VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) presents Crafting Live(s): 10 Years of Artists-in-Residence on view June 11 – September 3, 2011. Friday, June 10, 5:30 – 8:00 PM Opening Reception for Crafting Live(s): 10 Years of Artists-in-Residence and Arline Fisch: Creatures from the Deep. Featuring open studios by the current artists-in-residence.

As part of its 10th anniversary, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) presents Crafting Live(s), the first alumni exhibition of its Artist Residency Program. This show celebrates the relatively short, yet rich, history of the program, which was the motivating force behind the institution's founding in 2001. Since then, more than 70 artists have graced the halls and studios of the facilities, bringing a dynamic energy to the field of craft and the art of making in Houston.

Approximately 35 former artists-in-residence chose to participate in the exhibition, working with guest curator, Keelin Burrows, Windgate Charitable Foundation Curatorial Fellow at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. For the show, the former residents were encouraged to create new work reflecting their current creative practices and body of work. Some artists created pieces that reflect upon their experiences as residents at HCCC and others present objects made in the past two years that are representative of their current method of making.

Crafting Live(s) features a wide variety of forms, including installation, sculpture, video, functional and nonfunctional objects. All of the craft media, including clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood and mixed media, are represented. Some of the themes that emerge in the show are cross-cultural exchange, gender and the body, nature and the built environment, and historical and cultural traditions revived.

Also on view at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft Arline Fisch: Creatures from the Deep  and Joan Son - Part Geometry, Part Zen: A Personal Exploration through Paper.

Pictured below: Amy Weiks, Swarm. Wood, beads, waxed linen and walnut. Elaine Bradford, Golden Sparkle in His Eye. Mixed media. Tom Perry, Dotaku: Hinata/Sunshine. Clay. Photos by Jack Zilker.