Ceramics by Li Chao
Michael Connelly, John Matthews and Barbara Diduk
The China Project has several components, contemporary Chinese porcelain sculpture by Li Chao of Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute; the work of three American ceramic artists, Barbara Diduk, Michael Connelly and John Matthews, who have all studied ceramics in China; and six prototypes from Landscape in Blue: 101 Vases. Chao is a faculty member of the Jingdezhen Ceramics Institute of China and director of the JCI-WVU International Ceramic Studios, an exchange program between the institute and West Virginia University. Chao has master’s degrees from both institutions. Chao works in both the traditional and the new contemporary Chinese style that is gaining recognition around the world. He is a master wheel worker and brush painter. His large scale sculpture has included such subjects as bright red parodies of the Buddha which demonstrate a skill with clay and a sense of humor. His current work evokes some of the turmoil that is indicative of the rapidly changing Chinese culture. Exhibiting artists Diduk, Connelly and Matthews have all studied in Jingdezhen, the porcelain capital of China. Diduk, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Art at Dickinson College, created the 101 Vases Project while in Jingdezhen, collecting vases that were alike but each painted by a different artist. An exhibit of the 101 Vases is scheduled for 2009 at the Museum of Art and Design in New York City. Six vases are included as part of the HACC exhibit. “The Vase project emerged as part visual narrative, part sociological study and part archival document. It is a tribute to the largely unacknowledged artists and artisans in that city,” said Diduk. Diduk has a master’s degree in fine art from the University of Minnesota. She is represented by the Nancy Margolis Gallery in New York City and her work is shown throughout the United States. Connelly, a professor at Montgomery County Community College, has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in fine art from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. His work, which is largely functional, is exhibited throughout the country. He has taught workshops at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Mont., and the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colo. Matthews teaches at Tredyffrin/Easttown School District in Berwyn. He has a bachelor’s degree from Penn State and is in the master’s degree liberal arts program at the University of Pennsylvania. He exhibits his work throughout central Pennsylvania. All gallery programs are free and open to the public. Rose Lehrman Art Gallery hours are 11AM-3PM Monday-Thursday, and 5-7PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or by appointment. The Rose Lehrman Art Center Gallery exhibits are made possible, in part, through Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA), a local decision-making program of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA). The PCA is a state agency in the Governor’s office, created by the Legislature in 1966 to encourage and promote the arts. Funding comes from the citizens of Pennsylvania through an annual state appropriation by the Legislature and from a federal grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. PPA is administered locally by Jump Street.
Email: kebanist@hacc.edu
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