logo

header
header

Exhibitions: Current | Upcoming | Past

Exhibitions: Past



Structures and Machines


Works by Shingo Furukawa and Gerald Weckesser

September 4 – October 16, 2014

Structures and Machines Structures and Machines Structures and Machines Structures and Machines Structures and Machines Structures and Machines Structures and Machines Structures and Machines

"When you make a mistake, it's not the end. It is the beginning of the art making process."

An artist's life is fraught with the challenge of finding enough time. If we are lucky, our day jobs support our creative lives. But it is all too easy for our own studio practice to take a back seat, to occupy only a small portion of the day. You would think that it might mean that we would be driven to somehow explore less yet produce more things – that the constraints of time would force us into a kind of economy – a cautious or predictable use of our creative impulse. But that would also imply that we sacrifice something along the way – the very thing that keeps us sharp and open for revelation. Finding our way comes from taking the time to make mistakes, fail in our experiments, to learn to start anew. The patience to listen, to observe, to learn the language of our disciplines, paves a path toward discovery.

The gallery is pleased to introduce the work of Shingo Furukawa and Gerald Weckesser.

Born and raised in Japan, Furukawa received a BFA from the University of Oregon and an MFA in jewelry and metals from UMASS Dartmouth. Currently he is the studio technician for UMASS Dartmouth's College of Visual and Performing Arts. A metalsmith, machinist, and sculptor he creates works that are at once complex and minimal. An examination of his work may expose elaborate structures, a feast for the mind, and once deciphered, reveal a simple or delicate activity. They are delightful, toy–like, and satisfying to encounter.

Originally from Detroit, Weckesser holds a BFA from Wayne State University. His MFA in metalsmithing is from UMASS Dartmouth, but he works in a variety of materials. The quote above is attributed to him, and it typifies his exploratory approach to making things. He makes works that plant themselves in the interstice between art and craft or functionality and fine art.

Kathleen Hancock
Director




Artists


Shingo Furukawa


It started out with a book, but not a kind of a book in which one event is followed by another and so on and on, to the end. It was more a book full of disjointed information and stories, neatly packaged. An effort was made to simplify and condense the content into more digestible chunks, which became a paragraph, and eventually a sentence. Seeking further economy of expression, a great energy has been spent on (hopefully) reducing said sentence into a word, a word into a letter, a letter into a line, and a line into a dot, and so forth, until, essentially, the end result sort of stops making rational sense.

My trouble, as a sole party responsible for the objects that came out of such exercise, is that at some point, the ideas have become so quite abstracted that even I no longer know what they have or have not become. As my conviction grew stronger and clearer, the more I'm reminded of a bumper sticker: "I used to be indecisive. Now, I'm not so sure."


Gerald Weckesser


Objects communicate on many levels, a table for example may be a convenient surface to set things down upon, it may be prized as a collectors item, or it may be a place for the family to share their lives.

As an artist I examine the quiet language of objects, the feelings and associations brought out by hand made things. Using traditional woodworking techniques, I try to place my work in the open transformational space between the functional and sculptural worlds. This, I hope gives voice to the objects, eliciting questions and allowing personal associations to manifest, taking us away into our thoughts, and returning us to the richness of the object.




Recent Exhibitions


Shingo Furukawa


2012
Art and Object
Banister Gallery, Rhode Island College, RI

Art of Influence
Wellington B. Gray Gallery, East Carolina University, NC

2010-11
In the Unequal Cross-Lights
New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, MA

2010
The Teapot Redefined, 2010
Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA

2009
Heirlooms of the Future
Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA

Gerald Weckesser


2014
New Works Bova, Hur, Weckesser
Greene County Museum, Snowhill, NC

2013
East Carolina University Faculty Show
Gray Gallery, Greenville, NC

2012
New Work Gerald and Melissa Weckesser
Kinston Art Center, Kinston, NC

2011
East Carolina University Faculty Show
Gray Gallery, Greenville, NC

2009
Three Cups of Tea
Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC




spacer