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November Issue
2010
University of South Carolina in Columbia,
SC, Features Works by Garth Johnson
The University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC, is presenting the exhibit, Garth Johnson: Extreme Craft, featuring an exhibition of altered vessels using decals, laser transfers, and china paint, on view in the McMaster Gallery in the Department of Art through Nov. 24, 2010.
Johnson is an unorthodox ceramicist, professor
at the College of the Redwoods (CA), author of 1000 Ideas for
Creative Reuse and proprietor of the blog Extreme Craft.
Johnson offered the following statement, "I was born and raised in Lincoln, NE, and spent my formative years in the country, learning to entertain myself with no neighbors around. This isolation ended my senior year of high school, when I went to Germany as an exchange student. This was the year of unification, and I spent it right outside of Bonn - an excellent vantage point from which to watch the new world order emerge."
"When I returned, I did the only thing
that made sense to me, and enrolled in the University of Nebraska,
Lincoln as an art major - an illustration major to be exact,"
adds Johnson. "I plodded through art school, singing in local
bands, and opened an independent record shop, which I ran for
three years. Eventually I 'drifted' into the emerging ceramic
department at the University, during which time, the Illustration
program at UNL was eliminated. I took this as a sign to throw
myself into clay, and finished my BFA in Ceramics in 1997, and
also began my work with the Pottery Liberation Front (PFL)."
"The PLF is a force created to challenge art world attitudes
toward clay, and more importantly, ceramic artists attitude toward
art. All of this led me to grad school for my MFA at Alfred University,
where I continued my quest to push the boundaries of ceramic art.
I began china painting blank plates, and using computer laser
decals, combining them to bear larger images in tandem. These
works fell comfortably in the cracks between ceramics, painting,
printmaking, and computers, boundaries that I find interesting,"
says Johnson.
For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call Mana Hewitt, Gallery Director at 803/777-7480 or visit ( http://web.mac.com/mcmastergallery/McMaster_Gallery/On_Display.html).
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