Kaleidoscope
Ceramic Artists Hartman and Sinha Combine Colors and Shapes in Exhibit at Gallery East
Price—Two contemporary ceramic artists, Dara Hartman and Antra Sinha, will feature a collaboration of work in an exhibition entitled Kaleidoscope at Gallery East from September 8 through November 6 in the Central Instruction Building (CIB) on the campus of Utah State University Eastern.
The exhibition draws its title from the tubular optical toy—a kaleidoscope—through which a viewer sees lighted shapes (usually small pieces of colored plastic) that move and tumble with the turn of an outer cylinder. The moving cylinders and lighted shapes create changing, symmetrical geometric patterns.
The title of Hartman and Sinha’s exhibition certainly befits the nature of their work. Brought together like a kaleidoscope, the pieces are complementary and harmonious. In the gallery space, the ceramic components exist as lighted arrangements, sometimes in symmetrical patterns and repeated shapes. Though they may have been created from different inspirational sources, the colors and forms intermingle and (like the lighted shapes in the optical viewer) serendipitously ‘tumble’ together in unified balance.
Hartman’s lived experience, including memories of objects her grandmothers made, inspires the threads linking the porcelain forms together. “These ceramic sculptures draw inspiration from the quilts, toys, and clothes that my grandmothers lovingly stitched,” she explains. These pieces were once part of my everyday experience, used without thought of the care that went into creating them. Now, they are prized possessions in my home; heirlooms passed from one generation to the next.”
For Sinha, undulating ocean waves, gleaming sunlight on freshly fallen snow, the bright white light of a kiln at peak temperature, and other wonders of nature lead her “to investigate the fundamental forms found in nature.” “The idea that all of earth’s creatures have common patterns of geometry and structure captivates me,” she further explains. “Are there forms that I might create that can successfully convey these attributes?” The repeated geometric forms and relief patterns reflect her contemplative fascination with these attributes.
Dara Hartman
For Sinha, undulating ocean waves, gleaming sunlight on freshly fallen snow, the bright white light of a kiln at peak temperature, and other wonders of nature lead her “to investigate the fundamental forms found in nature.” “The idea that all of earth’s creatures have common patterns of geometry and structure captivates me,” she further explains. “Are there forms that I might create that can successfully convey these attributes?” The repeated geometric forms and relief patterns reflect her contemplative fascination with these attributes.
Hartman received a BFA from Virginia Tech and an MFA from Montana State University. In 2005, she was an Artist in Residence at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, MT. She has taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Clark College in Vancouver, WA, and Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, OR. Dara’s career includes a stint as a product designer and design team leader, which led to traveling in China and working with factories on model design and production. In 2018, Hartman was a Resident Artist at the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in Jingdezhen, China.
Antra Sinha
Antra Sinha is a ceramic artist, educator, and community builder in the local, national, and international ceramic community. She is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics. She currently serves as Gallery Coordinator and Art Instructor at Utah State University and lives with her husband in Logan, Utah. She received her BFA & MFA from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. In 2002, Sinha became an apprentice to Ray Meeker and Deborah Smith at Golden Bridge Pottery, India, where she worked for a decade. An award from the Japan Foundation took her to the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in Japan for a six-month artist residency. She completed her second MFA in ceramics at Utah State University in 2015 as a STEM Fellow.
Sinha has assisted in the studios of Graeme Wilkie, Robert Barron, Markus Bohm, and Jack Troy. She has also completed residencies at Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, GayaCAC, Tin Shed Pottery, and Zentrum für Keramik. She has presented in numerous venues and conferences throughout the international ceramic world, including Australia, Denmark, South Korea, India, and the United States. Her work is part of permanent museum collections in Japan, Korea, China, and the USA.
The exhibit, Kaleidoscope, will be on view through November 6. A closing reception and gallery talk will take place on November 6, from 6 to 8 PM, at which Hartman and Sinha will discuss their inspirations and creative processes. Students, family, and the community are invited to attend the reception and/or gallery during the academic year from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admittance into the gallery is free and open to the public.
Exhibits at Gallery East are free and open to the public during the academic year from 9:00-5:00 pm and closed on weekends and holidays.
Contact Noel Carmack at (435) 613-5241 or email noel.carmack@usu.edu for any questions about the exhibit.