Time is a Circle: Generational Craft Practices, includes the work of Mona Cliff, Wansoo Kim, Hùng Lê, Jada Patterson, Jason Wang, and Aleah Washington.

The public is invited to the exhibition’s opening reception from 6 to 8 pm. The exhibition includes work by Mona Cliff, Wansoo Kim, Hùng Lê, Jada Patterson, Jason Wang, and Aleah Washington, and runs through February 3, 2024.

For centuries craft practices have been passed from generation to generation keeping traditions alive and preserving history, while building communities through the making process. These shared practices are a testament to the resilience and perseverance of many cultures throughout the world.

The six artists in the exhibition use craft traditions to carry on generational practices while unearthing aspects of their own histories within a broader historical and artistic context.

Mona Cliff is an Aniiih, Nakota, and Eastern European artist whose beadwork and fabric applique are the foundation of her practice and heavily based in generational knowledge. Hung Le combines textile traditions with photography to examine his family history in the backdrop of the Việt Nam War and their immigration to the United States. Material culture and personal histories are at the center of Jada Patterson’s work. Using braided sweetgrass, Patterson references ritualistic healing and imparts power onto the mundane object. Wansoo Kim uses traditional ceramic Korean vessel forms and unorthodox ornamentation, to invite viewers to consider the revealed and the hidden, the internal versus the external. By embellishing the inside of his vessels, he reminds us to examine what is beyond outward appearances. Jason Wang draws on his Chinese heritage to create functional ceramic vessels that revolve around experiencing community. His textured teapots, cups and saucers, are intended to create a sensory experience that invokes a strong emotional response to further dialogue about identity, mental health, and mindfulness. Aleah Washington explores identity, environment, and community through her abstract wall hangings and functional ceramic work. She shares personal memories and reflects on shared histories using bold color on her quilted wall hangings and stitched pattern designs on her ceramics.

The artists in the exhibition demonstrate a command of craft and a deep understanding of their role in safeguarding craft traditions and histories.

Robert O. Beach (1923 – 2005) was an incredibly gifted painter. He was, by trade, a medical illustrator who headed up the medical illustration department at the J. Hillis Miller Health Center in Gainesville Florida. He received his masters of fine art painting at the University of Florida in 1972 studying under Hiram Williams.

We have 8 of his large scale works in our inventory and they will remain available on public display from October through December.

Why would Native Americans believe in the Gospel of the invaders, the so-called “white man’s religion”? This is the internal struggle that this exhibition chooses to address. Told within the context of a history of deeply ingrained Christian practice among generations of Native peoples, artists Bobby C. Martin (Muscogee Creek), Erin Shaw (Chickasaw-Chocktaw), and Tony Tiger (Sac & Fox, Muscogee, Seminole) face the tensions created in their lives by the faith they practice. In Altars of Reconciliation, viewers experience contemporary, Native-themed altarpieces of sacred art, personal in their stories but universal in their struggle with eternal questions.

On February 2, we’ll be hosting an artist talk at our First Friday reception, where Bobby, Erin, and Tony will be sharing more in depth about their creative processes and the personal stories that led to these pieces.

FIRST FRIDAY RECEPTIONS
November 3 & December 1
5:30 – 9:00pm

ARTIST PANEL DISCUSSION & RECEPTION
February 2, 2024
5:30 – 9:00pm

EXHIBIT OPEN HOURS
Select Saturdays, 2 – 4pm
November 4, 11, 18, 25
December 2, 9, 16
January 6, 13, 20, 27