Narrowing the Variables: Seven Approaches to the Vessel

Sunshine Cobb, 2017

Exhibit Information

Narrowing the Variables references the many choices artists have when pursuing a body of work. These choices begin with simple questions such as: What type of clay will be used? Will the clay be wheel thrown, hand built, or cast? Will the work have a smooth or rough surface? What tools will be used to create that surface? As each question is answered, many options and investigations are left behind, creating a “narrowing of variables,” a funneling of ideas. What remains is a tight set of self-devised parameters that then becomes the language used for creative expression and communication with the world at large.

About the Artist

Curated by Ben Krupka, Faculty in the Arts

As a complement to this spring semester’s curricular focus on vessel-based work, this exhibition highlights the styles and techniques of seven makers working within the framework of the vessel. These seven artists were chosen for their highly refined use of very simple techniques and differing approaches to a similar theme. Minimally decorated, their work focuses on strong form and an overall sensibility of intentional touch, allowing softness and natural characteristics of the material to remain present.  

Artists: Sunshine Cobb, Mike Helke, Brian Hopkins, Mark Shapiro, Sam Taylor, Lindsay Oesterritter, and Emily Schroeder Willis