In Residence at CRETA Rome

Back to Rome, this time for a longer stay. I’ve spent the past several weeks as an invited artist in residence at CRETA Rome, developing a new group of small works. The residency wraps with the resident artists’ exhibition organized by Lori-Ann Touchette and Paolo Porelli. The exhibition features work by the current cohort of residents, Mary O’Malley, Soule Deese, Chloe Seibert, and myself. Rome rewards slow looking, and this stay has fed the work in ways I’m still sorting out. The exhibition opening is June 23rd, at 6:30 PM.

Sweep at the Conkling Gallery, Minnesota State

Linda and I are starting the year in the frozen north. Our two-person exhibition Sweep opened January 11th at the Conkling Gallery at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and runs through February 2nd. We will also spend time on campus for an artist talk and studio visits with students. Thanks to the MSU gallery and ceramics crew for braving January with us.

“Meet the Artist” in At Home in Arkansas

The October issue of At Home in Arkansas includes a “Meet the Artist” profile on me and my work. Grateful for the hometown attention.

Artist Talk at UT Arlington

While Reminiscing the Now is up at UT Arlington, I traveled down to give an artist talk and spend time with students in the ceramics area. Thanks to Yana Payusova and Nicholas Wood for the invitation and a great visit. Always a pleasure to share my work, and the show was fantastic throughout! Flattered to have been included in such a thoughtful and well-installed exhibition.

Reminiscing the Now at UT Arlington

I have work in Reminiscing the Now: Directions in Contemporary Clay, curated by Yana Payusova and Nicholas Wood at the University of Texas at Arlington. A thoughtful look at where ceramics is right now, and good company throughout.

”The Gallery at UTA is pleased to present a group exhibition showcasing the creative possibilities of contemporary ceramics. “Reminiscing the Now” features the work of fifteen prominent ceramic sculptors exemplifying the breadth and diversity of stylistic and conceptual directions in contemporary clay.”

Including works by Eliza Au (TX), Susan Beiner (AZ), Jason Briggs (SD), Anne Currier (NY), Jennifer Ling Datchuk (TX), April Felipe (OH), Del Harrow (CO), Molly Hatch (MA), Janice Jakielski (MA), Peter Christian Johnson (OH), Nick Lenker (PA), Lauren Mabry (PA), Matthew McConnell (AR), Hannah Pierce (CA), and Hirotsune Tashima (AZ).

Runs September 6th through October 8th.

Tongue Scraper at CRETA Rome

My latest solo exhibition “Tongue Scraper” opens this weekend at CRETA Rome, with receptions on May 21st and 22nd held in conjunction with Buongiorno Ceramica, the nationwide celebration of Italian ceramics. Excited to present this work, and to sneak a few days away in Rome. Thanks to CRETA for the invitation. If you find yourself in Trastevere, stop in.
Exhibition Opening May 21st at 6PM.

REVIEW: SHADOW AT GERALD PETERS

Review of “Shadow,” curated by Mark Delvecchio, by Kay Whitney in December’s Ceramics Monthly.

Whitney writes, “The results are precise facsimiles made of earthenware with intensely black surfaces created from a combination of burnished charcoal and graphite, materials more closely associated with drawing. By migrating his work to the wall, McConnell has made a hybrid of drawing and sculpture. This series of wall pieces provides two different experiences; from a distance they are light-absorbing rectangles, close up they reward the viewer with intimate objects that are inventive, playful, and conceptually dense.”

Link to article here.

In Pursuit of a Meaningful Mark at Mindy Solomon

Happy to be included in In Pursuit of a Meaningful Mark at Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami, organized in conjunction with painter and writer Jason Stopa, who contributed the exhibition text. Always a pleasure to show with Mindy, and this is a strong roster to be counted among.

Exhibition runs March 14 – April 25, 2020, and includes Andrew Casto, Jose Alvarez (D.O.P.A), Roberto Gomez, Alex Mcleod, Mathew McConnell, Osamu Kobayashi, Jason Stopa, Linda Lopez, Russell Tyler, Kadar Brock and Cody Hoyt.

The Backbone of Things at Te Auaha, Wellington

Work of mine is currently on view in Wellington, New Zealand, in The Backbone of Things, curated by Glenn Barkley at Te Auaha Gallery. The exhibition is part of Fired Up: Festival of Ceramics, presented within the New Zealand Festival of the Arts. New Zealand was my home for a stretch around 2010 and it holds an outsized place in my development as an artist, so it’s a real pleasure to have work back there. Also looking forward to being there in person and catching up with old friends.

Workshop: “Mold-making: Fast and Slow” at Haystack

Excited to announce that I’ll be teaching a two-week workshop this summer at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts on Deer Isle, Maine. Mold-making: Fast and Slow will dig into the wide spectrum of approaches to plaster mold-making for clay, from the quick and improvised to the slow and exacting. If you’ve ever wanted to spend two weeks on the coast of Maine with your hands in plaster, this is your chance. Session information at haystack-mtn.org.

For those of you that haven’t been able to catch my body of work, “February, February” I am happy to be presenting a selection of these tablets just down the road in Little Rock. The New Gallery is, well, new… and run by a lovely couple (David and Teresa) determined to bring first-rate programming to Little Rock. It is a beautiful space, and I’m proud to be part of their endeavor.

