LANDSCAPE STORY

CRAFTING THE LANDSCAPE: Multimedia group show Landscape Story blurs line between craft and fine art.

Opening: October 26, 6-9pm and by appointment

Location: 1205 Manhattan Avenue, Suite 241, Brooklyn, NY 11222

Contact: Janine Sopp

718 383 5400

info@clayspace1205.com

clayspace1205.com

Opening October 26, Gallery 1205 will feature Christine Gedeon, Mitsutaka Konagi, and Ulrika Strömbäck in a show exploring themes of topography, Konagi, and Ulrika Strömbäck in a show exploring themes of topography, repetition, urban environments and constructed worlds.  The artists each use materials and techniques traditionally associated with the craft movement but the work moves freely in and out of such distinctions.  

Working with a limited palette and an improvisational process, Christine Gedeon’s pieces are inspired by aerial-view landscape drawings and maps.From this inspiration she invents plots and spaces and plays on abstraction of something usually designed for precision and specificity.

Mitsutaka Konagi’s process in clay is refined and methodical.  With an incredible attention to detail Mitsutaka creates miniature building blocks.  Individually crafted, they are assembled on both horizontal and vertical surfaces to create a plane of texture defined not only by the pieces themselves, but the shadows they create.

The mixed media sculptures created by Ulrika Strömbäck are investigations of movement and gravity.  Chance, accidents and randomness are given room to act within structured systems, simultaneously ruining some constructions and creating situations for new ones to grow.  While her forms hint at traditional vessels they have been reconstructed to become something far more elusive.

Landscape Story presents three artists simultaneously working in the craft tradition while moving to blur the lines of such distinctions.  With no slight to traditional artisans, Gedeon, Konagi, and Strömbäck take a playful wink at the past while stepping confidently to a future wondrous and unknown.

ABOUT

Gallery 1205 is the showroom of Clayspace 1205, a 3,000 square foot ceramic
facility located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  Currently serving over 20 members,
Clayspace1205 is devoted to fostering a communal environment for artists to
share their creative and technical expertise.  To see a full range of current and
former members’ work please visit http://clayspace1205.com/Gallery-1205.  

THE MOBILE TEA GARDEN

THE MOBILE TEA GARDEN 

at “Locating The Sacred” Festival Friday, September 14, 2012 | 12-8pm

Tenri Cultural Institute

43 West 13th Street #A

New York, NY 10011

FREE

(212) 645-2800 | www.tenri.org

The concept of the Mobile Tea Garden is to transform the viewers’ state of mind through the mys- terious power of tea in an artful setting. All participant artists share the same vision and generously contribute their talent and time to make an indoor tea garden, based on the principle of Wu-Xing (fire, wood, water, metal, earth).

Our creative theme is “Being Wild Is Living A Natural State.”

I have collaborated with seven artists to create an overgrown wild garden for you to experience the moment of tea. The installation includes:

Large-scale naturally dyed silk textiles by Kyoto Textile Master Akihiko IzukuraAn 8 paneled-screen of contemporary Chinese brush painting by the Hong Kong based artist Simon YungVibrant 3D ceramic installations for the ground by Janine SoppA sound installation, “Aquatic Chandelier”, by Taunya van der Steen-MizelVideo Art by awarding-winning documentary director, Heather GreerA tidal movement piece with shakuhachi music, Listening To The Body Fluid, by Jayoung Yoon and Zachary Sinner

Lastly, our wonderful Tea Volunteer Team will harmonize the art and serve you a generous cup of tea.At the Mobile Tea Garden we engage all your five senses and together tell a story of “A Cup of tea; a cup of humanity”
There will be a pop-up shop to feature 50 pieces of handmade silk wearable art from Kyoto, exquisite loose tea from China, Taiwan and Japan, paintings and ceramics from the participating artists. If you were the patrons of Wild Lily Tea Room in Chelsea, please come to visit and shop to support our vi- sion to serve free tea to all people alike.

HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS FROM THE MOBLE TEA GARDEN! 

