The Goldsworthy of the Coffee Shop at SC State University, 30,000 wooden coffee stir sticks woven in place and held by tension, work created on site while in residence the week of Oct 17-24 2008, Dimensions: variable; Medium: woven wooden coffee stir sticksThis is just an inspiration for ceramics. I love the comical ways of depicting a rabbit. Trying it out on ceramic teacups as soon as they dry.
Jun Kaneko was born in Nagoya, Japan in 1942. He came to the United States in 1963 to continue his painting studies at Chouinard Institute of Art where his focus was drawn to sculptural ceramics through his introduction to Fred Marer and his extensive collection of artworks by contemporary California artists. At this time he also studied with many of the artists who formed The Contemporary Ceramics Movement such as Peter Voulkos, Paul Soldner, John Mason and Jerry Rothman. The following decade, Kaneko taught at some of the nation's leading art schools, including Scripps College, Cranbrook Academy of Art and Rhode Island School of Design.  Mr. Kaneko is a prolific artist, who learns by process and through the dialog between maker and object, a distance he is constantly challenging, achieving an intimacy with his medium where his bold hand can seem invisible.Mainly identified as a sculptor, Jun Kaneko also works on equally technical and innovative levels in glass, textiles, bronze, paper and canvas. This exhibition is an extensive representation of Jun's work in ceramic sculpture, drawings and paintings over the past two decades. Currently, Jun Kaneko lives and works in a large four story warehouse converted into his studio and home in Omaha, Nebraska. His prolific roster of diverse work appears annually in numerous international solo and group exhibitions and is included in more than forty museum collections. To date he has realized over twenty five public art commissions around the world and has been honored with national, state and organization fellowships and an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art in London.  The showing here is part of a ten city national tour taking place over a two and a half year period containing approximately thirty nine ceramic artworks, paintings, and works on paper from the collection of the Kaneko Studio. The exhibition was curated by Jun Kaneko and was developed and managed by Smith Kramer Fine Art Services, an exhibition tour development company in Kansas City, Missouri. |
M.C. Escher is among the most mathematical and scientific of artists. A strong emphasis will be placed on public education programs in conjunction with the exhibition, which will include Escher in the Classroom outreach, studio and gallery workshops at K-12 and university levels to explore mathematics and art, infinity, architecture and tessellations all based on Escher's work, and films including the award-winning 2007 "Achieving the Unachievable."
