Heather Mae Erickson & Community
Apr 28th - Jul 3rd, 2023
Click HERE to browse and purchase the work in the exhibition
"In the studio, I had conversations with myself, and I challenged myself to move beyond mere clay-making and embrace Brene’ Brown’s guideposts and Boyer’s model. The project transformed into an experiential, socially engaged project and has cultivated over twenty-five cultural events with a long list of community partnerships, promoting LGBTQ+ visibility in the local and surrounding communities. Highlighting collaboration at events and upcoming exhibitions builds a powerful bond through creative art-making and storytelling."
CLAY & CONVERSATION & HANDS ON EVENT
Saturday, June 3 | 1pm (in person or on zoom)
We will discuss Pride Pots, Erickson's experiential, socially engaged project that cultivated over twenty-five cultural events promoting LGBTQ+ visibility in the communities surrounding the University of Western Carolina. The talk will be followed by a hands-on event.
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Erickson cultivated a space for story-sharing and reflection to create deeper human connections by empowering students to develop projects that benefit others. One project emerged – Pride Pots: Community Conversations – wherein Erickson genuinely embraced and linked the Boyer Model of teaching, service, and scholarship for this collection of ceramic work. Erickson said it felt natural to transition this project into a community-building art experience centered around hard conversations. These experiences consist of groups where community collaborators are introduced to the project and sign in with their names and social media or email addresses. Each individual is asked how they identify, their ages if they wish to share them, and their professions. Event organizers explain that their "official artists’ portraits," which include names, identities, ages, and professions, are displayed with their hand-painted Pride Pots at exhibitions to help share their stories. The painting of the pots is the most important part of the event because this is where the conversations around meeting and the opportunity to engage with different people occur. The exhibition is a by-product of the events. Proceeds from the sales of the community-painted pots help fund an endowed MFA scholarship.
Erickson: "In the studio, I had conversations with myself, and I challenged myself to move beyond mere clay-making and embrace Brene’ Brown’s guideposts and Boyer’s model. The project transformed into an experiential, socially engaged project and has cultivated over twenty-five cultural events with a long list of community partnerships, promoting LGBTQ+ visibility in the local and surrounding communities. Highlighting collaboration at events and upcoming exhibitions builds a powerful bond through creative art-making and storytelling."
For More on the Pride Pots: Community Conversations Project
The Pride Pots: Community Conversations project is additionally funded by a Catalyst Grant awarded by the David Orr Belcher College of Fine and Performing Arts at Western Carolina University. Speedball, a North Carolina company, is sponsoring Pride Pots: Community Conversations with underglazes.
The Pride Pots: Community Conversations exhibition will take place April 29 through July 3, 2023, at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia during Philly Pride.
In Memory of Jen Gordon
The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, student director at large, and Pride Pots: Community Conversations graduate assistant, Jen Gordon, passed away on October 19, 2022.
Jen was a mixed media installation artist, arts administrator, public facilitator, researcher, business owner, and writer based in North Carolina. She was a beloved mother, sister, daughter, wife, teacher, student, mentor, and friend. Before she passed, Jen contributed initial funding that will be used to create a scholarship for the WCU School of Art & Design's MFA program. The purpose of the scholarship is to provide financial support to an underrepresented candidate in the MFA program with an interest in ceramics, service learning, and community engagement. Gifts made in her memory will also support this scholarship fund.
For more on giving to the scholarship: https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/32835/donations/new
Full obituary: https://www.citizen-times.com/obituaries/act103589