The New Gallery’s exhibition, February, consists of 28 molded and pressed earthenware tiles finished with bone charcoal and graphite. As viewers enter the exhibition, they are presented with a repetitive line of black, tablet-sized works. From the center of the gallery, with their light-absorbing surfaces, the tablets appear as voids or placeholders. From a distance, they are virtually indistinguishable from one another. Drawing closer to individual works, textures and dimensionality emerge and previously anonymous surfaces reveal finely reproduced details and well-defined compositions. Anonymity and specificity are held together in sharp contrast.

“Over 45 works of contemporary art were carefully selected for ROOTED by local art curators Bo Beulow and Allison Hobbs who were inspired by the works of seven amazing contemporary NWA artists, visiting each artist in their studios while enjoying the stories behind each of their works, and providing us with this insider’s tour of their studios and inspirational work spaces. 

Allison and Bo encourage you to personally visit each of the artists’ studios listed here (by appointment) for an immersive experience where you can meet each of the artists in their own workspaces, connecting further to their latest works or commissioning your own unique piece. 

On the evening of October 25, 2018 (5pm to 8pm) at Lacuna Modern, The Scout Guide Northwest Arkansas will be hosting an opening reception to meet each of these artists and art curators Allison and Bo.”

Coming soon: A two-person exhibition with Jeremy Hatch at Eutectic in Portland, Oregon. 

“Look closely, very closely. All of the details are there. What it was is what it still is— yet what it was is no longer. Such is the mystery in the works of Jeremy Hatch and Mathew McConnell, two artists dedicated to exploiting clay’s potential for exacting replication. While Hatch and McConnell come to their forms in very different ways and for very different reasons, each artist has committed himself to the power inherent in unerring fidelity and simple material substitution. Along with a reduced, uniform color palette of white or black, the importance of form rises above all else.”

Opening August 3rd, 6PM

👀And, showing soon with these superstars...

"The Jane Hartsook Gallery is pleased to present work by our 2017-2018 artists in residence: Nicolás Guagnini, Samuel Johnson, Pam Lins, Linda Lopez, Mathew McConnell, Eun-Ha Paek and Rirkrit Tiravanija. The Greenwich House Pottery residency is a distinguished program that fosters artistic growth by providing artists with a creative community, time, space, material and technical skill to explore and generate new bodies of work in ceramics in the center of the art world."

Opening Reception | Friday July 13, 2018 | 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. 
Exhibition on view through August 9, 2018

Hi all — my latest solo exhibition is now up at Mindy Solomon Gallery. I'm elated for having the chance to show with Mindy. Great space, great person. If you're in Miami before the show closes on July 21, please stop by. 

From the press release:
"The exhibition continues McConnell’s long exploration into the persistent problems of invention, originality, and creative influence in art making. Using duplication as a primary tool for exploring these questions, McConnell works directly from images of contemporary art—selecting, stealing, stretching, and manipulating sources—wringing them for inspiration for his idiosyncratic processes. His practice exists in an emphatically tight loop of influence and response, enabled by the connectivity of our digital era. Most important in the sources he chooses is simply the impetus they provide for the production of “new” work. The resulting forms vary between recognizable images, strategies, and tropes commonly found in contemporary art and forms seemingly outside the sources they claim to derive from."

FEAST! 

Former Uark grads Danny Baskin and Ashley Byers have been coordinating an excellent alternative contemporary art program in Fayetteville for the last couple of years, "working with an expanded idea of art which includes aesthetics, experience, craft, curation, food, sound, and discussion."  The exhibition also includes Nick Fagan, Trudi Ludwig Johnson, John Newman, and Melissa Weiss. I'm flattered and excited to be part of their latest show. Opening reception May 5th from 5-8.

Curated by Matthew Mitros, this exhibition showcases the work of 22 artists representing a growing shift among contemporary ceramic artists in material sensibility as seen by the way non-clay materials are being integrated into their compositions. These non-clay components, in many cases, compositionally and conceptually support the ceramic elements rather than call attention to the difference of materials within the finished work. Artists on view are: Sasha Alexandra, Rain Harris, Matt Mitros, John Byrd, Dylan Beck, Alex Hibbitt, Adams Puryear, Bryan Czibesz, Tom Lauerman, Dennis Ritter, Ben DeMott, Linda Lopez, Amy Santoferraro, Virginia Eckinger, Wade MacDonald, Keith Simpson, Shannon Goff, Julie Malen, Kyle Triplett, Jason Hackett, Matt Ziemke, Brian Harper, and me!

From 8/28 to 9/29 I'll be presenting a combined installation of works from 2013's What it Means to Move and 2016's More Possibilities for Distance and Mass at Doane University's Rall Gallery in Crete, NE.

Closing Reception and Gallery Talk 9/29 3-5PM

Maybe the coolest show I'm in this year... "Infinity Pool" curated by Rebecca Morgan and Stephen Eakin for Spring / Break NY, "examines the artist as primary examiner, critical of both the inward and outward scope of art making and expression and their place in it." Included artists are: Paul Bergeron, Heather Garland, Paul Gagner, Lawrence Mesich, Bryan Rogers, Erik Schoonebeek, Ken Weathersby and Robin F. Williams.

Summer Fellowship at Greenwich House Pottery

What's better than hanging out in NYC for six weeks? Having a fellowship at Greenwich House while you do it! Linda and I are bringing the baby on the road for our first residency since Oona's birth. We'll be sharing work space and splitting time with the kiddo. We're both really looking forward to a summer in the city. If you're in town between July 14th and August 30th, stop by the studio and say hi!