Battle of the Bowls, Artist Spotlight: Patricia Ingersoll and Beth Ireland

Patricia Ingersoll’s paintings have been exhibited in Pennsylvania, New York and throughout the U.S. She is represented in Pennsylvania museum collections, as well as in many private and corporate collections. In addition, Patricia has been a commissioned artist for the City of Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program. Her 8 outdoor murals can be seen throughout various neighborhoods of the city. She is also a featured artist in the book, Philadelphia Murals and the Stories they tell. She has been a guest lecturer, has been featured in several publications and has appeared on television. She was the recipient of an Independence Foundation Fellowship in 2000 and created a large scale installation exhibition 3 locations from 2001-2002.

Beth Ireland is a 1979 graduate of State University College at Buffalo, where she received a Bachelors degree in Art Education. She has run Beth Ireland Woodworking since 1982. The company specializes in architectural woodturning, furniture and cabinetry. Beth has lectured, taught and demonstrated throughout New England, including a stint as Director of the Wood Program at Worcester Center for Crafts. Her artistic woodturnings have been seen in galleries throughout the United States and in publications such as Bead and Button, andDesign Book 7 by Taunton Press. She currently resides and works in Roslindale, MA.

Battle of the Bowls, Artist Spotlight, Heeseung Lee and Jim Loewer

Heeseung Lee uses the functional aspects of her vessels to create an entry point for viewers to go beyond the threshold of a utilitarian object and into the world of art. Lee plays with patterns from the stylized linear landscapes of Korean screen paintings, colors from Japanese lacquer-ware, and compositional arrangements from various Asian textiles to embellish her ceramic vessels. Lee is infatuated with the layering of pattern and textures, creating visual rhythm and energy, defining space, and alluding to the evidence of the passage of time. Ms. Lee received her B.F.A from the Maryland Institute College of Art.

 

Jim Loewer holds an undergraduate degree in painting from the University of California and a teaching degree from the University of South Carolina. He taught at various different schools for four years before devoting himself full-time to glass. He is self-taught through trial and error, focusing primarily on contemporary organic forms influenced by Japanese craft and the American studio glass movement.

Battle of the Bowls, Artist Spotlight: Giselle Hicks and Ayumi Horie

Giselle Hicks received her B.F.A in ceramics in 2001 from Syracuse University and her M.F.A in ceramics in 2010 from New York State College. She says of her work “My work is an abstraction of how I translate the expansive and complex experiences that take place within the home. What is retained from these experiences is reflected back in a series of memory traces that inform our behavior in the context of the next experience. As a result, a pattern emerges which shapes our identity.” Giselle has participated in various solo, two person, and group exhibitions including “Hello/Goodbye” at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, and “Encore” at Baltimore Clayworks.

Ayumi Horie received her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College in 1991, her B.F.A. in ceramics from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 1996, and her M.F.A. in ceramics from the University of Washington in 2000. Ayumi works as a studio potter in the Hudson Valley of New York, about 2 hours north of New York City. She has taught workshops and given lectures at many universities, art centers and residencies in the U.S. and abroad, including the Archie Bray Foundation, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Greenwich House Pottery, Penland School of Crafts, Peter’s Valley, Arrowmont School of the Arts and Crafts,  the Northern Clay Center, and the International Ceramic Research Center in Denmark. Since 2004, she has been on the board of directors at the Archie Bray Foundation, where she was a resident for two years between 1996 and 1998. Her work is in various collections throughout the US.

 

Battle of the Bowls, Artist Spotlight: Carlo Fiammenghi and Michael Biello

Carlo Fiammenghi and Michael Biello: 

Carlo Fiammenghi, and Michael Biello are co-creators of Biello Martin Studio, a creative sanctuary of interdisciplinary arts. Michael Biello, a interdisciplinary artist, and Carlo Fiammenghi, an architectural interior designer both show work at their Philadelphia based studio.

Michael Biello is an interdisciplinary artist whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including the American Crafts Museum in New York and the World Crafts Council in Vienna. Biello’s diverse body of visual work ranges from operatic neo-classic chandeliers to stainless steel light columns creating sensual moving patterns, black and white vases that spin, hand-tinted erotic collages on paper and clay, ceramic headlights that glow from within and buddhas in theatrical dream-like environments. Biello graduated from the Philadelphia College of Art in 1973 with a BFA in Ceramics.

