Welcome to NewsFile, our roundup of various goings-on in the world of contemporary ceramics and contemporary ceramic art. This week we begin with Beth Cavener’s upcoming exhibition in New York then we head to the West Coast to take in a radical ceramic make-over, plus to much more!
Beth Cavener Exhibition Coming Soon!
Beth Cavener‘s highly anticipated solo exhibition The Other at Jason Jaques Gallery opens this week (November 15 – December 5, 2017). The exhibition which features of years of work which crystallizes themes Cavener has been exploring using her stoneware sculpture of ominous animals as metaphor for human behavior.
“The sculptures I create focus on human psychology, stripped of context and rationalization, and articulated through animal and human forms. On the surface, these figures are simply feral and domestic individuals suspended in a moment of tension. Beneath the surface, however, they embody the consequences of human fear, apathy, aggression, and misunderstanding.”
Explore more of Cavener’s work.
Simone Leigh Win Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize
New York-based artist Simone Leigh was awarded the 2017 Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize, an annual award that recognizes African American artists by The Studio Museum in Harlem, ArtForum reports.
The New York–based artist describes her practice as an object-based ongoing exploration of black female subjectivity. Her works—sculptures, videos, and installations—often reflect her interest in African art, ethnographic research, feminism, and performance. Several of Leigh’s sculptures are currently on view in the New Museum’s exhibition “Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon,” which closes in January 2018.
Be sure to check out her exhibition at the New Museum here.
The prize comes with an award of $50,000.
LACMA’s Concrete Makeover
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art unveiled a new design plan for its $600 million renovation. The Los Angeles Times reports the design now features a more substantial sand-colored concrete building.
What began as an organic black form spreading across the landscape of the Miracle Mile, in homage to the color and texture of the La Brea Tar Pits adjacent to the museum, has become a less fluid, harder-edged and more muscular form in sand-colored concrete.
The design by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor, features seven thick pillars, or cores, that will hold up the main gallery level, which is lifted above ground and sandwiched between two concrete plates.
The upper plate will be larger than the lower one, creating a deep overhang and helping shade the galleries inside.
Read more here.
You Can’t Break This!
Not even an industrial steamroller (cue Roger Rabbit scene) can’t crush this ceramic material, The American Ceramic Society writes. A BBC documentary “The Secret to Super Elements” explores various “super” materials, with one such segment focusing on tungsten, which twice as dense as steel and has the highest melting point of all known elements.
When you combine tungsten with carbide to make a ceramic, things get even more real—as in really indestructible.
The crew even attempted to steamroll a tungsten carbide ball. No dice! Unfortunately, an amazing clip associated with this experiment is not longer available.
Ventilated Porcelain Tile by Mosa
Dutch tile brand Mosa has launched its range of porcelain tiles for facade. The highly weather resistant tiles help to maintain a comfortable climate inside the building by striking a balance between allowing air to flow freely and insulation.
A ventilated facade is an outer wall construction consisting of several layers with an air cavity between the exterior cladding and insulation.
Made from 45-percent recycled materials, Dezeen writes the tiles are made using Mosa’s Ultragres production process.
A technique that involves pressing the panels beneath a weight of up to 3,500 tonnes, then firing them at temperatures of up to 1,230 degrees Celsius.
The tiles are available in various earthy hues and sizes.
Read more here.
We’ll continue to update this post with newsy happenings throughout the week, so stay tuned!
Do you love or loathe this newsy tidbits from the worlds of contemporary ceramic art and contemporary ceramics? Let us know in the comments.
Beth Cavener, Peter Zumthor both Great artists, and of course being Dutch I admire what Mosa is doing.