Glaze Haze

Interact Center for Visual & Performing Arts is pleased to present GLAZE HAZE, an exhibition that highlights some of the most exciting work being made in the Interact ceramics studio. Twenty-six artists share sculptures, planters, and masks across a range of styles and interests, from pop culture busts to handheld menageries, mythical figures to macabre dreamscapes. Clay is the unifier of these varied approaches, and the Interact ceramics studio has become a sort of footloose laboratory, where artists experiment daily with form and material.

“The approach to ceramics at Interact is non-traditional,” says ceramics instructor Jeremy Jones. “Instead of starting out with basic techniques, like pinch pots, artists come into the studio with a big vision and just go for it.” Titled by artist HML, GLAZE HAZE features monster mouths and superheroes, patterned planters and profound mustaches. Katie Bretzman builds exquisite figures and rooms with the most elemental marks. Philip Price garnishes bulging stoneware muscles with a bronze sheen. Kramer Hegenbarth adds legs and eyeballs to flawlessly lumpy vessels. There’s a palpable joy in the studio that’s infused in the finished work. “I let the clay talk to me when I’m working,” writes Hegenbarth.

GLAZE HAZE explores the intimate relationship each artist has developed with clay. “Manipulating it is very freeing,” says Angie Weller. The process, like the medium, is transformative. “Clay is difficult,” writes Scott Sorensen, who is presenting an extensive series of masks with understated features. “After getting my hands and mind tired, I enjoy the relief of worry in my hands, arms, and thoughts. After my work, I can begin to see and feel the art of emotion. I try to show it with my mask. Sometimes I wish I could wear my masks while I am being Scott.”

Day & Night Spell: a new poetry and comics zine
The opening reception for GLAZE HAZE coincides with the release of Day & Night Spell, a collaborative poetry and comics zine by 15 Interact artists alongside instructors Phoebe Mol and Jonas Specktor. The zine was created from work developed out of the Writer’s Workshop and Comics Club groups that have been meeting at Interact over the past year.

Some of the artists and poets will read their work at the opening reception, and a limited number of first-print copies of the publication will be available for purchase.

Exhibiting artists
Garrett Anderson, Katie Bretzman, Mary Burdick, Bill Crane, Koko Dehn, Vance Diamond, Michael Engebretson, Jesse Ferdinand, Harley Steinberg, Kramer Hegenbarth, HML, D.D. Kilgore, Krystal Lewis, Laurie M., Chris Mason, Juan Mendez, Daniel Metchnek, Caleb Nesbitt, Evita Newman, Carol O’Connor, Philip Price, Briana Shelstad, Jenny Sheppard, Scott Sorensen, Bonnie Thorne, Angie Weller

Day & Night Spell contributing artists
Bart, Mary Burdick, Koko Dehn, Michael Engebretson, Peder Hagen, Davida Kilgore, Cyrus M., Phoebe Mol, Evita Newman, Kandis O., Thomas Robinson, Gary Rorby, Briana Shelstad, Jonas Specktor, Bonnie Thorne, Virginia Townsend, Dominic Zeman

Editors
Davida Kilgore, Phoebe Mol, Jonas Specktor, and Virginia Townsend