Carlo Fiammenghi studied and practiced architecture in Rome, came to Philadelphia to visit, and found himself in 2006 studying for another master’s degree at Temple University, this one in urban planning. While working for the firm Wallace, Roberts & Todd, he had second thoughts about this new career path. He says of that time, “I worked on large projects, but over time I really began to miss the details – picking out furniture, materials, shapes, and colors.”

Battle of the Bowls, Artist Spotlight: Michael Fujita and Molly Hatch

Michael Fujita is currently living and working in Philadelphia and in his second year as a Resident Artist at the Clay Studio. He says of his work ” I have a strong commitment to both craft and beauty, firmly believing that concept and idea travel most effectively along this path. A commitment to labor and time is prevalent in the majority of my work. The arduous nature of a particular task can seem almost ridiculous. Countless hours repeating a motion or action to produce an object or mark is eventually captured in a single visual moment”

 

Molly Hatch was Born in 1978. Her childhood was divided between physical labor, play and creating art. She studied drawing and ceramics receiving her BFA at the Museum School in Boston between 1996 and 2000 where she left Boston to work with potter Miranda Thomas in Vermont. After several ceramic residencies in the US and West Indies, she worked towards her M.F.A. in ceramics at the University of Colorado in Boulder from 2005-2008. In 2009, she was awarded the prestigious Arts/Industry Residency in the Pottery at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Wisconsin.

Currently she work from her home studio in Northampton MA where she lives with her woodworker husband Oliver Hatch and their daughter Camilla. She is a writer and an artist-designer, creating everything from fabric patterns, furniture, jewelry, prints, pen and ink drawings and paintings in addition to her primary career as a ceramic artist-designer. Her work is heavily inspired by historic trends in fabric, font, ceramics and furniture re-mixed with a contemporary scale, palette and sense of humor. Her use of text is often appropriated directly from hip-hop and indie song lyrics, text messages and collected colloquiums.

 

For more information about the Battle of the Bowls, Click Here!

Battle of the Bowls, Artist Spotlight: Nancy Citrino and Lynn Denton

Nancy Citrino:

Nancy Citrino’s monotypes use pieces of fabric and simplistic shapes and patterns to create a human form. She portrays people and objects in their essentials, stripping them down to shape, attitude and gesture. Citrino received a B.S. in Art Education from Tyler School of Art, a certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and a M.A. in Education from the University of the Arts. Citrino’s work has been exhibited in group and solo shows in Italy and Philadelphia at the Sketch Club; Tyler Art Gallery; University of the Arts, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Fleisher Art Memorial, among others.

 

Lynn Denton:

Lynn Denton is a painter, installation and performance artist, ceramicist, and filmmaker who investigates the nature of creativity and its sources. In her installations at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia and the Morris Gallery of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, she explored the genesis of creativity in Western creation myths. In subsequent installations, performances and large-scale paintings, she has continued to identify and mine her personal icons and archetypal imagery, exhibiting in numerous solo shows at Nexus Gallery and other venues. She currently teaches at Moore College of Art and Design, serves on the Board of the Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association, and shares leadership of the Philadelphia Artists’ Conference Network, a national organization for artists’ empowerment.

Battle of the Bowls, Artist Spotlight: Ann Chahbandour and Sam Chung

Ann Chahbandour:

Artist Ann Chahbandour received her M.F.A. in sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, by which time she also completed an independent study at Rhode Island School of Design. She then received a Fullbright Fellowship to study stone carving in Italy. Chahbandour’s work has been shown extensively in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad since 1973.  She has received numerous grants, awards and residencies and is a member of the Sculptors Guild and the Philadelphia Sculptors.

 

Sam Chung:

Artist Sam Chung is an Arizona based sculptor who received his B.A. from St. Olaf College, and his M.F.A from Arizona State University, School of Art, in Ceramics. This year he is involved in two exhibitions, one at the NCECA Biennial, Tampa Museum of Art, in Tampa, Florida and one at the Samuel P. Harn Museum, in Gainesville, Florida. He says of his work “I am interested in the way that pots have the unique ability to serve a multitude of roles and functions. They can be decorative, create nostalgia, reference history or places, bring attention to more tactile or ergonomic concerns, and of course, they can be used.”

 

For more information on the Battle of the Bowls, Click Here!

Battle of the Bowls, Artist Spotlight: Jill Bonovitz and Anthony Campuzano

Jill Bonovitz:

Artist Jill Bonovitz is a graduate from Moore College of Art and Columbia University. Her work combines a white color palette with a minimalist form to create beautiful porcelain vases and white compositions.  Jill has displayed her work in many solo exhibitions in addition to being a part of many group exhibitions such as the “Close at Hand: Philadelphia Artists in the Permanent Collection,” which took place at The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia. Jill says of her work “My work begins from a silent place, deep within me. It flows through my hands and into the clay. I am guided by touch and engagement with the material, and am never certain of a work’s destination, but it is always within the boundaries of the vessel form.”

