The Goldmark Cultural Center’s Norman Brown Gallery is proud to present “2x2: Art in Pairs”, a group exhibition of ceramic works by Dawn Branam, Kathleen Carpenter, Seema Christensen, Barbara Franklin, Rivka Greenspan, Virginia Marsh, Sue Miller-Jochum, Kay Morgan, Susan Sponsler-Carstarphen, Lora Stutts, and Terri Wilder.
The exhibition is on display from 5 December 2022 to 15 January 2023, with an opening reception on Saturday, 12/10, from 1-3pm, and a closing reception on Saturday, 1/14, from 1-3pm.
About the Exhibition
In the world of art, clay is a medium all its own -- at once humble and sophisticated, simple and complex, intuitive and highly skilled. Ancient as the earth from which it comes, it is also fresh and contemporary. No wonder, then, that a humble incidental experience with the material becomes, for some of us, a serious life pursuit. Working in clay is labor and love. Hands on, hands in, wet and dry, soft and firm. Satisfaction has to be derived from the doing, since the final result will reveal itself only at the end of a long process.
We are a community of Dallas women from diverse backgrounds examining the relationships and interactions of ceramic artwork presented as “doubles”. Born in South Korea, South Africa, Israel, India and the U.S., we share our stories through ceramic works-- some functional, some sculptural.
“I liked doubles because the eye couldn’t be passive. The viewer had to go from one to the other to see why they were similar and why they were not similar.” -Viola Frey
In this collective body of work, we explore the dynamics created by sameness and contrast in form, surface, and concept. Our investigation reveals the truth of Frey’s observation. The sum of the pairs is larger than the individual value of its components.
About the Artists
Dawn Branam was born in Lawton, Oklahoma and earned a Bachelors of Business degree from the University of Houston. She went on to a successful career first in the field of accounting and later migrated to software and logistics where she is still active. Also, as a long term Vipassana meditator, Dawn is a deeply involved volunteer at the local meditation center in Kaufman, Texas where she exercises functional design skills in the development of the campus. Along the path of her life, art has been a constant companion. From an early age, she worked in ceramics alongside her mother. Later, she absorbed and experimented through elective course work during business school. Her present work in clay is an exploration of ideas with no functional purpose.
Kathleen Carpenter hails from Dallas, Texas - but has been kidnapped by her husband and relocated to an undisclosed location in the surrounding suburbs. Her work spans the cute and the craven, the moe and the macabre, but these days she’s taken to painting pets in Victorian dress and molding amorphous monsters out of clay.
Seema Christensen was born in New Delhi, India, and immigrated to Canada and later to the United States. Seema has a BS in Electrical Engineering with Computer Option degree and worked as a Software Engineer and Oracle Database Administrator in the Virginia/DC area. Her true passion for clay started in the Fall of 2005 after taking her first ceramics course at a local college in Texas. Clay was a way to incorporate creativity and problem solving with a tangible outcome. Her recent ceramic works deals with nature - balance, beauty, serenity, and fragility. Her experience and travels to other countries allowed her to explore world architectures using clay. Most of her work is wheel thrown using underglaze techniques, and/or hand carving.
Barbara Franklin was born in South Africa and emigrated to London in 1972. She began her ceramics journey in 1976, when she was urged to go to a sculpture class at the Henrietta Barnet School in London, UK. John Brown, an encouraging teacher, put her on the path to create many types of work including abstract sculpture and mediums using stone, wood and clay. Barbara arrived in Dallas in 1989. She attended Brookhaven college to further her artistic studies in ceramics. She considers herself very fortunate to have professors Du Chau and Lisa Ehrich as teachers and mentors. She works out of her studio at Goldmark Cultural Center in Dallas.
Rivka Greenspan, more familiarly Riki, is a native of Jerusalem, Israel. She has lived in the U.S. for more than half her life, andin Dallas since 2003. She took her first ceramic class almost 30 years ago, while an art student at the University of South Carolina, and never stopped. Eventually she earned a BFA at USC, and in 2004, an MA in Ceramics, under the tutelage of Prof. Virginia Scotchie. Since then, she has taken classes and workshops with many wonderful teachers and artists, no one more influential on her artistic development than Du Chau. After the art community at Valley View Mall closed, she was the first artist to establish her studio in the Goldmark Cultural Center. Her work utilizes techniques of hand building and mold making. Riki’s emphasis is on the artistic medium and its creative possibilities, not utility. A strong inspiration in her work is derived from the physical making process.
Virginia “Ginny” Marsh is known for her bold stoneware and porcelain vessel and sculptural forms set off by colors and textures. Transformed by the fire, they retain marks of the earth from which they are made and of her hands. While raising a family on a small organic farm, she taught at the University of Louisville, worked as Editorial Advisor on ceramics for Chilton Books, gave workshops all over north America, and published numerous magazine articles. Her work has been featured in major pottery books. More recently she taught classes at the Craft Guild of Dallas and worked as Resident Artist at the University of Dallas. She now works in her home studio and fires in a small car kiln in her back yard. A native Texan, she is a member of the Goldmark Cultural Center and the Craft Guild of Dallas.
Sue Miller-Jochum fell in love with pottery in her senior year of college at the University of Louisville. Virginia Marsh was her instructor and she helped instill in Sue an appreciation of form, color, and function. As so often happens, life gets in the way of the things we really enjoy. It was not until she was in her forties that she allowed herself to once again enjoy pottery. Her pieces are inspired by a sense of fun and by the movement of the clay.
Kay Morgan was born in the small central Texas town, Comanche and as a child was always playing in mud. She earned a BFA in crafts at UNT with a concentration in ceramics. After a brief career in advertising, she spent the next 20 years working with another medium, three daughters as a stay-at-home mom. With her family raised, she returned to her addiction-- playing in mud. For the past 20 years she has been perfecting her skills as a member of ceramics classes in several community colleges in the DFW area.
Susan Sponsler-Carstarphen was born in Seoul, South Korea, was adopted at 6 months of age, and grew up on a farm in Iowa. She earned a BA in Advertising Design at Iowa State University, and an MFA in photography at Texas Woman’s University. Her work explores issues related to identity and being an Asian American international adoptee and consists of photo-based artworks which include ceramics, cyanotype images on fabric, encaustic paintings, installation, mixed media images and quilts. Her work has been shown in Seoul, South Korea; Panama City, Panama; Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago. Her work is included in numerous publications, most notably in “Convergent Conversations” by Margo Machida in Blackwell’s Journal: A companion to Asian art and architecture. She works in her studio at the Goldmark Cultural Center in Dallas.
Lora Stutts, a native Texan, holds an MFA from the University of North Texas. She worked at the North Carolina Arts Council and taught at Barton College. She lives in Texas and recently returned to an old passion: working in clay.
For 30 years Terri Wilder’s passion for art had to fit into the busy work and travel schedule of a Delta Air Lines flight attendant. When she retired in 2012, Terrifinally was free to give ceramics her full attention, later earning an MFA from the University of Dallas in 2019. Her years of travel impact her work greatly. References to cultures from many lands are a natural part of her expression. Having had the privilege to experience the beauty and diversity the world offers, she wants to share those discoveries through her art.