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Ceramics by Kowalski and Takada

The Wolfe Gallery at Maumee Valley Country Day School is featuring an exhibition of ceramic artwork by Kristin Kowalski and Kaname Takada. “Ceramics by Kowalski and Takada” will be on display from August 19 – October 7, 2016, from 8:30am-4:30pm Monday-Friday.

A reception will be held on Friday, September 2, 2016, from 5:30-7:00pm in the Wolfe Gallery.
Kristin Kowalski feels her artwork and emotions are best expressed in clay. Clay is a fundamental material that allows her to articulate a relationship between surface and form. The qualities of clay allow her to use its malleability to create three-dimensional sculptures that show process and her personal involvement with the piece.

This body of work has been inspired by Kristin’s personal growth and development. She wants to create a feeling of intimacy between the interactions of the abstracted forms. Those experiences lead to a floral or blossom element that represents the peak of the experience. She wants her work to be very sensual, playful and slightly dark and she creates those feelings with the combination of form, color and surface texture. The floral elements in her work have been inspired by her garden. Kristin says “I love the process and transformation that occurs in nature. I feel this growth and cultivation echoes life’s experiences. I want my viewer to relate to my work in an emotional way; through either the relationships of the forms, the representation of colors, or the just the formal elements and aesthetics of the pieces”.

Kaname Takada’s immediate reaction to a beautiful piece is to touch it. It is an emotional reaction rather than analytical observation. He would like his pieces to cause the same effect on the viewers of his artwork.

Kaname’s goal is to bring various physical and visual elements such as shape, scale, and color into a visual harmony. He feels a piece is successful when all elements work together as a unit. The organic patterns/textures created by the glazes, and the geometric patterns made with slips are two of the essential elements of his current series of work.

Kaname says “Even though Art is increasingly becoming a theory oriented field and art objects becoming investment commodities, I consider my pieces as sensuous objects as I would like the viewer to feel them by both sight and touch. It would be my great pleasure if the viewer can enjoy and appreciate my work rather than understand it”.
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Maumee Valley Country Day School is the only PreK-12th grade accredited, co-educational, and independent school in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan.