Work by Ariel Brice, Lucy Louise Derickson and Charlotte Potter
June 19 – August 14, 2015

SOCIAL focused on the intersection of contemporary art and social media, presenting work by three artists who employ the icons and language of Facebook and text messaging as commentary on 21st-century life. Ariel Brice, Lucy Louise Derickson and Charlotte Potter juxtaposed the fleeting nature of cyber-based Facebook posts and text messages with tangible installations made from traditional art mediums including glass, metal and ceramics.

Ariel Brice (b. 1980, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) produces objects and installations that explore the territory between optical appearance and haptic experience. Brice earned his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2009. Subsequently, he has been an artist in residence at sundaymorning@ekwc in The Netherlands and at The Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen, China. He has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University as a Fountainhead Fellow in the Craft/Material Studies Department and as a lecturer in the Ceramics program at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. His artworks are exhibited regionally and internationally. Recent exhibitions include Horizon Lines at Pier 1218 in Madison, WI, At Your Service at the Bellevue Arts Museum in Bellevue, WA, Materialize: Sculpture Using Digital Fabrication, at the Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, In Situ: Art Made In Place at Manfiest Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio and Convergence and Transcendence, the 2015 Geyonggi International Ceramics Biennial in Icheon, South Korea. Brice currently lives and works in Madison, Wisconsin. He is a recent recipient of a 2013 Louis Comfort Tiffany Award.

Lucy Louise Derickson (b. 1982, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin) transforms found pewter serviceware in order to dissect complex human relationships and the objects tangled in the mess. She received her BFA in Jewelry/Metalsmithing along with a Teaching Certification from University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Derickson taught K-12 art for two years, receiving Teacher of the Year from the Greenfield Chamber of Commerce. After moving Richmond, Virginia she received her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Craft/Material Studies. In August, Lucy will start as the full time Metals Area Instructor and the Metals/Craft Area Coordinator at Montgomery College, Montgomery County, Maryland. Collaboratively, Lucy founded and acts as Co-Chair of the Ethical Metalsmiths Student Committee, a student branch of the non-profit organization Ethical Metalsmiths. The committee has organized the First and Second Annual International Student Exhibition and Emerging Artist Award. Through this group she has connected students around the world in dialog and research related to environmental and human health, with the intention of empowering students and influencing curriculum.

Charlotte Potter (b. 1981, Fayston, Vermont) received a B.F.A. from Alfred University and an M.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her practice has focused on the use of glass and glassmaking for performance and as a conceptual medium. She is the co-founder of performance troupes Cirque de Verre and the Glass Theater. Her installations, sculptures and performances have been shown at the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH; Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; Oklahoma City Museum of Art; Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, VT; and gallery S 12 in Bergen, Norway. Her work is in the permanent collections of the American Museum of Glass, Chrysler Museum of Art, Museum of Jurassic Technology and the Henry J. Neils, Frank Lloyd Wright house. Currently Potter serves as the Glass Studio Manager and Programming Director at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia. She recently completed work for exhibitions at the Heller Gallery, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.