Nan Smith, Sculptor - Blog

Nan Smith Awarded SEF Research Grant and Sabbatical

2011-05-05T06:39:00.000-07:00

After a year of hard work on the UF Pre-Conference for NCECA, curatorial work for the UF NCECA Invitational exhibition, and Alchemy the Harn Musuem Juried Ceramics National, I am now able to fully focus on my studio practice.

I am very excited to have been awarded two very competitive honors from the University of Florida.

I have received a significant research award to fund my new sculpture "Mercury". This award covers my sculpture materials, studio assistant and life model for the project. I am working in collaboration with two UF scientists and a UF Professor of lighting design on my new installation.

I will have the time to do much work in the studio. I have been awarded one of the few fully funded sabbatical leaves offered within the College of Fine Arts for fall semester 2011.

It is wonderful to have the next 8 months to develop and create this new installation.

Nan Smith shows at Studio @ 620 and Florida Craftsmen Gallery during NCECA 2011

2011-05-05T06:26:00.000-07:00

My new sculpture "Summer's Over" was exhibited in "Resonance" at the Studio@620 in St. Petersburg, Florida -- a 2011 NCECA CIE Exhibition in March- April. "Summer's Over" continues my investigation of environmental impacts to human health. This sculpture is based on the Gulf Oil Spill; specifically how this contamination may impact the waterways and aquatic life such as the Gulf Menhaden called "the most important fish in the sea".

Two other sculptures ("Courtship" and "Romance") were included in "Hot and Humid" at the Florida Craftsmen Gallery's NCECA CIE Exhibition.

Nan Smith and UF Ceramics students

2011-05-05T06:18:00.000-07:00

Here I am with a favorite group of students at UF Ceramics during a critique. This shot was taken during class in the fall term 2010 and then used for the cover of the UF Ceramics NCECA brochure. Our junior majors are a very talented group of young artists who excelled in the Ceramics Sculpture courses I offered this year.

Nan Smith at NCECA 2011

2011-05-05T06:11:00.000-07:00

I am honored to have my sculpture pictured on the cover of the 2011 NCECA Journal, Volume 32. Also to have my sculpture appear in the Ceramics Monthly ad for NCECA and on the 2011 NCECA Conference poster.

Ceramics League of Miami Workshop 1-22-11 through 1-23-11

2011-01-25T08:43:00.000-08:00

I just returned from working with an exciting group of artists in Miami, Florida who attended my workshop at the Ceramics League of Miami. I juried their upcoming 60th Annual Members Exhibition which will be on display at the Hyatt Hotel during the upcoming 2011 NCECA Conference in March. The workshop included both hands-on and demonstration activities. Attendees worked on mold-making, received demos and did life-casting, and I completed a ceramic figure for their workshop collection.

Article in Ceramics: Art and Perception, September 2010 - Issue 81

2010-09-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

I am very pleased to share the article that just came out in the international
journal: Ceramics: Art and Perception titled: "Body Perspectives: Figure Sculptors from University of Florida Ceramics".

The essay written by Jane Durrell comments on my sculpture and works of former and current students who work within the figurative genre (14 of us particpated).

It has always been a dream of mine to arrange for an exhibition of the many figure sculptors who were and are current students. My goal was the exhibition plus a review in an effort to help younger artists achieve international exposure.

Best to featured alums Beau Raymond, Jami McKinnon, Ovi Giberga, Keith Smith, TJ Erdahl, Liz Bryant, Angel DiCosola, Jessica Orlowski, Renee Audette and 3rd-year MFA student Brian Weaver.

Thanks to all exhibiting artists... Pavel Amromin, Elaina Michalski, Matt Shaffer, and Magda Gluszek.

Nan Smith Juror for 2011 Ceramics National

2010-08-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

Nan Smith and Kathy King will serve as jurors for "Alchemy:From Dust to Form: 2011 Ceramics National an exhibition hosted by the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art in Gainesville, Florida. This exhibition will be on exhibit March 1 - September 11, 2011 and is meant to complement the 2011 NCECA Conference in Tampa/St.Petersburg, Florida.

Nan Smith Awarded 2010 Florida Artist Fellowship

2010-06-01T09:47:00.000-07:00

Nan Smith received her fourth Florida Arts Council Fellowship in January of 2010. The grant given in the category of "sculpture" supports the development of new installation works based on ideas about environment and health, a new direction for Nan.

Nan Smith invited to add profile to Southern Artist Registry

2010-06-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

Nan Smith was awarded a 2010 Florida Arts Council Fellowship for Sculpture. Fellowship recipients are invited to be featured on the Florida Arts Council website ( www.florida-arts.org) as well as the Southern Artists Registry (www.southernartistry.org)

See Nan's work there...

Nan's New Installation "Garden" on view in 2010 NCECA Invitational - Earth Matters

2010-03-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

"Garden" is currently on view at the Galleries of the Moore College of Art in Philadelphia. Exhibition dates - March 13 - April 10, 2010.

NCECA Opening: Thursday April 1, 7 pm - 9pm.

