Artist's Statement
Itinerant Edens
My recent works of moist clay housed in plastic enclosures---from the series Itinerant Edens---are inspired by mythologies of paradise that linger in the popular imagination. The imagery is from diverse sources; Baroque and Rococo porcelains, 19th Century landscape painting, French chinoiserie wallpaper design and a collection of hobby shop figurines. The encapsulated clay environments are expediently modeled on site, sealed in plastic and lit from above. Moisture, drawn from the clay like a slow fountain, falls in rivulets down the inside surface of the plastic sheeting. The interiors give off an ethereal, diffuse glow. They appear apparitional, suggesting artificially sustained worlds moored to this one only temporarily.
A Theory of Everything
The porcelain figurines, pottery, holiday novelties and bric-a-brac that comprise A Theory of Everything, are cast from molds acquired second hand through the ceramic hobby industry. The collected objects, glazed with showy blooms of crystalline zinc, are meticulously stacked to form conical towers ten feet in height, reminiscent in this example of East Asian temple architecture---a Buddhist Stupa. The audience is drawn to circumnavigate the work compelled inevitably by a significant object in it’s constellation. It is however the sheer abundance, of statuary and knick-knack, that captivates my attention, the total shimmering affect of over a thousand figurines. A reminder that the kitsch imagination is irrepressible, beautiful, unbearably fecund.
GRANTS, AWARDS
- 2007 The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, Individual Artist Grant
- 2005 New York Foundation for the Arts, Individual Artist Grant in Sculpture
- 2003 The Constance Saltonstall Foundation, Individual Artist Grant
- 2001 New York Foundation for the Arts, Individual Artist Grant in Crafts;
- 1999 European Ceramic Work Center, Residency Grant;
- 1991 John Michael Kohler Arts/Industry Program, Residency Grants (1991, 1989)
- 1987 The Bemis Foundation, Residency Grant
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
- 2010 Interactions, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
The 66th Scripps Ceramic Annual, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Claremont CA
- 2009 Walter McConnell, Cross Mackenzie Ceramic Arts, Washington DC
Perils in the Sublime, Gallery of Design, Arizona State University, Tempe AZ
- 2008 Walter McConnell: Itinerant Edens, The Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO
- Eastern Standard: Western Artists in China, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
- The Bird: Homage to Brancusi, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
- 2007 The Theory of Everything, Cross Mackenzie Ceramic Arts, Washington, DC
- 2006 Raw: McConnell, Morgin, Twomey, The Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN
Saltonstall: The First Ten Years, The Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
- Excess, Cummings Arts Center, Connecticut College, New London, CT
- 2005 Strata: New Perspectives on Ceramics from Scandinavia and the United States,
Skulpturens Hus, Stockholm, Sweden
- Diverse Domain: Contemporary North American Ceramic Art, Yingge
Ceramics Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
- Final Presentation: Ceramic Crossover, The 3rd World Ceramic Biennale, Yeoju, Korea
- 2004 Because the Earth is One Third Dirt, CU Art Museum, Boulder, CO
- A Theory of Everything, SOFA Chicago RawSpace, Chicago, IL
- Installations at Saint Patricks, Saint Patrick’s Church, Indianapolis, I
- 2003 Itinerant Edens, Bowman Gallery, Allegheny College, Meadville, PA
- Reinventing Pleasure, University Art Gallery, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
- To Dream the Impossible, The Pottery Workshop, Hong Kong, China
- 2002 Material Speculations, ArtSpace, Kansas City, MO
- 1st Foshan International Modern Ceramic Art Invitational, Shijingyi Art Museum,
Foshan, China
- Installments: Walter McConnell, Denise Pellitier, Klemm Gallery,
Siena Heights University, Adrian, MI
- 2001 Itinerant Edens, SOFA Chicago RawSpace, Helen Drutt Gallery, Chicago, IL
- Reunion, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
- Gardens of Pleasure, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
2000 Effluvial Bloom, Marfa Studio of Arts, Marfa, TX
- Floating Time 2000, Museum Het Kruithuis, Den Bosch, Netherlands
Upstate Invitational, Pyramid Art Center, Rochester, NY
- 1999 Floating Time, Museum Het Kruithuis, Den Bosch, Netherlands
Cooled Matter: New Sculpture, Canzani Center, Columbus College of
Art and Design, Columbus, OH
- 1998 Ceramic Dialogues, State University of New York, Albany, NY
- 1996 The Eight Triennial, Fuller Museum of Art, Brockton, MA
- 1995 Curators Choice: Connecticut Invitational IV, John Slade Ely House, New Haven, CT
- RAW Space, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
- 1994 Pertinent Matter/Potent Material, Betty Rymer Gallery, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
- Personally Defining Clay, New Orleans Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA
- 1993 10,000 Lakes, Northern Clay Center, Saint Paul, MN
49th Scripps Ceramics Annual, Lang Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, CA
- Clay 1993: A National Survey, William Traver Gallery, Seattle, WA
1992 Probe, A.R.C. Gallery Raw Space, Chicago, IL
- CAFA 81st Annual Exhibition, Slater Memorial Museum, Norwich, CT
- The Contemporary American Landscape, Erector Square Gallery, New Haven, CT
- 1991 Reciprocity, Sculpture and Drawing, Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, IL
New American Talent, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, TX
- Arts/Industry Artists, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
- Painting Off the Wall, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, NE
- 1990 Distance/Longing, Windows on White, New York, NY
- 1989 Bemis Foundation Sculpture, Kansas City Contemporary Arts Center, Kansas City, MO
- In Residence: Bemis Artists, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, NE
- 1988 New Sculpture, Nexus Institute, Berkeley, CA
- Sculptural Clay, Arvada Center for the Arts, Denver, CO
- 20th Joslyn Biennial, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha NE
- 1987 Partners In Art: Walter & Sharon McConnell, Jane Hartsook Gallery, New York, NY
- Artquest 87, Gallery East, Art Institute of Boston, Boston MA
- Artquest 87, California State University, Northridge, CA
- 1986 Master of Fine Arts Exhibition, Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University, Alfred, NY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
- 2009 Brown, Glen R. “Walter McConnell at the Daum Museum”, Ceramics: Art and Perception, V.19
- Tourtillott, Suzanne J.E. 500 Ceramic Sculptures: Contemporary Practice,
Singular Works. Asheville: Lark
- 2008 Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Walter McConnell: Itinerant Edens,
A Theory of Everything, Sadalia: Daum Museum
Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation.
