2014-15 Artist in Residence Exit Exhibitions

Consecutive solo exhibitions featuring work made at Clay Art Center during the year-long residencies of Matthew Smith and Kelley Donahue.

Also on exhibit in the SHOP July 11 – August 24
Westchester Community Foundation Valentine & Clark Emerging Artist Fellow, Lindsey Francis

Matthew Smith 2014-15 Artist in Residence
July 11 – July 28

My Name is Nobody:

Opening Reception: Saturday, July 11, 6 – 8pm
Growing out of the historical roots of a particular place, Matthew’s video, installation and functional objects engages specific beings and materials in authentic situations.

Matthew Smith Artist Statement: Growing out of the physical, geographical, and historical roots of a particular place, my studio practice engages specific beings and materials in authentic situations. The materials demanded, concepts handled, and the techniques used are dependent upon the people, places, and things I see in my everyday environment. In many of these situations I see a paradox. Defining and addressing that paradox takes many artistic forms. Elements of social practice, site-specific sculpture, mapping, performance, video, and installation permeate my interdisciplinary studio practice.
Sifting across disciplines, certain tendencies do arise in my work. Clay and ceramic are materials that historically have been important to me, as pottery was a mainstay in my studio practice. My time as a potter formed a knowledge base of materials and processes, along with ideas about craft, art, and objecthood. In many of my projects these foundations create the starting point to think through ideas. Typically a project culminates with a component of these materials, processes, or ideas. The conceptual aspects of my work vary according to each individual situation, but many projects deal with facets of anthropocentrism. I am interested in how our human-centered view of the world affects ourselves, other living beings, and the places where we all subsist.

About the Artist: Matthew Smith is an artist and educator who has been working in clay for 10 years. He was orn and raised in Indiana and went to Anderson University to receive a B.A. in Art Education with an emphasis in ceramics. After teaching elementary art in public schools for six years, he spent the last year as a special student at Syracuse University. During several summers he has been a student, teaching assistant, and studio technician at the Chautauqua School of Art in western New York. He will be attending the University of Colorado Boulder in the fall to pursue a MFA in ceramics.

There’s No Such Thing as the Future:

Opening Reception: Saturday, August 8, 6 – 8pm
Kelley’s figurative and abstract organic objects act as three-dimensional canvases. High intensity surface decoration creates a visual maze for the mind to contemplate narrative.

Kelley Donahue Artist Statement: I make figurative and non-figurative objects out of clay, which act as three-dimensional canvases. The surface is painted to create illusion of space, and expound on the shape of the form. High intensity decoration combined with narratives involving the figure, are my current focus. I conjure my own renditions of folk inspired motifs, which are derived from various traditional and contemporary uses of pattern. Creating a visual maze for the eyes to explore allows time for the mind to discover and contemplate the narrative involving the figure. The objects are installed in an arrangement that offers an immersive experience. Recently I’ve been experimenting with installations multiple small tiles. These conglomerates of small shapes painted with designs or sculpted with texture add environmental context to how the figures are situated in space. Sometimes sound, light, projections and performance play a role in the installation, too.
The narratives in my work are usually related to the universality of the existential unease I experience. By pinning specific questions (i.e. How can we be happy knowing that others suffer?) onto a spectrum of non-descript objects, imagery, sound and space, an avenue of openness with the question is created, and new perspectives become more accessible.

About the Artist: Kelley Donahue grew up in Northern California and received her B.A. in art studio from Humboldt State University. Primarily a painter, her focus shifted to clay at the end of undergrad. She then spent two years of independent focus in the studio at H.S.U. In 2012 she moved to Alfred, New York to pursue an M.F.A. in ceramics, at the New York State College of Ceramics and just completed the program.