Saturday, Sep. 12, 2015 – Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015
This fall, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) presents Artifice of Nature, a modern-day Garden of Earthly Delights. Susan Beiner’s ceramic installation of hybrid plant forms comes together with the imaginary anatomies of Brian Fleetwood’s jewelry to create new species out of synthetic and organic materials.
Artifice of Nature explores the way in which nature is reconstructed, presented, and dissected for human consumption. Acting as naturalists, Susan Beiner and Brian Fleetwood observe and recreate interactions between nature and humanity. In each of their works, they utilize craft-based media to educate others about lived environments.
Above, from left to right: Susan Beiner, “Synthetic Reality” (detail), 2008. Porcelain, foam, wood panels. Photo by Susan Beiner. Brian Fleetwood, Selection from “Artificial Dissemination.” Raw silk, cotton, polyester, wood, rubber, steel, PLA, graphite, ink. Photo by Brian Fleetwood.
About the Exhibition
About the Artists
Ceramicist Susan Beiner is Associate Professor at the Hergberger School of Design and the Arts at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. In 1993, she received her MFA in Ceramics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and, in 1985, her BFA from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She has exhibited her work in Austria, China, Korea, and the Netherlands in addition to having multiple solo exhibitions in the United States. Beiner has received numerous awards and has participated in residency programs across the globe, including Denmark, the Netherlands, Hungary, and China.
Brian Fleetwood is Assistant Professor of Jewelry and Metalsmithing, Art Foundations at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He received his MFA in Craft and Material Studies in 2014 from Virginia Commonwealth University and a BFA with a focus in jewelry from the Institute of American Indian Arts in 2012. Brian has received multiple fellowships and scholastic accolades, including the 2012 Windgate Fellowship. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally.
Artifice of Nature was curated by HCCC Curatorial Fellow Kathryn Hall.
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