Local glass and clay exhibition goes beyond grandma’s ceramics

By Isabel Buckmaster

Featuring fifty artists from across Canada, the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery has launched two major exhibitions, Voices and Emergence this week. 

In honour of the opening, the Gallery will host an Opening Reception and Award Presentation today from 2 p.m to 4 p.m to celebrate the artists. 

“I hope you will join us to celebrate these new exhibitions and the fantastic work of emerging and established artists on display,” said Denis Longchamps, Executive Director and Chief Curator at the Gallery, in a press release.

Featuring the work of forty artists selected from across Canada, Voices dissects issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion in Canada. An accompanying catalogue will expand on the presented works, providing a look into the practices and experiences of the artists through essays by fourteen writers. 

“Voices and Emergence are indicative of two elements of the Gallery’s mission,” said Longchamps. “First, to continue exhibiting the work of diverse artists that are representative of our local and national communities, and second to support the work of emerging artists in their development, ensuring a strong and vibrant future for ceramics, glass, and vitreous enamelling in Canada.” 

Emergence celebrates with winners and finalists of the RBC Award for Glass, Canada's top award for glass, and Winfred Shantz Award for Ceramics. The works presented in the exhibition are intended to demonstrate the impressive technique and creativity of the next generation of Canadian ceramic and glass artists. 

2022 winners Jared Last and Matthew O’Reilly will attend the opening reception to receive their awards.

O'Reilly creates satirical ceramic monuments in an attempt to conceptualize the self not as an individual, but as a community.

“I am particularly concerned with subverting a sculptural embodiment of masculinity… I do this by dissecting the body into distorted fragments that come back together to solicit curiosity and repulsion,” said O'Reilly in an exhibition statement on his website. “I aim to make reflexive work that pushes, pulls, and complicates dialogues around identity.” 

From Revelstoke, British Columbia with a degree from the Alberta College of Art and Design with a distinction in Glass, Last has received numerous scholarships throughout his career, studying at both the Corning Museum of Glass, and Pilchuck Glass School. Last's work combines colour and pattern with architecture and the glass' optical properties to create both functional and sculptural works. Aiming to “draw his viewers inwards,” Last takes glass as a primarily functional medium and emphasizes subtle aspects so outsiders can experience glass from his perspective.

More information about both exhibits can be found on the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery website

 

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