COmmon Thread

FEBRUARY 4, 2022 - May 7, 2022

Opening reception: Friday, February 4, from 6 pm - 8 pm

Artist remarks: 6:30pm

at Belger Crane Yard Studios
2011 Tracy Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64108

Common Thread brings together the work of five ceramic artists who are inspired by textiles and textile processes. While the artists’ inspirations and representations vary, each incorporates fibers or fiber techniques in their process.

Shae Bishop explores the relationship between ceramics and textiles by making connections between each medium’s cultural history, pattern-making systems, and interactions with the human body. His work includes wearable garment sculptures made of interlaced ceramic tiles. Jeremy Brooks crochets, knits, and weaves strands of elastic clay to create forms that are inspired by traditional vessel making, mundane objects, and the queer experience. April Felipe’s collaged works blend ceramics, fiber, and wood and reference her childhood home, themes of identity, and the desire to belong. Inspired by ancient Italian and Lithuanian techniques, Anna Valenti’s woven and pinched clay vessels highlight shared traditions, human interaction, connectivity, and empathy. Casey Whittier’s work examines the systems of construction adopted from historical craft disciplines. Linking forms such as ceramic coils and beads she creates ceramic quilts, flowers, and other objects used in daily life.

The artists in Common Thread demonstrate a mastery of craft, a profound understanding of human connection, and share a playful and experimental approach to clay materials and processes.