Exhibitions at HCCC

TAKE A LOOK, TAKE A SEAT

Posted August 4, 2017 in Blog

Annie Evelyn, “Oshibana,” 2017. Handmade paper flowers, silk flowers, foam, wood. Photos by Scott Cartwright. Annie Evelyn, “Oshibana,” 2017. Handmade paper flowers, silk flowers, foam, wood. Photos by Scott Cartwright. 

One of the pleasures of the field of contemporary craft is the tactile experience of materials used by craftspeople in the creation of a unique work of art. Unfortunately, once the work is on exhibition in our galleries, as with any museum, it is “hands off” for visitors. This summer, the normal guidelines that constrain your perception of a work of art have been lifted, as we invite you to experience the installation of new work by furniture maker Annie Evelyn with your eyes as well as your, well, derriere. Continue Reading »

Annie Evelyn’s ‘Multiple Impressions’ at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

BLOUIN ARTINFOPosted July 5, 2017 in In The News

“Multiple Impressions” by furniture maker Annie Evelyn will run through September 2, 2017, at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.

The display features furniture that Evelyn has created or in the process of creating. Her installations let the visitors experience her craftsmanship firsthand by taking a seat. Using alternative materials to upholster her chairs, she manipulates tessellations of cement and aluminum to create comfortable, squishy seat cushions. These works seem hard but are relaxing to sit on and changes the perception of the user. Evelyn continues to explore new ideas through her experimental methods. She tips traditional furniture making on its head.

Annie Evelyn received her BFA (1999) and MFA (2007) in furniture design from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, Rhode Island. Evelyn has taught at Penland School of Crafts, RISD, Anderson Ranch, Parsons-The New School, and other institutions. She is the 2016 recipient of The John D. Mineck Furniture Fellowship, and, in 2011, Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Turning and Furniture Design awarded her a Windgate Furniture Residency. Annie Evelyn currently lives in Penland, North Carolina, where she is an artist-in-residence at the Penland School of Crafts.

Edward Eberle Retrospective at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

BLOUIN ARTINFOPosted July 5, 2017 in In The News

Houston Center for Contemporary Craft is hosting an exhibition of works by Pittsburgh-based ceramic artist, Edward Eberle. The exhibition will run through September 2, 2017.

This is the first career retrospective of Eberle’s work. The show brings together over 40 of the artist’s creations and highlights the evolution of Eberle’s forms and fragmented dreamlike imagery by featuring both his trademark porcelain work, as well as a series of works on paper. The retrospective brings works from the mid-1980s to the present forming a dialogue that explores the artist’s oeuvre. It culminates with examples of the artist’s most recent mixed-media sculptures, and large paper cylinders. Eberle’s ceramics are influenced by the Oribe and Kutani periods in Japan while his paintings and sculptures draw from Picasso, Miro, Duchamp, Klee, and de Kooning, among others.

Edward Eberle (b. 1944, Tarentum, PA) received his B.S. in 1967 from Edinboro State College (Edinboro, PA) and completed his M.F.A. at New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University (Alfred, NY) in 1972. Eberle joined the faculty at Philadelphia College of Art (Philadelphia, PA). He was later hired as an associate professor in ceramics and drawing (1975-1985) at Carnegie Mellon. In addition to being represented in a number of museum collections, his work has been featured in numerous solo shows in New York, Chicago, and Pittsburgh, including two exhibitions at the Carnegie Museum of Art (1980 and 1991) and one at the Columbus Museum of Art (1999).

Ann Morton: Community and Process

Posted June 25, 2015 in Blog

When visitors experience the What Happened Today? exhibition that will be on view at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft starting September 18th of this year, they will encounter a physical object – a deeply textural  and, I daresay, unusual textile. Made up of the daily writings of a wide cross-section of Houstonians, and also the hooked-rug-handiwork of a diverse collection of groups city-wide, this sculptural expression will be a rich, and interesting object to experience!

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Artist Ann Morton, and HCCC Exhibitions Intern, Madeleine Sanchez. Photo by Kim Coffman.

Continue Reading »

Ann Morton: What Happened Today?

Posted May 20, 2015 in Blog

Embarking on a project such as the What Happened Today? exhibition leaves the richness of the outcome up to the members of the public who get involved. This can be unnerving, but in the case of the citizens of Houston, the results are every bit as interesting as we’d hoped. With the generous partnership of the Houston Chronicle, we expect thousands of notes to make their way to HCCC through July.
We’d like to share just a few out of hundreds of 3”x 3” notes that have been submitted so far. Enjoy the texture of what has been shared–the character of the handwriting, the thoughts–and most of all, what happened on these days.

022115_enchanted inmate_LR Continue Reading »

Texas Masters Series: Sandie Zilker
Essay by Elizabeth Kozlowski

Posted July 24, 2014 in Blog

Sandie Zilker, "Armored Car Elbow Ornament," 1975. Sterling silver, plastic tubing, moonstone. Collection of Richard and Carol Hutchens. Photo by Logan Beck.

