The artists showing at the Northwest Art Center this month are not only both ceramicists, they are impressarios as well.
Michele McKamy is presenting her first solo exhibit at the Hartnett Hall Gallery, and Alexandra Jelleberg is presenting her capstone exhibit in satisfaction of her degree requirement. As the two were working on these showings, they joked about how to make a truly impressive event for their public reception and artists' talk.
"We wanted to make this as great as could be," McKamy said. "We talked about music, which led to the Fire Dancers we'd just seen, and we asked Avis (Veikley, Northwest Art Center executive director and percussion instructor at Minot
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Terry J. Aman/MDN - - Ceramicist Michele McKamy with two of her works in the Hartnett Hall Gallery.
State University) if she could get us a drum."
"We expected just a single drummer," Jelleberg said. "What we got was the MSU Percussion Ensemble."
As they designed the event, what resulted should be an interesting, interactive evening for participants. Beginning in the Library Gallery at 6 p.m., Jelleberg will give a talk about her work, which includes ceramics and large wall hangings in oil and acrylic.
"They're all very much texturally based," she said. "That's what ties them together."
Everyone will then cross over to the Hartnett Hall Gallery, passing in front of Swain Hall.
"Swain is where the drummers will be," McKamy said. "We have small ceramic pieces to give everyone for the next part, which are designed to be destroyed."
These sacrifice bowls are meant for everyone to imbue with their own thoughts about what they need to delete from their lives, and then by smashing them to the ground, eliminating that worry.
The group will enjoy watching the Fire Dancers ensemble, then proceed to Hartnett Hall for McKamy's collection of ceramics, "Walk as a Woman."
"I love working with the clay," she said. "The conversation you have with the clay as you work it leads to the most amazing pieces."
That is very true with her work, which includes sculptural and functional pieces. Her "burning bowls," a concept similar to worry dolls, are meant to be both gazed into and used to burn bits of paper written with any thoughts you want to be rid of. McKamy will deliver her talk at about 7 p.m.
The reception is Friday, and is free and open to the public. Parking is unrestricted after 5 p.m. on the campus.