Our friend Helen Otterson spoke in Newburg last night. She curated a ceramics show called "Tropes of Nature" at George Fox's Minthorne Gallery.
The exhibit is open all month, in conjunction with the NCECA convention "Future Flux" that will be taking place in Portland in two weeks. (Yes, people will be heading out to George Fox by bus and car to see these intense ceramics, and I hope they will enjoy local wine and produce en route.) For more about George Fox's art programs, contact Professor Tim Timmerman.
All the work was thought (and feeling) provoking. As just one example, a mandala of ceramic flowers on a wall hangs adjacent to a mandala of freshly-cut flowers on the floor. The wall of flowers will remain luminous as the vegetable flowers decay. As an artist's daughter I was always dismayed when a gallery invited her to send work and then requested an "artist's statement". The work is the statement. So I am not going to try to summarize more of these amazing ceramic sculptures in words.
Helen says the NCECA is "the Comic-Con of ceramics" and there are 70 shows related to the conference (PDF list) we can view for free. The largest outside the convention center will be at Disjecta in North Portland. Lisa Conway, whose work was also featured in "Tropes of Nature", has a solo show at Guardino Gallery that's open right now.
Below are pictures of Otterson's pieces in the show, in ceramic and glass. (While she was an artist in residence here in Portland she also worked with / at Bullseye Glass.) The one you can see well is "Untitled" (2016).
Also in photos: my parents chatting with Helen and viewing her work.
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