GO Brooklyn! OPEN STUDIOS

GO Brooklyn! Septemeber 8/9 OPEN STUDIOS!!!
Come check out the 11 incredibly gifted, and hard working artists that have been working out of Clayspace1205 and will be participating in GO Brooklyn! Check out their websites to get a taste of what they've been up to, and then on Septemeber 8 and 9 stop by the studio to get the full experience! These works are beautiful in the photos, but when you see them before you in all of their dementions it becomes a true experience. Hope to see you all there!

During GO, Brooklyn-based artists are asked to open their studios to the community on September 8–9, 2012, from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm. Community members registered as voters will visit studios and nominate artists for inclusion in a group exhibition to open at the Brooklyn Museum on Target First Saturday, December 1, 2012.

VISIT http://www.gobrooklynart.org/participate/voters

TO SIGN UP TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS

 

 

Yoshimi Tanakahttps://gobrooklynart.org/studio/yoshimitanaka
 

                                 Artist Statement
My works got inspired by natural shapes. Please image what they are ^.^//

 

                            

 

Jessica Douglas https://gobrooklynart.org/studio/insteadofblue
                                      

            Artist Statement

I like playing with balance, pushing limits and figuring out how much is too much.
   

Ben Howort http://benhowort.com
https://gobrooklynart.org/studio/howortb
                              

 Artist Statement

Ceramic artist Ben Howort creates forms and patterns,

which reflect duality, paradox, and the ambiguity found in urban landscapes. As a native New Yorker, Howort is inspired by the quiet beauty of nature fighting for its place in the city. Beautifully asymmetrical, his vessels are balanced by patterns, which both collide and co-exist in the same breath.
 

Jessica Cohen
                                 

 http://www.jesscohenart.com/

 http://www.gobrooklynart.org/studio/JessCohen

                        Artist Statement
In making ceramic figurative work I meditate on the challenge of pushing forward through times of struggle. I depict vulnerable moments, where figures are caught reflecting on their current predicaments. They often seem to be absorbed in a pained melancholy, carrying the weight of their pasts and struggling with the reality of their present. As I sculpt I often imagine a narrative of the make-believe lives of my clay beings and this influences the sculptural decisions that I make.


Janine Sopp https://glyphdesigns.com
 http://www.gobrooklynart.org/studio/glyphdesigns

                     Artist Statement
Janine Sopp spent the first seven years of her career designing clothing and textiles, then traveled across Europe and Morocco where she uncovered her deeper artistic desire of molding clay, a responsive medium that indulges her passion for texture and color.
Slabs of clay begin the dialog. She draws, stamps and marks with textures and patterns creating a journey of discovery, on molded forms or flat surfaces with markings like a map. Sopp paints layers of color revealing a dance between shapes and images. Then, a dark pigment wash, satin finish and sometimes embedded glass give added dimension to each piece.
 

galazzo GLASS sopp CERAMIC  http://galazzoGLASSsoppCERAMIC.com

http://www.gobrooklynart.org/studio/2560

                               Artist Statement
galazzo GLASS sopp CERAMIC is the innovative design team of glass artist, Barbara Galazzo and ceramic artist, Janine Sopp. Their collaboration gives them the ability to explore and express in their principle medium while expanding themselves into infinite, creative possibilities. They push the boundaries of their materials in order to intertwine their vision and connection.They integrate colorful, fused glass with rich, textural clay, incorporating such opposites as opaque vs. transparent, surface texture vs. glassy smoothness and neutral vs. color, melding ceramic and glass mediums into one cohesive sculptural creation.
 

 

 Rachel Farmer http://rachelfarmer.com

Artist Statement
I make hand-built ceramic pioneers and take them on journeys. I'll be out along the historic Mormon Pioneer Trail in Wyoming this August and will have brand new photos and videos to share. I like to think of my miniature pioneers as ancestor spirits or ghosts, but I can pick them up and play with them. If you visit, you can play with some of them too. You will also get to see a bustling communal clay studio, experience gorgeous waterfront views, and you can grab some ice cream at the neighboring Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.
 

