In this exhibition, Kelly Porter introduces more than 25 large-scale oil on canvas paintings and nearly 20 monotypes and mixed media works on paper. The work is organic, transcendent and presciently timely, born out of Porter’s decades-long fascination with the basic, essential forms of pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses, their shapes imbued with an inherent beauty that reveals itself under a microscope. That some of the most deadly pathogens look like beautiful flowers at the microscopic level has long intrigued Porter, and inspired her to translate them into ‘atomic flowers.’ The energy of these living forms radiate a powerful vibrancy that is simultaneously constrained and explosive. In Porter’s body of work, atomic flowers are abundant, vivacious and powerful subjects that are brought forward through the medium of art.

Inspired by German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who argued that it is our faculty of judgement that enables us to experience beauty and we grasp those experiences as part of an ordered, natural world with purpose, Porter, too, finds the physical world to be unified, functional, compatible and purposeful. But she delves deeper into unseen worlds, unavailable to the naked eye, and through her exploration offers viewers perspective and appreciation for these natural forms that, indeed, are beautiful.

Porter’s immersion in her fine art deeply influences her commercial work as co-founder of Porter Teleo, a line of hand printed, hand painted wallcovering and fabric that is highly sought after by many of the world’s leading interior designers. The very focused approach she takes to her studio work often leads to new discoveries for her design work, resulting in wallpaper and textile patterns that are entirely new – the intersection where art meets design.

Porter is from Dallas, TX. She received her BFA from Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO in 1997, where she studied printmaking and philosophy. Upon receiving a full scholarship, she continued her education at the State University of New York in Buffalo, NY, where she received an MFA in 1999. Porter returned to Kansas City for a teaching position at the Kansas City Art Institute and began showing her work in galleries across the country. Kelly Porter’s work has been described by critics as “unique, composed and calming, with layered and labor intensive surfaces.”

Her honors include being named as one of the “21 Under 30 Top Artists to Watch” in 2004 by Southwest-Art Magazine, “Top Visual Artist” in 2006 by Kansas City Magazine, a “Merit Award for Best Product Design” from Interior Design Magazine, 2008, and a number of editorials in Architectural Digest, Elle Décor, Vogue, Town and Country, Women’s Wear Daily, Veranda, Metropolitan Home, House Beautiful, Spaces Kansas City and IN Kansas City Magazine for her surface design work for Porter Teleo.

Originally from Japan, Michiko Itatani asserts that she is a “made in America” artist. Her paintings reflect her lifelong interest in science fiction and the cosmic, and are inhabited by hovering circles of ight that suggest a spirit, a possibility, a place to go, Infinite Hope.

Itatani is a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she has been a professor of painting since 1979. She has received numerous prestigious awards including the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, two Illinois Arts Council Artist’s Fellowships; and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Her work is held in the public collections of the The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO; Wright Museum, Beloit, WI; Erie Art Museum, Erie, PA; Olympic Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland; American Embassy Permanent Collection, Brasilia, Brazil; Villa-Haiss-Museum, Zell am Harmersback, Germany; Tokoha Museum, Shizuoka, Japan; National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea; Musee du Quebec, Quebec, Canada; Museu D’art Contemporani (MACBA), Barcelona, Spain and others.

Peter Pincus’ elegant ceramics are instantly recognizable as his alone. the slip-cast porcelain vessels that make up Inset build on Pincus’ exploration of the history of ceramics, his technical expertise and understanding of color. The result is a dynamic perceptual experience as though an intimate tactile Op art.

In the world of ceramics Peter Pincus is a master of perfection. In his work, color and form are bound together as if neither could exist without the other. The complexity and hard work of Pincus’ studio practice is concealed from us in the final presentation. The creative invention of form, the precise technique of developing and casting complex molds, and the honing of a finely tuned color palette seem effortless and we see only beauty, exquisite color and form unmarred by struggle or hard work. Perfection of form is often delineated by slivers of cast colored porcelain, fine tuned to color harmonies, more akin to painting than to clay, or grey scales, tuned as though music.

Pincus holds a M.F.A. and B.F.A. from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. He currently holds the position of Visiting Assistant Professor in Ceramics at the School for American Crafts at Rochester Institute of Technology, NY. His ceramics can be found in numerous public and private collections, including the recent acquisition by the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO.

Cary Esser‘s new series of intimate ceramic wall works, Minerality, explore the alchemy of glaze and the mystery of lacuna. Variations of form and the skin of surface on Esser’s book-sized structures are glazed with crystal, lusters of percious metal and vibrant color.

An ongoing connection between organic and geometric structures in my work has played a role in the creation and evolution of each new series. My early sensibilities as an artist were influenced by our built environments, and in particular by tiles and ornament with motifs of flora and fauna.

Esser is the Chair of Ceramics at the Kansas City Art Institute. Her work is in the collections of Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS; Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO; Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT; John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI, and numerous others.