Visions in Clay, the annual first art expedition of this semester hosted by the L.H. Horton Jr. Gallery is online this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The opening reception was held Sept. 3 as a Zoom webinar.
Despite the move to online, the exhibition was still presented, although the exhibition Juror Nancy Selvin and Gallery Coordinator Jan Marlese seemed saddened by the limitations the audience had in having a zoom webinar.
“And of course if we were in the gallery in the room you would all come up and stand next to me and get the applause you deserve…,” Selvin said.
Marlese had similar sentiments.
“I was hoping we were having more of a live meeting where we could all interact a little bit more, so if you have any questions you can take it through chat,” Marlese said.
In a Zoom webinar, anyone who attends the webinar can see and hear the host but anyone who’s not a host or co-host cannot be seen or heard by anyone else, not even the host. Artists that entered into the exhibition were there, but could not talk about their pieces individually.
The exhibition itself was quite calming, each piece was shown through a slide presentation that seemed to pass by way too quickly. However, there were a few that stood out:
- “Hurt” by Julee Richardson shows a child that seems to have been deeply hurt in some way but she also seems to represent many people who have been hurt by others.
- “Bridge” by Marianne C. McGrath a memory that was once happy and full of life, now it’s dull and gray, a mere shell of what it used to be.
The work presented a broad range of styles and methods.
“When it’s an open call and less restriction it’s hard to come up with an actual theme,” Selvin said. “What you look for is a way to put together an exhibition that will hold together and the works will sort of compliment one another.”
The variety adds depth to the show and the practices.
“My students come from all over the world and you wanna be really open to the types of ideas that they’re putting forward,” Selvin said. “And you want them to do it with strength, technical strength and visual strength.”
The 2020 exhibition features 56 works of art done by 40 artists, according to online exhibition information posted to Delta College’s website for the Horton Gallery. The exhibit will include two more virtual artist talks, one with Selvin on Sept. 17 and one with Demo Award winner Marianna C. McGrath on Sept. 25.
“The purpose is to educate the student from the ceramic arts as well as the community as well as give the artist a venue to share their work with us,” said Marlese.
An awards ceremony was held congratulating winning artists.
AWARD WINNERS AND FUTURE GALLERY EVENTS
Demo Award
Marianne C. McGrath — Bridge
Founders Award
Elizabeth James — Moon Over Superior
1st Place
Brian Caponi — On Beginning
2nd Place
Gratia Brown — Cast
3rd Place
Karyn Gabriel — Linked
Anyone who would like to attend the next virtual art exhibition can find the Zoom links here:
Virtual Artist Talk with Exhibition Juror Nancy Selvin: Sept. 17 at 11 a.m.
Zoom link: https://cccconfer.zoom.us/j/92326531198
Virtual Artist Talk with Exhibiting Artist Marianne McGrath: Sept. 25 at 6 p.m.
Zoom link https://cccconfer.zoom.us/j/93364600536
