2011 UN-WEDGED — North American Ceramic Competition and Art Show

November 5-26
OPENING RECEPTION Saturday, November 5, 6- 8 PM

Pottery Northwest, the region’s premiere ceramic facility, will host its second annual ceramics competition and exhibition:  UN-WEDGED 2011.  UN-WEDGED is a North American juried show with artists applying from all over the United States as well as Canada and Mexico. Applicants submitted both functional and sculptural work as well as mixed media. The show will run from November 5 through November 26, 2011 in the north gallery of Pottery Northwest’s historic home at 226 First Avenue North (between Thomas and John), just one block south of the Key Arena at the Seattle Center.  An Opening Reception will be held on Saturday, November 5, at 6 pm.  The public is cordially invited to attend.

The 2011 UN-WEDGED juror is Chris Staley, Professor of Ceramics at Penn State University. An award winning artist and well respected educator for many years, Staley is also the recipient of the Jean Griffith Fellowship Residency at Pottery Northwest. As juror for the competition and show, Staley has had to hone down a large pool of submissions to a select group that reflects the show’s ambition of “exceptional work both in concept and execution.” At the same time, he puts his own personal stamp on the interpretation of exceptional by selecting the recipient of the Juror’s Choice Award. This year, the Juror’s Choice Award of one thousand dollars goes to David Hollander of Boulder, Colorado for his piece Horse Head, Hand.

A second Director’s Choice prize of five hundred dollars (selected by Wally Bivins, Pottery Northwest’s director) will be awarded to Dan Molyneux for his piece Xerxes. “We are casting a wide net with this show and defying the idea of a specific trend in the field. The trend in the field that we’re interested in is excellence, and that can come in many manifestations.” Bivins says.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10 am to 5 pm.

Founded in 1966 as a non-profits arts organization, Pottery Northwest is a long time and vibrant source of programming in the Seattle arts community. Artists from around the world come to Pottery Northwest in the spirit of artistic dialog and as a formative step in their professional career.  World class professional artist residencies,  exhibitions featuring traditional and contemporary work, community classes and an engaging lecture series spanning many years are all features of this fixture at Seattle Center.

2010 UN-WEDGED — North American Ceramic Competition and Art Show

November 4 - 30, 2010

Pottery Northwest - the Pacific Northwest’s premier ceramics studio and a community of artists at many levels - is pleased to announce the opening of the first annual UN-WEDGED exhibition, a showcase of the finest in North American contemporary ceramics. The exhibition will open November 4th and continue through November 30th in Pottery Northwest’s south gallery located at 226 First Avenue North, one block south of the Key Arena. A Gala Opening Reception will be held on Saturday, November 6th from 6 – 8 pm. The public is cordially invited to attend.

UN-WEDGED was juried by University of Georgia professor emeritus Andy Nasisse who also happens to be Pottery Northwest’s 2011 Jean Griffith Fellowship recipient. In selecting the pieces to be included in the exhibition, Nasisse considered the major themes in contemporary ceramics. The figure, organic abstraction, metaphorical vessels, landscapes, functional pottery, architectural, and narrative ceramics have all been given fresh and insightful interpretations by the "UN-WEDGED" artists. Each piece was chosen on how well it lived up to the general terms that it sets for itself. How authoritative is the handling of the material? How clearly or mysteriously are the concepts conveyed? Is the craftsmanship done well? Are the formal aspects executed with sensitivity? More importantly, is the artist speaking with their own voice, even if they are speaking about issues that have been part of the vocabulary of ceramics for a long time?

Some of the pieces, according to Nasisse, “were truly inspired and had real power and presence. It was very hard to isolate one of these pieces and say that it was ‘the best,’ but the sculpture that was chosen for the Jurors award was fresh, alive, very compelling, and could suggest multiple levels of meaning! This stratification of ideas, both visually and conceptually, is the path to creating objects that have transformative power, objects that give the viewer a sustaining experience and that have the possibility of becoming universal.”

“Our goal in hosting a show with a significant prize award under the eye of a distinguished juror is to promote excellence in the field of ceramics. It also provides the Seattle community, including our students and the local clay artists, with a look at what is happening on the clay scene nationally. We are delighted with the response to our first national juried show; it indeed reflects tremendous breadth in the field” stated Executive Director, Wally Bivins.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, from 10 am to 5 pm.

Founded in 1966 as a non-profits arts organization, Pottery Northwest is a long time and vibrant source of programming in the Seattle arts community. World class professional artist residencies, exhibitions featuring traditional and contemporary work, community classes and an engaging lecture series spanning many years are all features of this fixture at Seattle Center. Artists from around the world come to Pottery Northwest in the spirit of artistic dialog and as a formative step in their professional career. The Pottery has recently supported artists like Anne Grgich, John Grade, and glass workers Jamex and Einar de la Torre to “cross over the bridge” and use ceramics in addition to other media.