CELEBRATE 40 YEARS OF ARTS/INDUSTRY IN 2014!

Jack Earl (OH), Pottery and Foundry/Enamel, 1974, 1976. Jack Earl used his second residency to cast many of his popular series, including Ohio Dog, Ohio Boy, and Saturday Night in Ohio.

In 2014, the Arts Center will celebrate the 40th birthday of Arts/Industry with a 16,000-square-foot exhibition spanning twelve galleries, a comprehensive book, and extensive education programming. The project will explore the long-term residency program’s importance to artists and its impact in the art world and in the local community.

The exhibition at the Arts Center in Sheboygan will open during the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) conference, which will be held in Milwaukee from March 19–22, 2014. In addition, a symposium and celebration for program alumni and Kohler Co. associates will be held on the weekend of June 7, 2014.

Managed by the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and hosted by Kohler Co. since 1974, almost 400 artists have used the industrial materials and equipment of the factory to create works of art that would have been difficult, if not impossible, to produce in their studios. In turn, they are asked to donate a piece to the Arts Center and one to Kohler Co. at the end of their residencies.

Drawn primarily from the collections of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and Kohler Co., a large body of works created in more than 500 residencies will be assembled into a retrospective exhibition for the first time. Sculptures made in the Kohler Co Pottery, Foundry and Enamel Shop will be shown alongside photographs of the artists and associates in the factory and linked to personal stories of collaboration and transformation. A comprehensive book will weave the history of the A/I program from many perspectives, including the program’s founder and champion, Arts Center Director Ruth DeYoung Kohler; Kohler Co. managers and associates; former artists-in-residence; curators; and outside scholars.

The six-month exhibition, publication, and related programming will focus on ideas that anchor the groundbreaking A/I program such as multiplicity and variation, labor and craft, cooperation and transformation. Education programming including tours, interpretive materials, hands-on art making opportunities, classes, lectures, and workshops will provide learning experiences for participants of all ages.