Art Exhibition Features Functional Pottery

Managing Editor

   The University of Arkansas at Monticello’s Art Gallery located in the Fred J. Taylor Library and Technology Center showcases artist Joe Davis and his creation of functional pottery.

   With over 40 solo, juried and group exhibitions throughout the United States, Joe Davis’ featured exhibition at UAM inquires human sensory through its various colors, forms, texture and implied use.

   Davis acquires the various textures by using flocking and liquid latex. In ceramics, flocking pertains to a powdered cloth, which allows the artist to spray, glue or roll the flocking.  Due to flocking’s delicate content, the touch from an admirer’s hand leaves stains on the pottery. Opposite of flocking’s velvety texture, Davis' use of liquid latex gives art lovers an array of textures to enable comprehension of art’s potential as tactile objects.

   While some view every artist’s work as something with a deeper meaning, Professor of Art Tom Richard quoted Sigmund Freud saying, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”

   In Davis’ artist statement, Davis explains how the pottery form, in its inherent relationship to the human body, speaks to the viewer through anthropomorphic familiarity and implication of direct contact.  

 “When artists talk intellectually about pottery, we always relate the parts of the pot to the human body such as the foot, hip, belly, shoulder and the lip,” Scott Lykens, assistant professor of Art, said.

  While noticeably talented in ceramics, Davis created art in the past using wood, metals and glass. Adding to Davis’ list of accomplishments, Davis also photographs for documentation and promotions.

   In 2000, Davis presented his first exhibition “Joe Davis-Past and Present” at the University of Oregon. Before his featured exhibition at UAM, Davis’ solo exhibition “Touchy Feely” appeared at Utah State University.

   Obtaining his Master of Fine Arts degree in Ceramics from Ohio University in 2007, Davis currently serves as Ceramic Technologies instructor and Area Coordinator for the Art department at Utah State University.

   For more information concerning Joe Davis’ exhibition, please contact Curator Scott Lykens at lykenss@uamont.edu ,visit Davis’ website or attend “Curator's Talk” Nov. 4 at 11:30 a.m. at the Art gallery in Fred J. Taylor Library and Technology Center.

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