Raising Dust

Margaret Boozer, Akemi Maegawa, Melissa Mytty, Matthew Ziemke

May 10-August 23, 2013

Artists who work with clay are intensely connected to their medium. The physical act of molding with one’s hands requires a deep understanding of the material and a deliberate intention for its use. All of the artists represented in Raising Dust express this connectedness through their varied explorations of the ceramic medium. Whether to realize fantasies, resurrect memories, make observations, or highlight beauty, the five artists combine ceramic with mixed media to relate in new ways to the ancient medium of clay.  

Akemi Maegawa’s Cloud Series is the realization of the artist’s unattainable dreams. The goldfish depicted has become one with the clouds and is joyfully swimming through the seasons of spring and summer. Fleeting moments are frozen in time in Akemi’s ceramic and fabric installations.

Margaret Boozer employs clay as both material and subject matter. Her photographs of clay and soil in their natural environment began as preparatory studies for clay compositions, but have since transitioned into autonomous artworks. The formal composition of a framed rectangle of ground celebrates the surprising beauty of dirt and reflects an urban condition of longing for a closer connection to the earth. 

Melissa Mytty stages anthropomorphic characters in fantastical worlds. Each sculpture is clad in a costume suited for a catwalk, extravagant ball, or superficial intimate reality. Mytty is interested in the ambiguity of these objects and all the wonderment that encompasses their existence.

Matthew Alden Price utilizes his training as a potter in his recent paintings, treating paint like glaze and the canvas like the walls of a pot. His paintings reflect a fusion of traditional decorative motifs gathered through his travels. The resulting works are placeholders for the pots that once carried the objects’ appliqué.

Matt Ziemke is intrigued by the relationship and conflict between the natural environment and manmade American landscape. He references machinery, architecture, refuse and aerial maps to study the complex juxtaposition of natural and artificial structure.