Porcelain Vase

Anthony Campuzano:

Artist Anthony Campuzano is known for his use of found language. Using text found from a variety of different places – newspaper headlines, Wikipedia entries, the covers of paperback novels, trivial cultural events, common clichés, pop song lyrics—he creates incredibly colorful and informative pieces.  Anthony attended Tyler school of Art, where he studied painting and sculpture.

Battle of the Bowls: Artist Spotlight!

In preperation for our upcoming fundraiser, The Battle of the Bowls, we will be spotlighting two  participating artists per day. Up first, Kate Abercrombie and Jerry Bennett.

Kate Abercrombie:

Kate Abercrombie earned a B.F.A in printmaking from Tyler School of Art and attended the Temple Scotland Program in Glasgow. Her work has been included in exhibitions at Vox Populi Gallery where she is a member, Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, Nexus Foundation for Art, Philadelphia; and Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. She is currently a studio assistant at the Fabric Workshop and Museum.

Untitled Etching, chine colle and digital, 2004

 

Jerry Bennett:

Jerry Bennett is a Philadelphia based clay and screen-printing artist. His piece “Out of Time and Patience, (featured below) was part of a group show at the Northern Clay Center.  A graduate from Indiana University with a M.F.A in Ceramics, He says of his work “It is my aspiration as an artist to create objects with a strong visual identity that reflects functionality, but are more than just a vessel. Through use of color, texture and movement, my work shows an evolution, which I hope, results in a straightforward and graceful statement.”

PAA proudly presents Miss Rockaway Armada

The Philadelphia Art Alliance will present an innovative new art installation Let Me Tell You About a Dream I Had created by the nationally renowned Miss Rockaway Armadaopening September, 2011. The nontraditional exhibit will feature a flotilla of several sculptural elements composed entirely from recycled and salvaged materials that parade from the Schuylkill River to various destinations throughout the city during the summer before being deconstructed into an exhibit at the Philadelphia Art Alliance.

“The Miss Rockaway Armada is a group of incredibly talented individuals who have reinvented the old adage, ‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,’ transforming and reinventing ordinary materials into fantastic works of art,” said Melissa Caldwell who is curating the project. “They have the talent to bring new life and beauty to everyday objects, proving that art can be found anywhere and everywhere.”

Miss Rockaway Armada’s handmade and eco-friendly creations will make their journey up the Schuylkill River to the Walnut Street docking area in August. The hand crafted floating sculpture will then be deconstructed and transformed into various land traveling installations scheduled throughout August. The installation will make appearances at University City and in Kensington accompanied by musical and theatrical performances. It will proceed to its final stop to the Philadelphia Art Alliance in September where it will be on display for the remainder of the year. In addition to exploring the manipulative nature of art, Let Me Tell You About A Dream I Had will also embody the contemporary grassroots approach to crafts that has resurfaced within the last decade.

Established in 2006 by an eclectic group of artists and performers from all over the country, The Miss Rockaway Armada has been nationally recognized for their engaging and interactive mobile constructions and art installations. Through unexpected and innovative works of art, the members of the Armada share and promote sustainable ways of living while addressing important environment issues involving the use of renewable resources. The group generated headlines for their two year journey down the Mississippi River from 2006 to 2007, traveling on a sustainable flotilla of rafts while stopping in towns to present musical performances and vaudeville variety-theater. The Miss Rockaway Armada seeks to create a new sustainable way of traveling while demonstrating different ways of living and moving that are friendlier to the environment and to each other.

The Philadelphia Art Alliance contributes to the vibrancy of Philadelphia life as the only art organization focusing specifically on craft – art that reflects the continuous evolution and traditions of functionality, ornamentation and ceremony. Founded in 1915, the Philadelphia Art Alliance offers its community of local residents and regional visitors opportunities to enrich their lives by showcasing established and emerging artists through exhibition, performance and other forums. With the historic Wetherill Mansion on Rittenhouse Square as its backdrop, the Philadelphia Art Alliance exemplifies the creative possibilities that arise at the nexus of tradition and innovation.

Let Me Tell You About a Dream I Had: Miss Rockaway Armada has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative.

Visit our newly launched micro-site detailing the project:  http://www.rockawayatpaa.com/

Or you can follow the project on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RockawayAtPAA