Houston Center for Contemporary Craft  presents In Residence: 14th Edition, an annual exhibition of work by its 2020 – 2021 resident artists. This exhibition features work in paper, metal, clay, fiber, and stone by Chloe Darke, Abbie Preston Edmonson, Hong Hong, Hillerbrand + Magsamen, Stephanie Robison, Michael Velliquette, and Kirstin Willders. HCCC Curatorial Fellow María-Elisa Heg notes, “The innovation, skill, and spirit of these artists embody what makes HCCC’s artist residency program so unique. This edition opens just before HCCC’s 20th anniversary, a milestone that marks the resiliency and vibrancy of this program.”

The contemplative works of Hong Hong and Michael Velliquette harness the versatility of paper in each artist’s distinctive approach to this ancient medium. Hong embraces the ephemerality of paper and the physical act of pouring pulp, creating large-scale pieces that change as they dry in the open air. Velliquette carefully researches and chooses paper stock that will hold up to his meticulous process of building mandala-like, architectural sculptures that draw the viewer into a meditative state.

Ceramicists Abbie Preston Edmonson and Kirstin Willders express personal and societal experiences through their own visual vocabularies. For Edmonson, processing grief and trauma has led her to explore a metaphorical approach to material, using clay and paper as vessels holding deep wells of emotions that are often difficult to express. Willders encodes a ritual language into her ceramics to create a dialogue between queer identity and the historical use of reliquaries, adorning her vessels with talismanic arrangements of hair, metal chains, and sprigs of herbs.

Chloe Darke and Stephanie Robison explore the capacity of human perception with incongruent combinations of materials, ranging from quarried stone to cultivated bacteria, that invite curiosity, amusement, or even disgust. Darke fashions tools for an imagined arcane laboratory that seeks out and hides knowledge, inviting viewers to draw their own conclusions. Robison’s work combines the softness and malleability of felt with the rigidity of stone, undermining the expectations of each material, with hard sculptures that seem to melt and ooze and soft forms that feel capable of bearing weight.

Hillerbrand + Magsamen, the inaugural recipients of the new Interdisciplinary Craft + Photography Residency (presented in collaboration with Houston Center for Photography), use photography as both a starting point and a step in their craft process. Moving fluidly among photography, sculpture, and embroidery, their practice also encompasses filmmaking and set building to provoke inquiry, play, and experimentation.

In Residence: 14th Edition was curated by HCCC Curatorial Fellow, María-Elisa Heg.  More information about the Center’s artist residency program can be found at:  https://www.crafthoustodev.wpenginepowered.com/artists/residents/.

Image credits:

1. Chloe Darke, “Inoculate,” 2020. Sterling silver, copper, resin, silk, agar, cultivated bacteria colonies. 16.5” x 6.25” x 3.5”. Courtesy of the artist.
2. Chloe Darke, “Shear,” 2019. Brass. 18” x 5.5” x .5”. Photo by Jim Escalante.
3. Chloe Darke, “Plasmodium Brooch,” 2021. Copper, silver, steel, agar, Physarum polycephalum (slime mold), resin. 3.25″ x 2.375″ x .5″. Courtesy of the artist.
4. Abbie Preston Edmonson, “Burn That Sh*t Down,” 2021. Fired Clay, Glaze, Underglaze, Charcoal, Light. Photo by Mark Franci.
5. Abbie Preston Edmonson, “Burn That Sh*t Down,” 2021. Fired Clay, Glaze, Underglaze, Charcoal, Light. Photo by Mark Franci.
6. Hillerbrand + Magsamen, “Alchemy for Thought,” 2021. Archival inkjet print and thread. 24″x24″. Courtesy of the artists.
7. Hong Hong, Image of an in-process, environmental pour at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, 2021. Courtesy of the artist.
8. Hong Hong, “The Weight of Water and a White Snow,” 2021. Repurposed paper, sun, dust, hair, pollen, mulberry bark, fiber-reactive dyes, water and foliage: Resurrection Fern. 91″ x 139″ x 93″. Courtesy of the artist.
9. Hong Hong, “The Mountain That Does not Describe a Circle, II,” 2021. Repurposed paper, sun, dust, hair, pollen, mulberry bark, fiber-reactive dyes, water and foliage: Vetiver. 96″ x 113″. Courtesy of the artist.
10. Stephanie Robison, “Pandemic,” 2020. Marble, wool. 6″ x 8″ x 5″. Photo by John Janca.
11. Stephanie Robison, “Desire,” 2020. Pyrophilite, wool. 12″ x 6″ x 4″. Photo by John Janca.
12. Stephanie Robison, “Bagpipe Of Insanity,” 2020. Marble, wool, wood, fabric, paint. 14″x 5″x 4″. Photo by John Janca.
13. Michael Velliquette, “Let your hand rest on the rim of heaven,” 2019. Paper sculpture. 20″x20″x6. Photo by Jim Escalante.
14. Michael Velliquette, “All seeming things shine with the light of pure knowledge,” 2019. Paper sculpture. 18″ x 8″ x 8″. Photo by Jim Escalante.
15. Michael Velliquette, “The love that would soak down into the center of being,” 2020. Paper sculpture. 20” x 20 x 8”. Photo by Jim Escalante.
16. Kirstin Willders, “I Carry With Me All My Things: Lavender” (detail 1), 2021. Ceramic, hair, stainless steel findings, faux lavender, dried (natural) lavender, lavender incense, lavender essential oil, microphone & microphone stand. 26″ x 31″ x 20″. Courtesy of the artist.
17. Kirstin Willders, “I Carry With Me All My Things: Lavender” (detail 2), 2021. Ceramic, hair, stainless steel findings, faux lavender, dried (natural) lavender, lavender incense, lavender essential oil, microphone & microphone stand. 26″ x 31″ x 20″. Courtesy of the artist.
18. Kirstin Willders, “I Carry With Me All My Things: Lavender,” 2021. Ceramic, hair, stainless steel findings, faux lavender, dried (natural) lavender, lavender incense, lavender essential oil, microphone & microphone stand. 26″ x 31″ x 20″. Courtesy of the artist.