A new exhibit at the University Galleries is showcasing top ceramic art picked by acclaimed artists.
Currents 2017 — Perception: Color and Content is being shown in the Gary R. Libby Gallery located on UF’s campus from now until April 19.
An opening reception will be held tonight from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Currents is an annual national juried exhibition, meaning the pieces are selected.
Currents addresses contemporary themes in ceramic art. This year’s theme, Perception: Color and Content, is thematically focused on the idea of how perception of color can change the way the content is perceived.
The pieces shown in the gallery were selected by Linda Lopez and Katie Parker, acclaimed artists in their fields of ceramics and mixed media art.
This year, about 250 different pieces were sent in for selection, and only 19 were chosen for the exhibit, said Carin Sankus, a UF second-year ceramics graduate student and curator of Currents.
Participants do not have to be students to send artwork in to be juried and possibly selected for the exhibit.
“It’s always a national call,” Sankus said. “This year we have an international team of artists from Israel, also.”
Although the exhibit is focused on ceramic art, only 10 percent of the artwork in any given piece is required to be made with clay this year, Sankus said.
“Every year the jurors get to choose how much clay (is required),” Sankus said. “This year they decided on 10 percent, because the jurors work is a lot of mixed material and mixed media.”
H.O.T. (Handbuilt or Thrown) Clay, the UF ceramics student organization, has sponsored the exhibit annually for the last five years. This exhibit is a chance to expand the educational experience for students within the School of Art + Art History, according to a press release issued by the University Galleries.
A goal of the exhibit is also to engage the public with color and content within contemporary ceramic art.
One of the 19 pieces in the exhibit was created by fellow Gator G.V. Kelley.
“I am interested in the performative nature of gender conveyed through figurative sculpture,” Kelley said. “My use of color and material in the surfacing of my figures speaks to a history of performance as well as draws from subcultures such as that of drag, club kids and the club culture of the goth/industrial/electronic music scenes.”
The Libby Gallery presents art exhibitions that are organized by graduate student curators, which provides the opportunity for students to learn through experience about curation, exhibition design and presentation.
The gallery is located on the first floor of Fine Arts Building C. The reception will be held tonight at 5:30 p.m., but the operating hours of the gallery are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
