Ouachita’s Hammons Gallery to host exhibit by ceramicist Ken Shipley

by Donnie Copeland, Assistant Professor of Visual Art

Ouachita Baptist University’s Hammons Gallery is pleased to announce its second exhibit of 2009 presented by ceramicist Ken Shipley of Clarksville, Tenn.

The exhibit, which will be open Feb. 4-25, will open with a reception to be held in the gallery at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 4. The artist will present a demonstration in room 204 of Moses-Provine Hall at 3 p.m. following the reception.

“Autrey” by Ken Shipley, porcelain and high fire reduction fired, approx. 8" X 7", permanent collection of The Shanghai Museum of Art, Shanghai, China.

 Shipley is an associate professor of art at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. His professional experience includes set, lighting and sound design in theatrical and musical settings in addition to his work as a production potter and seven years of teaching at the university level.

Shipley has exhibited nationally and internationally. His recent international exhibits include selected work exhibited in Vallauris, France, as well as the Celadon Art Gallery in London, England, which has been ongoing for the past two years. Additionally, in the fall of 2006 he was included in “The International Top 10 Teapot Masters Exhibition” in Shanghai, China, which then re-opened for permanent display at Fudan University in Shanghai. Recent exhibits in the United States include showings in Clarksville and Nashville, Tenn., and Statesboro, Ga.

Shipley, who has worked in ceramics for 30 years, began his career as an apprentice to both Charles Counts in Rising Fawn, Ga., and Bill Ashley in Chattanooga, Tenn. His work covers many aspects of ceramics, from production pottery to large, one-of-a-kind vessel pieces, both wheel thrown and hand built. The artist also uses a variety of firing processes including high fire reduction, salt/soda, wood fire and electric kilns to produce his work.

For more information, call (870) 245-5559 or visit the artist’s website at http://www.shipleypottery.com.

Warhol exhibit turns heads, changes minds

the following was posted  by Annette Whitehead, December 28th, 2008, for Ouachita’s online student newspaper, The Signal.

I’ve never been a big fan of Andy Warhol. I never really saw the point in portraying a person’s face in the brightest colors available, or recreating boxes from a store shelf, or even flat-colored soup cans. But as an artist, I study art movements for reference, and I see exhibits for the personal look of art.

As I walked into the Warhol exhibit at the Arkansas Arts Center, I was not surprised to be greeted with huge, fluorescent images of Marilyn Monroe. Her face was on several walls, all bright, but all different. They were much larger than I expected, given that the size referenced in a book gives no justice to an art piece in person. I was able to get close and examine each individual screen print, and read the artist’s explanation for producing these works. I was intrigued.

Continuing through the exhibit, there were several prints that I’ve never seen, and I was happy to see some early works that included sketches. Seeing work from before an artist became famous helps aspiring artists see where it all began.

After looking at a particularly interesting piece about string, I saw a rather large, silver Mylar balloon floating to seemingly nowhere. It had escaped from its room… click here for the complete story.

Ouachita’s Hammons Gallery to host Kell Black and Barry Jones exhibit

the following is by Brooke Showalter, OBU Assistant Director of Communications

Ouachita Baptist University’s Hammons Gallery will host Kell Black and Barry Jones in a guest exhibit from Jan. 12-28. The multimedia art exhibit will feature aspects of Black and Jones’ “Please Call Stella” piece.

The artists will hold a closing reception and artists’ talk on Jan. 28 in Hammons Gallery, which is located in Ouachita’s Mabee Fine Arts Center. The reception will also include a live audio visual performance by Black and Jones. The time of the reception is to be announced.

“This is a unique exhibition because it involves video, music, typography and sound—something new for the department—very post-modern and very experimental,” said David Bieloh, associate professor of graphic design and chair of the department of visual art at Ouachita. “To my knowledge,” he continued, “this would be a unique exhibition not only for OBU, but for the area in general.”

“Please Call Stella” was inspired by the speech accent archives compiled by Dr. Steven H. Weinberger of George Mason University. Weinberger and his team recorded thousands of native and non-native English speakers reading a short narrative paragraph that contains all of the sounds in the English language, beginning with the words “Please call Stella.”

The scene is set,” explain Black and Jones in their artist statement, “for a story that never progresses but is stuck forever in time, endlessly repeated by people from all over the world.”

click here for the complete story