2024 NCECA Annual: Rendered Fusion – Clay, Connection, Attention is on view at the Harnett Museum of Art, Richmond
February 7 – May 4, 2024
Curated by Dr. Lauranett Lee and N. Elizabeth Schlatter
The co-curators of Rendered Fusion: Clay, Connection, Attention are interested in the diverse ways that artists work with clay to explore and give form to experiences of time and place as a concept, material investigation, and creative expression. Ceramic works uniquely connect us with resonances of the near and distant past and meditations on the future. Vessels, sculptures, and conceptual works have the capability to render evidence of time and place through physical and visual presence. The exhibition includes works by six invited artists, and 33 additional artists selected through an open call for submissions.
Reflecting on their vision for the exhibition, Lee and Schlatter write: What catches the eye as time carries us back into the past and forward into the future? Glimpses of fragments are fused into memories with the tumult of emotions that link humanity across time and space. Our attention becomes riveted on the possibilities of clay rendering pathways that deepen our present moment. The conference’s host city, Richmond, Virginia, has been the location of countless fusions throughout history, some violent, some subtle, many ignored, while others are celebrated. Clay is an ideal medium to render fusions of time and place via form, technique, and symbolism. Clay has witnessed, recorded, and even influenced alliances and separations throughout history, and its material resilience ensures this role in the future.
The six artists invited to participate in the Rendered Fusion are Elissa Armstrong, JSTN CLMN, Jason Hackett, Marcè Nixon-Washington, Virgil Ortiz, and Winnie Owens-Hart. The co-curators selected additional artwork by more than thirty artists, out of the over 350 artists who submitted work for consideration: Megan Angolia, Elissa Armstrong, Jasmine Baetz, Katie Botterman, Larry Buller, Blanca Cebollero, Pattie Chalmers, JSTN CLMN, Nicolas Darcourt, Marcel Deolazo, Michael Dela Dika, Auguste Elder, Rice Evans, Jason Hackett, Marcia Haffmans, Dara Hartman, Danielle Hawk, Jing Huang, Lori Katz, Mayumi Kiefer, J.J. McCracken, Cynthia Morelli, Marcè Nixon-Washington, Eric Ordway, Virgil Ortiz, Winnie Owens-Hart, Albert Pfarr, Freddy Santana, Margaret Park Smith and Josh Smith, Tuyen Stricker, Hayun Surl, Micah Sweezie, Lydia C. Thompson, Garima Tripathi, Donna Webb and Ptah, Brant Weiland, Robert L. Wood.
Rendered Fusion was organized in partnership with the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), in conjunction with NCECA’s annual conference Coalescence, which took place in Richmond in March 2024.
Contact
museums@richmond.edu
Harnett Museum of Art, University of Richmond Museums
Modlin Center for the Arts
453 Westhampton Way, Richmond, Virginia
United States
Photo credit: Meg Eastman Photography