Location: The Galleries at Moore College of Art and Design, 20th Street and The Parkway, Philadelphia, PA. 19103, www.moore.edu

Gallery hours are: Monday through Friday 11 – 7 pm, Saturday 11- 5 pm. Closed Sundays and all legal holidays. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

“Garden” questions our ability to cleanse the land and to change industrialized farming practices. The installation hopes to inspire care for the natural world that sustains us.” Nan Smith

I wish to thank the Senior Vice President for Research and the University of Florida’s Office of Research and Graduate Programs, which provided funding for this project, through special funds and the Fine Arts Scholarship Enhancement Award Fund. Also NCECA and The Florida Department of State and the Fine Arts Council of Florida for funding that supported the installation’s transport to Philadelphia.

Earth Matters was curated by NCECA’s Exhibition Director, Linda Ganstrom and presented in cooperation with The Galleries at Moore College of Art & Design. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. A full-color publication accompanies the exhibition with texts by the curator and essayists Glen R. Brown, professor of modern and contemporary art history at Kansas State University and a member of the International Academy of Ceramics; and Nicole Burisch, a Canadian artist, critic, curator, and cultural worker.

The 44th Annual NCECA Conference, “Independence,” will be held in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Convention Center from March 31 – April 3, 2010. For more information on NCECA visit www.nceca.net.

Exhibiting artists: Susan Beiner, Aislinn Caron, Bryan Czibesz, Spencer Ebbinga, Shanna Fliegel, Roxanne Jackson, Gudrun Klix, Jae Won Lee, Emily Loehle, Kate MacDowell, Waren Mather, Anna Metcalfe, Dennis Lee Mitchell, Ted Neal, Grace Nickel, Justin Novak, Kip O’Krongly, Pamela Olson, George Penaloza, Sam Scott, Bonnie Seeman, Amy Smith, Keith Smith, Nan Smith, Ryan Takaba, Christopher Torrez, John Williams, and Paula Winokur

China Ceramic Artist Magazine

2010-01-24T11:41:00.000-08:00

Images of my sculpture titled "Balance" were published in China Ceramic Artist Magazine, Issue 2009 Volume 2-16, pages 74, 75, 76 and back cover.

Thanks to editor and Ceramic Artist Bai Ming for his comitinued interest in my sculpture. He visited UF Ceramics last Spring before he travelled to Arizona to attend the 2009 NCECA Conference.

It was fun to see my name in Chinese.

Upcoming Exhibitions

2009-06-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

2010

Moore College of Art Gallery, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Earth Matters; NCECA Ceramics Invitational, curated by Linda Ganstrom, NCECA Exhibitions Director in conjunction with the 2010 NCECA Conference, March - April

2009

The Strecker-Nelson Gallery, Manhattan, Kansas; "extraORDINARY CHARACTERs", July – August

Fine Arts Gallery, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia; "American Crafts Council Southeast 2009 Masters Exhibition", August 20 - September 24

The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art; "UF Art Faculty Exhibition", August – October

Recent Exhibition Photos

2009-06-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

Body Perspectives, Thomas Funke Gallery, The Funke Fired Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, May-June 12, 2009.

An exhibition of UF Ceramic faculty, alumni and current MFA candidates who are working with figurative genre.

Recent Publications

2009-06-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

Feature Articles:

2009

Ceramics Monthly, “Nan Smith: Evoking Nostalgia”, author Glen R. Brown, PhD, Associate Professor, Kansas State University, June/July/August 2009, pages 46 – 49, color illustrated article on Nan Smith’s “White Series”

"An artist goes beyond simple sentimentality and charges works with more complex issues of memory, family, cultural customs and sociological commentary, resulting in a balanced combination of the personal and the universal".

Articles (that include art work):

2008

Ceramics Monthly, November 2008, “The MFA Factor: University of Florida”, editorial feature, pages 50-53, color image and citation, page 51.

China Ceramic Artist, Beijing, 2008, #1, p.75, color images pictured.

Ceramics Review, Issue 231- May/June 2008, “Visual Stories, author Christy Johnson, pages 44-49, color image page 48.

Ceramics: Art and Perception, Issue 71, March 2008, “Form and Imagination: Women Sculptors”, author Christy Johnson, pages 18-24, color image - page 18, review - page 19

Upcoming Workshops

2009-06-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

The American Crafts Council Southeastern Regional Conference – (Nan is an invited conference demonstrator)

Location: Kennesaw State University, near Atlanta, Georgia
Dates: Thursday August 21-Friday August 22, 2009

For more information about the Conference contact: Professor Keith Smith [ksmith1@kennesaw.edu] or look on the website - http://www.kennesaw.edu/visual_arts/ACCSE/ and click on ACC-SE conference.

Workshop Description: “Molds, Modeling and the Narrative Figure”

This two day workshop will focus on methods of creating life scale figures in clay through demonstration and hands-on activities. Casting and mold-making processes using alginate, plaster life-casts, and rubber press-molds as well as life modeling will be taught. A visual survey will be presented on the human figure as a narrative vehicle. A discussion of historical figuration and contemporary genre including the doll, the mannequin, figurine and statuary are to be explored. Installation-oriented figure sculpture and figures in context will be discussed.

Welcome to the Blog

2009-06-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

Please check this blog to stay updated on my status. Thanks!

-Nan