Ceramics and drawings combine in “Turn to the Fool,” the first exhibit in the Arts at Pellissippi State series for fall 2023.
This mixed media exhibition by Maggie Connolly and Eric Sherwood, both teachers at Mighty Mud ceramics studio in Knoxville, will be on display in the Bagwell Center for Media and Art Gallery through Friday, Sept. 22. A closing reception with the artists is planned for 3-5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21.
“Purposefully organic is a phrase that permeates the exhibition ‘Turn to the Fool,’” said Professor Herb Rieth, Career Community Coordinator for Creative and Media Arts at Pellissippi State Community College. “The throbbing iterations, linear susurrations and natural genesis channeled through automatic drawing, wordplay and sculpting result in work that is quiet, insistently patient and infinitely detailed.”
Connolly received her Bachelor of Arts from Grinnell College in her native Iowa, her Master of Fine Arts in Ceramic Design from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China and her Ph.D. in Fine Arts Ceramics from Tokyo University of the Arts in Japan. She was an Arrowmont Artist in Residence 2019-2020.
Sherwood was born and lives in Knoxville. As a person of Chinese and American parentage, he spent time in China with his extended family and grew up navigating between the two cultures. This “otherness” is a platform for viewing both cultures and the larger world around him as well as a lens turned inward.
The Arts at Pellissippi State series includes music and theatre productions as well as visual arts exhibits. The Bagwell Center for Media and Art Gallery is located on the college’s Hardin Valley Campus, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville. The gallery is open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and is free and open to the public.
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