(Fig. 1) Sandie Zilker, “Armored Car Elbow Ornament,” 1975. Sterling silver, plastic tubing, moonstone. Collection of Richard and Carol Hutchens. Photo by Logan Beck.

Nominated by her peers and celebrated by the Houston community, Sandie Zilker was named the 2014 Texas Master by Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC). As a result, she received the opportunity to show her work in a brilliant solo exhibition and now joins an elite roster of former Texas Masters, all of whom were recognized for their roles as career artists in Texas who have made a significant impact on the field of craft.

Zilker’s solo exhibition serves as a retrospective of her jewelry work over the past four decades. Using the body as a frame of reference, she pulls from elements of illusion and surprise to elevate adornment to its fullest potential. Each of her pieces is packed with personality, increasing the wearer’s senses and creating a unique relationship between wearer and object.

After graduate school, Zilker began experimenting with very large, hollow layered pieces. Armoured Car Elbow Ornament, 1975 (fig. 1), demonstrates the artist’s ability to manipulate metal into numerous folds and incorporate both the precious (moonstone) and the discarded (plastic tubing) into wearable form. Within a few years, her work shifted towards the more formal elements of design. The Zig Zag brooch series, 1989 (fig. 2), which is more structured in terms of composition, is an example of this deviation from her earlier work. In her most recent piece in the exhibition, Long Dangling Points, 2014 (fig. 3), she applied line drawings to the Styrofoam surface, adding yet another rich visual layer to the work. Continue Reading »

Interview with Ethan Lasser:
Curator of “The Tool at Hand”

Posted June 24, 2013 in Blog

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HCCC curatorial staff interviewing Ethan Lasser. Photo by HCCC.

Earlier this month, HCCC hosted Ethan Lasser, curator of the current exhibition, The Tool at Hand, for a members-only exhibition tour and reception. Lasser is the Margaret S. Winthrop Associate Curator of American Art at Harvard Art Museums’ Division of European and American Art.  He is also the former curator of the Chipstone Foundation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he organized The Tool at Hand. HCCC curatorial staff, Ashley Powell and Quinn Hagood, had the chance to briefly interview Lasser during his whirlwind 24-hour trip to Houston. Continue Reading »

From New Delhi to Austin:
Shikha Joshi’s Journey as a Potter

Posted December 11, 2012 in Blog

A view of Shikha Joshi’s Round Rock studio. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Shikha Joshi talks about how she found her calling as a clay artist, being part of a larger artist community in Austin, and the influences behind her work. Her piece, “Following in the Footsteps. . . “ is featured in CraftTexas 2012, currently on view at HCCC through December 30, 2012.

I am a studio potter currently working out of my home studio in Round Rock, TX, a suburb of Austin. We moved to this city in 2003, when my husband took up a job with Dell. Though we call Texas our home now, I am originally from India—a country richly steeped in the tradition of arts and craft, which has strongly informed my aesthetics. Continue Reading »

Shannon Brunskill Talks about Her Work and Being a “Glassie”

Posted November 21, 2012 in Blog

View of “CraftTexas 2012.” From left to right: Miguel Abugattas’ “Untitled,” Tybre Newcomer’s “Tool of the Latter 20th Century: 5 Gallon Bucket,” Shannon Brunskill’s “The Sandwich Generation,” and “Disintegration” by Shannon Brunskill. Photo by Eric Hester.

Glass artist, Shannon Brunskill, talks about how she found glass, being part of a larger artist community, and the inspirations behind her pieces featured in CraftTexas 2012, currently on view at HCCC through December 30, 2012.

My work is a series of responses to moments I have experienced in life.  These moments imprint in my mind and resonate with me for weeks, months or years until I respond to them physically. It typically begins with a realization of some situation I find myself in, then I begin examining the situation and exhaust all possible meanings (there is a lot of thinking going on). The actual making comes after I have deeply considered what I want the piece to say and how I want to communicate my experience to a broader audience. Although the mental process of creating varies per piece, sometimes it may take a year to completely flesh out the idea before I begin to construct the physical piece of work. The work in CraftTexas 2012 is no exception to this. Continue Reading »

CraftTexas 2012—Staff Favorites!

Posted November 5, 2012 in Blog

Elizabeth DeLyria’s “Driftwood Cairn.” Photo by Elizabeth DeLyria.

CraftTexas 2012 has been up for a month, giving the staff plenty of time to stroll through the gallery space and check out the show a few times. The time has come to share with you what the staff’s favorites are.

But before we do, just in case you aren’t familiar, CraftTexas 2012 is the seventh in a series of biennial juried shows showcasing the best in Texas-made contemporary craft. All craft media are represented–wood, fiber, glass, metal, ceramics, mixed media–and the exhibition presents functional pieces as well as work that is strictly sculptural. There is something in this show for everyone. So, let’s see what each staff member picked as her piece of choice. Continue Reading »