Three UF graduate students were chosen among hundreds to display their ceramic sculptures nationally.
The sculptures, which include a cat, a rat and elephants, will be on exhibit March 4 in Kansas City, Missouri. The students’ work will be featured at the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts’ 2016 National Student Juried Exhibition.
Out of the 229 artists who submitted pieces, 61 pieces were accepted between 66 artists, said Charity White, a UF ceramics third-year graduate student.
White, 29, said her sculpture, “Self Portrait,” reflects her two different identities. When she lived in Chicago, she said she encountered a lot of rats on the street. Now that she lives in Gainesville, she finds herself surrounded by stray cats. Her sculpture, which features a cat and rat on a table, combines the two pests.
“It draws you in with the cuteness, but then some people get uncomfortable with the bloated bellies,” she said.
She said she usually creates life-sized human figures, which take two months to sculpt. But her 4-foot sculpture took White about a month to create.
Ariel Bowman, a 26-year-old UF ceramics first-year graduate student, had two animal sculptures accepted: A Colossal Collapse and Big Bingo: The Biggest Brute that Breathes.
The first is a stack of five elephants, and the second is a rhinoceros. Her sculptures took her three months to build.
However, the last ceramic piece accepted into the program from UF is not an animal.
UF ceramics third-year graduate student Adrienne Eliades’ piece Family Style Server is a functional serving dish that carries smaller dishes inside.
“It facilitates family-style eating and nurturing through sharing food,” the 29-year-old said.
Although Eliades has been to the exhibition before, this will be the first time her work will be displayed, she said.
“It’s really exciting for them to be able to see my work and for me to contribute back to the ceramics community,” White said.
Ariel Bowman, a UF ceramics graduate student, works on her ceramic piece, “A Colossal Collapse,” which was selected by the National Council on Education for Ceramic Arts for its 2016 National Student Juried Exhibition. Two other UF students were also selected.