Ulrika Strömbäck

https://gobrooklynart.org/studio/Ika

                           Artist Statement
I am investigating the role of gestures, movement and gravity in building of a form. Chance, accidents and randomness are given room to act within a structured system or choreographed event. Fragility, deformation, collapsing and rebuilding are recurring themes.
Image 4-6, is of a piece made for a show at a New York public Library. The wood carving was inspired by cuneiform writing while the print made from it resembles computer generated coding. plaster casts are placed as 'books' on the wood carving and print that serves as 'shelf'.

Sabina Hahn  http://sabinahahnceramics.tumblr.com/
https://gobrooklynart.org/studio/SabinaHahn

                                                                          Artist Statement
My work is meticulously hand built using traditional ceramic techniques. Each piece is shaped, carved out and then refined before adding textures, fine details and colorwork.
I work mostly in porcelain that has the smoothness, malleability and strength that speaks to me like no other medium.
In my work I combine magical, natural and whimsical. My inspiration comes from many and varied sources: nature, contemporary culture, fairy-tales and myths. I strive to capture subtly fleeing expressions and the most elusive of gestures. In many ways, these small gestures are more intense and truthful than the grandiose ones we deliberately offer.


Kim Gilmour http://fisheyebrooklyn.etsy.com
https://gobrooklynart.org/studio/fisheyebrooklyn
 

            Artist Statement
My work explores the delicate yet durable forms found in nature. My current work draws inspiration from the ocean, in particular the unique and singular imperfections found in seashells. To capture the variety of forms, I work with several different types of clay, ultimately letting the feel of the clay dictate the shape, so that no two pieces are ever exactly alike. The viewer is invited to consider the pieces collectively as a landscape or interact with each piece up-close and individually, turning it in their hands and feeling the rough edges as one might a seashell.

Mitsutaka Konagi https://gobrooklynart.org/studio/MITSUTAKA-KONAGI
                                        Artist Statement
Mitsutaka Konagi is an artist who mainly does sculpting using clay and other materials. His particular interests are in the shadows objects create when set against light, and in the positional relation between objects.
One of his current projects is based on the concept of "assembly". He is making many small pieces that have the same basic shape and approximate size but at the same time differ from one another. These pieces are assembled to compose one body.

As I sat in Milk and Roses with Andrea Miranda Salas, I hovered over a spread out pile of full sized images of her latest show at Brooklyn Workshop, "Elements of Protection: the Process of Progress". The show looks incredible and I could see why  this gallery was the perfect space to view her work, a space that reflects the authentic nature of Andreas pieces.  The white brick walls rest under thin yellow tracing paper that Andrea has hung behind her beautiful, hand made rope and slip cast porcelain neck pieces.

Andrea tells me that in the beginning of the process, her work has always been very artifact driven. "I live with all these pieces for a long time, I have them in my house, and I hang them on the walls consistently, and I shift them around. And slowly they just become, something."

For this collection of work, Andrea focused on the idea of protection of one's Self, through delicate armor. One part of her artist statement really struck me. "These shields, mostly composed of porcelain, which has the quality of both strength and extreme fragility, provide an ironic sense of protection. They become less a function of actual protection, but instead,  become a facade that shields you from others; a symbolic representation of self preservation. As these works unfold in the series, they evolve from solid constrictive shields into softer forms, working with softer more permeable materials. Almost symbolic of the self becoming lighter, softening and finally surrendering." One can relate emotionally to these very tangible, wearable, works. Even without reading the artist statement behind the work, one can't help but feel this depth of soul in the works.

The cotton string that Andrea has woven into her own delicate layer of armor looks almost religious in it's purity. While taking a class in weaving at the Textile Center, she found herself merging these delicate threads with the artifacts of porcelain she had begun making and were starting to evolve with and into the string. "Making rope is really easy actually, unless you have a cat, then it gets a little messy." Andrea joked. But the incorporation of the cotton string in this work really pushes it to another level. The loosely woven cords of cotton in the form of a chest plate descends naturally from the twisted ropes and makes you feel a sense that perhaps you are already wearing this armor in someway.

