VESSEL INVITATIONAL: REVISIONING THE RECEPTACLE
Group Exhibition

January 16 - May 23, 2021

OPENING EVENT AND SPECIAL PROGRAMMING:
Friday, February 5 | 5 - 8 PM
WATCH LIVE STREAM

- 5 PM | Raku firing demo with Tia Santana
- 7 PM | Vessel vignettes by Wilmington Ballet

VESSELS: THE BODY AND THE BOOK
Saturday, May 22, 2021 | 1 - 4 PM
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Throughout civilization, artists have created containers for functional, ceremonial, and decorative purposes. Today, artists are revisioning the ubiquitous home accessory that has perpetually held sophisticated visual appeal into bold, new conceptual statements and technical innovations. The twenty-four artists represented in this exhibition reexamine the purpose, shape, illusion, and allusion of “the vessel”. 

Addressing the contemporary receptacle as object, subject, and concept, VESSEL INVITATIONAL: REVISIONING THE RECEPTACLE examines the ancient and beguiling history of the receptacle with its shifts in contours and allure. Boundaries of this traditional craft are explored through form and function as visual tension, persuasion, and contradictions are created. This exhibition redefines purpose as it asks, is it carried? Is it shelter? Is it permanent or ephemeral? Is the vessel an embodiment of something or someone? Does the object display, imply, or contain space?

VESSEL INVITATIONAL: REVISIONING THE RECEPTACLE presents works of art that emerge from a shared interest in exploring traditional exchange between the collector and the object, to push new frontiers through a delightful diversity of processes, contexts, materials, and aesthetic quality. The artists selected for this exhibition exemplify observation, aesthetic process, and the search for transcendence, as they reveal literal or functional translations. All expand the idea of the vessel beyond traditional contours to generate new perspectives that accentuate subtle or obvious alterations. In this exhibition purpose is blurred, melded, and re-envisioned to breathe new life into the ancient art form. United by divergent styles and superbly crafted specimens, the works stand in deep conversation with one another while embodying the essential components of transcendence.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:
Sandra Bowden, Thomas Campbell, Wendell Castle, Loraine Cooley, Michal Fargo, Ruth Geos, Ben Gillespie, Julie & Ken Girardini, Johnathan Hopp, Doug Johnston, Nancy Jurs, Marianne Lettieri, Lauren Mabry, Jennifer McCurdy, Stephen Merritt, Debora Muhl, Ashley Murphy, Irmari Nacht, Ola Rondiak, Mari Skarp-Bogli, Sara Thompson, Allen C. Topolski, and Nancy Topolski.

- Exhibition Curator: Kathrine Page

Carole Bieber & Marc Ham Gallery

VIRTUAL GALLERY TOUR