Opening Reception January 4th from 5:30-8

Brighton Smith

Biography:

Brighton Smith grew up in Southern California studying Drawing and Painting from an early age. He earned his BA in Studio Art and Art History from Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA in 2013. 

Brighton began floral and botanical painting in 2010 with exotic flowers. He moved to Arizona in 2013 with his wife, since then he has learned to appreciate the desert landscape and flowers. His show “Dreaming of Summer” will feature flowers from the Arizona Desert with bright color. 

Brighton has had 4 solo exhibitions with Skidmore Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, he has shown his work in numerous group shows in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Baltimore, and Phoenix.

 

Craig Clifford

Bio:

Craig Clifford received his BFA from California State University Long Beach in 2000 and his MFA from Louisiana State University in 2003.  He exhibits his work nationally and internationally and has been included in the 2007 and 2009 World Ceramic Biennial in South Korea as well as, Ceramic Top 40, and is a past artist in residence at The Archie Bray Foundation, in Helena Montana.  He is currently in the studio working for upcoming collaborative exhibitions with artist Debbie Kupinsky in 2018 at Portrait Society Gallery in Milwaukee WI, 2019 at James May Gallery in Algoma WI and a two-person exhibition The Bloomington Center for the Arts in Bloomington MN.  He has taught ceramics and art at California State University Long Beach, USC, Mississippi Valley State University and is currently the head of the ceramics program at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.

Statement

As an artist I am interested in where high and low culture intersects and how images carry meaning within a society that consumes a huge amount of visual information. My creative practice is an exercise in the transformation of common objects and an investigation into how context, expectation and gaze affect our experience with the things we live with. I use the technique of casting to transform found objects and forms into rich tableaus that use color and texture to alter the perception of space and draw the viewer into a complex experience.

My pieces are made by the assemblage of hundreds of press molded, kitsch forms to create texture that at first glance seems to be a mere surface but then draws the viewer in with slices of recognizable imagery. I could use anything to create texture, but choose to use the trite, sentimentalized images that come from commercial plaster molds. In fine art, ceramics is often considered low art and within ceramics commercial molds are the lowest form of clay as they require no skill or creativity and represent images and clichés as crass novelty items. I transform these hollow, commercial reproductions of ‘art’ to create my work. The forms themselves are cast from found objects like refined teacups and serving pieces from cast off china sets. For myself, these objects are images of refinement and wealth and act as a contrast to the surface imagery.

The pieces show themselves in layers of information that take time to reveal themselves to the viewer. I utilize color as another layer for the work, both hiding and accenting the texture and form. I work in assemblage and use material culture to create works that recontextualize the familiar until it is transformed and unrecognizable.

Debbie Kupinsky

Statement

My work investigates the role of objects and images as carriers of meaning and explores the role of layered images in the construction of metaphorical landscapes. Ordinary objects like flowers, teacups, bottles, and toys are some of the subjects and images within my work that come together to create larger, open narrative. The relationships in the work between sculptural pieces and found objects are meant to leave space for the viewer and allow them to find themselves, their memories and associations. Through the tactile replication of objects and forms, the viewer is able to create their own connections between seemingly disparate images. The pieces create layers of meaning with an emphasis on the density and hidden forms within the work. My goal is to create a visually playful experience where meaning and narrative is created with each individual experience. The works are meant to show themselves in layers of information that take time to reveal themselves to the viewer.