- 2007 Awards in Painting, Sculpture,
Printmaking, Photography, Video and Craft Media. New York: Tiffany.
- Lu, Pinchang. Ceramics: Contemporary Art and Technique. Shijiazhuang, China: Hebei
- Schwartz, Judith. Confrontational Clay. London: Black
- 2007 Dawson, Jessica. “Nothing like that special feeling of untogetherness.” The
Washington Post, March 17
- Tourtillott, Suzanne J.E. The Figure in Clay. Asheville: Lark
- 2006 Abbe, Mary, “Raw Show Comes to The Northern Clay Center.”
The Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 27
Hanessian, Holly, “Encountering Abundance: Multiplicity in Clay.”
Ceramics: Art and Perception, V. 63
Northern Clay Center. Raw: Unfired Clay Installations by Walter McConnell,
Clare Twomey, Kristin Morgin. Minneapolis: NCC
Pellitier, Denise. Excess. New London: Cummings Art Center
Zhang, Yushan. World Contemporary Public Ceramic Art. Yunnan, China: Hunan
- 2005 Bai, Ming. World Famous Ceramic Artists’ Studios: Vol. 2 of America.
Shijiazhuang, China: Hebei
Jonsson, Love. “Keramikk I Nytt Perspekti
” Kunsthandverk, 3/05
Skulpturens Hus. Strata: New Perspectives on Ceramics from Scandinavia
and the United States. Stockholm: Skulpturens Hus
Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum. Diverse Domain: Contemporary
North American Ceramic Art. Taipei: Yingge
- 2004 Campbell, Kira. “Environmental Ethics in Ceramic Art.” The Alchemy of Art and
Science: The NCECA Journal, V. 25
Becker, Lisa Tamiris. “Because the Earth is 1/3 Dirt: Toward Paraidaeza.”
Because the Earth is 1/3 Dirt. Boulder: CU Art Museum
- 2003 University Art Gallery. Re-Inventing Pleasure: Ornamentation in Contemporary Ceramic Art. San Diego: SDSU
- 2002 Bai, Ming. Oversea Contemporary Ceramic Art Classics. Yunnan China: Jiangxi
Art
Brown, Glen R. “Walter McConnell: The Irony of Eden.” World Sculpture News, summer.
Hackman, Kate. “Material Speculations.” New Art Examiner 29/5: May/June
Kuspit, Donald, “Speculative Objects.” Material Speculations. Erie, CO: NCECA
Launder, Richard. “On the Edge: The Explosion of Fine Art Practice Articulating the Ceramic Medium.”Burning Point: Ceramics 1950-2000. Bergen: West Norway
Museum of Decorative Arts,
- 2001 Becker, Lisa Tamiris. “Fluency.” Fluency: Sculpture by Walter McConnell, John Roloff, Katherine Ross. Alfred, NY: NYSCC
Expressions of Culture Inc. SOFA Chicago 2001: International Exposition of
Sculpture Objects and Functional Art. Chicago: Expressions of Culture
Merback, Mitchell. “To Defeat the Center: Ceramic Sculpture in the Expanded Field.” Ceramics: Art and Perception, May
- 2000 Netsky, Ron. “Invitation to the Cutting Edge.” City Magazine, Rochester, NY, February 23
Spijkeman, Sandra. “Beelden versmelten met tijd en water.” Trouw. Amsterdam, May 27
- 1999 Bai Ming. Global Modern Ceramic Art Survey. Yunnan China: Jiangxi Art
Van De Velde, Paola. “In Vleeshal are Richly Colored Garden Sculptures.” De Telegraaf.
Amsterdam, July 2
“Princess Magriet Opened De Groote Stroom.” de Bossche Omroep. Den Bosch, July 4
- 1995 Long, Jeanne. “Pertinent Matter / Potent Material: Contemporary Ceramic
Sculptors.” Chicago: SAIC, Betty Rymer
- 1994 Lauria, Jo. “49th Scripps Ceramics Annual.” Ceramics Monthly. February
Rayner, Vivian. “A Storefront Exhibition Meant to Nurture the Nontraditional.”
The New York Times, April 10
Waddington, Chris. “Ceramics at CAC: Abandon Craft All Ye Who Enter Here.”
New Orleans Times Picayune. April 1.
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Walter
McConnell 