Maritimes and Ontario. Presently studio head of the Ceramics Studio at NBCCD, her specialty is ceramic science where she is testing and developing new glazes. She is currently doing research in the area of Harvesting Clays and Natural Glaze Development.
Liz has been harvesting a variety of materials in New Brunswick, such as clays, seashells, granites, sands, seaweeds and other plant materials as well as different rocks and processing them into a ceramic grade glaze product. Her current research is sourcing local clays and processing them into a usable clay body for ceramics production.
Shauna MacLeod
Shauna MacLeod, she/her, completed her BFA in ceramics from NSCAD in 2011 and opened her studio the following year. Her studio practice is based out of Dartmouth Nova Scotia.
An active participant in juried group exhibitions throughout the country as well as juried craft shows and has taught workshops and classes locally. As an executive member of the Nova Scotia Potters Guild, she produced workshops and group exhibitions with success. Her work has been purchased by the Nova Scotia Art Bank and is a regular contributor to the Nova Scotia Protocol Office. Her work, Cognitive Uselessness and Cognitive Uselessness Revisited, is a bold and vulnerable statement on her battle with PTSD from which she was medically retired after working as a Paramedic and Emergency Medical Dispatcher for 17 years
Her most recent work is and evolution of materials and content. Learning some other traditional crafts such as basket weaving, rug hooking, and loom weaving, MacLeod is working on a body of work that combines these methods with her clay objects. Looking to explore how these mediums can speak to the land, environment, and place making, MacLeod is creating a new language for herself to express herself.
Wendy Johnston
Wendy Johnston, born in Toronto in 1960, discovered her passion for pottery and fine arts early in life. She received her foundational education at Central Technical School and Sheridan College, dedicating five years to honing her craft. Wendy furthered her studies at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, and later pursued graduate studies at Concordia University.
After five years as an art educator, Wendy transitioned to become a full-time professional potter in 1996. She established her studio in Hillsborough, New Brunswick, before founding the “Wendy Johnston Pottery and Art Effects Fine Craft Gallery” in Hopewell Cape in 2005.
Inspired by her travels to Europe, Wendy’s work is characterized by vibrant colours, expressive lines, and intricate motifs exploring the relationship between nature and industry. Her artistic journey reflects her dedication, creativity, and deep connection to the natural world. Wendy’s legacy continues to inspire, leaving an indelible mark on the world of pottery and fine arts in New Brunswick.
Acknowledgements
Emilie Grace Lavoie would like to acknowledge the Sheila Hugh Mackay Foundation, artsnb, the Robert Weghsteen Memorial, and Dr. Trish Kelly.
Call for Exhibition Proposals
Professional and emerging artists/artist teams working in all mediums are invited and encouraged to submit proposals for solo, group, or curates exhibitions. The deadline for proposal submissions for next season has passed, but we accept proposals year round for later dates.
AX is committed to developing, supporting and promoting exhibition opportunities and experiences for New Brunswick artists from established and underrepresented communities. In choosing exhibitions, AX seeks a balance of established and emerging artists, exhibiting works fro our region and beyond. AX is also dedicated to exhibiting children’s art and student work created in local-area schools and through our own programming.
AX offers an average of six exhibitions a year and strives to pay artists fair compensation for the right to exhibit their work. We include artist fees based on national CARFAC standards in all grant applications so there fees can be paid to artists whenever possible. AX’s exhibitions are selected by a rotating panel of respected artists and art educators knowledgeable in the discipline involved. The selected juries base their decisions on the artist’d statement and images submitted as part of exhibitions proposals.
While you may suggest a curator as part of your proposal, AX is under no obligation to pay this curator or work with them directly. In your proposal, please clarify if you are willing to work with a curator of AX’s choosing. If you are proposing a curator, please include their credentials along with your proposal.
All artists interested in submitting an exhibtion proposal should also refer to our sample artist agreement before submitting as it clarifies requirements assiciated with exhibiting at AX.
In your proposal, please include:
- Contact information (name, address, phone, email, website)
- Are you applying for a solo artist show, a group show, or a show you will curate?
- Title of your proposed exhibiton
- Approximate number of pieces and dimensions
- Project description (max. 500 words), including:
- artist statement
- concept for proposed exhibit
- what are you trying to achieve
- Note: If you would prefer to present your project description by video, you may upload a 2 to 3 minute (maximum) video clip to YouTube and share the link with us.
- Arts resume/CV (no more than 3 pages)
- Artist biography, including training and exhibiton history (no more than 500 words)
- 10 digital (JPG) images of work with an accompanying numbered image list specifying title, media, dimensions, and year of work. Can send images on a USB stick, through Dropbox.com or WeTransfer, or by email – website links to supplementary visual materials are also welcome. Images submitted by email must be no larger than 1024 pixels at the longest dimension, adn no more than 150 dpi.
Applications may be submitted electronically to: admin@axartscentre.ca (please include AX Exhibition Proposal int he subject line of the email). Or mailed/dropped off in person to:
AX, the Arts and Culture Centre of Sussex
12 Maple Ave., Sussex, NB E4E2N5
Preparing a proposal? Have a look at our gallery dimensions and photos for context. If you have any questions about the proposal process, contact: admin@axartscentre.ca