2023 NCECA ANNUAL – I CONTAIN MULTITUDES
Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery
650 Walnut St, Cincinnati, OH | 513-977-4165
CINCINNATIARTS.ORG/WESTON-ART-GALLERY
Tue-Sat 10am-5:30pm (Fri open until 9), Sun 12-5pm
On View: Mar 14–May 7
Reception: Fri, Mar 17, 6–9pm

This exhibition blends the impactful attributes of invitational and open juried models of exhibition development. Exhibition curator Garth Johnson’s organizing concept is brought to life through the work of six invited artists: Stephen Creech, Beth Lo, Jeff Oestreich, Natasha Smoke Santiago, James C. Watkins, and Bari Ziperstein. The curator selected additional works and artists for the exhibition through an open call for submissions.

Johnson shares the following about his vision for the exhibition: Even though the centuries-old hierarchy of materials that has relegated ceramic objects to the realm of “craft” has now thoroughly broken down, the vessel still doesn’t command the amount of respect that it deserves. During the COVID-19 pandemic, countless people turned to pottery classes and episodes of The Great Pottery Throw-Down as a part of their self-care regimens. Somehow, during a time of profound disconnection, the vessel was there for us – from home remodeling projects to pop-up Instagram sales.

How can this, the most tangible of objects, serve to connect us in a time of isolation? This is just one of the profound contradictions that reveals how profoundly the vessel is intertwined with our DNA. The vessel represents a radical vision of hospitality. The vessel represents the investigation and declaration of identity. The vessel can be a container for skill and technique, or it can be a barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. As Walt Whitman cannily observed in Song of Myself, sometimes it can be both.

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

Curated by Garth Johnson.
Artists: Jesse Albrecht, Kait Arndt, Eliza Au, Kathryn Baczeski, Jon Bashioum, Shannon Blakey, Jeremy Brooks, Cory Brown, Larry Buller, Uriel Caspi, Joshua Clark, Jim Connell, Heather Cornelius, Stephen Creech, Forrest Sincoff Gard,
Tina Gebhart, Steve Hilton, Bryan Hopkins, Hsinyi Huang, Drew Ippoliti, Peter Christian Johnson, Lauren Kalman, Emma Lacey, Beth Lo, David and Linda Mack, Priscilla Mouritzen, Megumi Naitoh, Jeff Oestreich, Eric Ordway, Dina Perlasca, Neha Pullarwar, Stephanie Rozene, Judith Salomon, Virginia Scotchie, Eric Serritella, Kopal Seth, Taylor Sijan, Natasha Smoke Santiago, Megan Thomas, Colleen Toledano, Britny Wainwright, James C. Watkins, Kirstin Willders, Mary Cale Wilson, Suzanne Wolfe, ChengOu Yu, Bari Ziperstein