ARTS/INDUSTRY: MATERIALS, MOLDS, AND MULTIPLES
Through March 2013
David Harper, A Fear of Unknown Origin; glaze, vitreous china, mixed media. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection.

The Arts/Industry Gallery features works of art produced by the Art Center's artists-in-residence at Kohler Co.  Working in materials ranging from vitreous china to cast iron and brass, each of the eighteen artists featured in this exhibition employed industrial fabrication techniques to produce works of art that transcend simple materials and forms.

The Arts/Industry program enables artists to experiment freely and to work on a large scale, consistently inspiring them to realize fresh possibilities by thinking in new ways and developing innovative methods. The most commonplace of articles can become thought provoking or disorienting when the normal context is shifted. A familiar object takes on new qualities when repeated, enlarged to many times its normal size, produced from unexpected materials, or finished in extraordinary ways.

While ideas and concepts play a major role in contemporary sculpture, the knowledge of materials and processes remains key to explorations in cast clay, iron, and brass. In addition to displaying works of art cast from industrial molds, the exhibition reveals the processes that resident artists use to form raw materials into sculptural components and original works of art.

Featured artists: Tina Aufiero, New York; Lesley Baker, Indiana; Tom Bevan, Northern Ireland; Shawn Busse, Oregon; Josh Garber, Illinois; David Harper, Illinois; Tom Lauerman, Illinois; LauraMcLaughlin, Pennsylvania; Mary Bates Neubauer, Arizona; Ernest Nii Okai Aryee, Ghana; Sarah Peters, New York; John Rais, Pennsylvania; Anders Ruhwald, Michigan; Fred Spaulding, Texas; Kristin Thielking, Wisconsin; Amy Toscani, Minnesota; Susan Walsh, Wisconsin; Lynne Yamamoto, Massachusetts.