It's not uncommon for Andrea to put her heart into the process of crafting her works. When I asked her if there was a project in her past that she was maybe most proud of, she began to tell me an adorable story about two match sticks stuck together. She had found them in a match book at a bar, and something about the way they were stuck together had her see this as a special moment. She loved them enough to take them home with her and save them for quite awhile, until one day she decided to cast them in porcelain, (you can see beautiful photos of this process here.) She explains at the end of the story that she likes the idea of taking the porcelain matches and placing them in match books at bars or restaurants around town. "You throw it in there and someone else finds it, and it's magical."

Andrea has been working in Ceramics a Clayspace1205 for 5years now, and has formed lasting bonds with many of the other artists. Some she's even collaborated with and plans to continue doing so in the years to come Andrea's work is on display to be viewed by appointment at The Brooklyn Workshop, 393 Hoyt Street, Brooklyn (718) 797-9427. There are more photos of Andrea Miranda Salas' work on her website. Keep a close eye, as she plans to incorporate a line of "more accessible" neck pieces for retail. Also, if you are ever in a bar and happen to flip open a box of matches and find two porcelain ones stuck together, you'll know where the wink is coming from ;)

Clay Space 1205 Hosts: Community Mosaics Facilitating and Creating Community-Based Public Projects Hands on Workshop led by Laurel True ~ March 9-11,

Community Mosaics

Ngong Hills Mural, Mbagathi, Kenya With students from Steiner School Facilitating and Creating Community-Based Public Projects

Hands on Workshop led by Laurel True

Workshop: March 9-11, 2012

Friday Evening 6 – 8:30,
Saturday and Sunday 9:30 – 5 pm

Cost: $495 includes binder with extensive class handouts
Register with PayPal

Location: Galazzo Glass/Sopp Ceramic at

Clay Space 1205 Ceramic Studios

1205 Manhattan Avenue, Ste. 2-4-1
Brooklyn, NY 11222

tel. 718.383.5400

http://www.clayspace1205.com

For more information or to register please e-mail: gglasssceramic@gmail.com

This weekend intensive workshop lead by community and public artist Laurel True

Jacmel Memorial Mosaic Wall

will focus on methodology and techniques for approaching community-based, public mosaic projects. Students will get a chance to experience group mosaic-making processes through the actual creation and installation of a mosaic mural. Students will come away from this information – packed workshop with the knowledge, skills and confidence to lead and facilitate successful, permanent projects that engage and inspire community.

Workshop will begin Friday evening with a presentation of successful project models and lecture will include sample pedagogy for including and training community

members in the creation of public art. Instructor will cover various approaches to community outreach, design development, sourcing locations and materials and recruiting project participants.

Saturday and Sunday morning will be devoted to lecture and demonstration and the afternoons to practice- hands on training in the creation of a mosaic mural that will be donated to a local non-profit, school or business

Lecture will include step-by-step instructions with complementary images describing multiple approaches to project coordination, management and creation with a focus on creating permanent artworks specific to a host communities’ needs, desires, location and circumstances.

Instructor will present several group mosaic- making techniques that can be employed with groups with any level of training. Specific teacher/ facilitator training will focus on best practices for technical construction methods so that outdoor, public projects are durable, safe and long lasting. Technical resources will be included in class binder.

Sycamore Park, Mill Valley, CA

Additional topics covered will include:

· Defining project goals and objectives
· Project planning, funding and budget creation
· Project and time management techniques for any scale project
· Working in and outside of the classroom
· Professional development and entrepreneurial training for participants

This class will be of particular benefit to mosaic artists and public artists who would like to add a community component to their projects, teachers, community organizers and anyone interested in community development and entrepreneurial training through the arts.

Some knowledge of mosaic making techniques is helpful.

Workshop participants should come prepared to work both inside and outside during class. Students will be asked to sign a waiver and photo release.

PLEASE NOTE:

This class must meet it’s minimum (6) by February 6th. Students are encouraged to sign up early!

Also: This class is being offered the weekend after the National Association of Art Educators Conference in New York, which runs March 1-4