Newport Show to Feature Judd Schiffman - Inside Art with Michael Rose

Newport Show to Feature Judd Schiffman - Inside Art with Michael Rose

 

Some might be tempted to pigeonhole makers working with clay, assuming they make vessels or decorative objects. For Providence artist Judd Schiffman, ceramics often looks more like a painting, wall hanging, installation, or relief sculpture. It also serves as a jumping off point for collaboration and experimentation. In an impressive new show at Overlap Gallery in Newport, Schiffman is working in unison with fellow artists Athena Witscher and Eamon Brown to create an immersive and multi-part art experience with clay at its foundation.

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On view from June 19 - July 27, the exhibition, titled Same Rain Same Stars, is a collaborative installation that joins work by Schiffman alongside work by his wife Athena Witscher and their close friend Eamon Brown. Featuring Schiffman’s distinctive slab-based ceramic pieces, many of which were arranged by Witscher, the show includes additional vessels by Witscher as well as a floor installation and wall-mounted work by Brown. The entire assemblage, which is set off by bright wall paintings, is complimentary and exciting. It shows three artists engaging in conversation and reorients traditional expectations about how ceramics are made and seen.

 

 

Asked about what it means to participate in this collaboration with these co-exhibitors, Schiffman says, “I am happy to have the opportunity to work with two artists whose work I respect and enjoy looking at. Athena has a sophisticated aesthetic sensibility that provides the viewer with a sense of space and ease. Eamon has a mastery with a variety of materials and creates intentional movement through his installation work.”

 

Schiffman earned a BA at Prescott College in Arizona before pursuing a Post Baccalaureate Certificate in Ceramics at UMass Dartmouth. In 2015 he earned an MFA in Ceramics at the University of Colorado at Boulder. A widely exhibited artist, he has shared his work in shows far afield, from Texas, New Mexico, and Oregon, to Los Angeles, Washington, DC, New York, and Berlin. His work even found its way into the collection of the storied late ceramist Betty Woodman.

 

A passionate educator, Schiffman has given lectures at Harvard, Brown, and Penn State as well as at the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. Previously an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado, Schiffman has been on the teaching staff at Providence College since 2017. He is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor. At PC he teaches a variety of courses including an inventive one that melds ceramics and meditation. Sharing his passion as a working artist, Schiffman is making ceramics accessible to both art students and those in other disciplines at the liberal arts school.

 

 

Asked about what he enjoys most about his work as a ceramics instructor, Schiffman responds, “I am lucky to have the opportunity to spend my days doing what I love in the studio and then to share that with students in my classes. My goal as a teacher is to create a learning environment where the individual creative process is openly shared through the making of clay objects. Clay is inherently therapeutic so a ceramics class is a great opportunity for students to relax into the discovery of their personal voice.”

 

In his work on view at Overlap, there is a sense of play and experimentation as well as an obvious mastery of materials. Richly textured reliefs are treated sensitively with subtle glazes that pool in lovely ways. Schiffman brings astute attention to detail to even the smallest elements of his work. For instance, magnets encapsulated in clay and glazed with glittering gold luster are used to cover the screws used to mount the work to the wall. Characters and forms, both recognizable and more obscure, dance around the room. Recurring motifs include candles, eyes, as well as ambiguous creatures and animals. The work is enjoyable to explore, and this multi-part installation invites that exploration.

 

 

Speaking on what excites him most about the show at Overlap, Schiffman says, “Athena and Eamon approach artmaking in a refreshing way that I think gives my own work levity when mixed together as it is at Overlap. I think the resulting exhibition provides the viewer an opportunity to see our individual works as something new and to experience the installation as a thing itself.”

 

Judd Schiffman’s ceramics are on view alongside work by Athena Witscher and Eamon Brown in the exhibition Same Rain Same Stars at Overlap Gallery in Newport through July 27. The opening reception for the show is June 22 from 4-6 pm. Overlap is located at 112 Van Zandt Avenue in Newport. The gallery is open Wednesday through Friday from 11 am - 6 pm each day and Saturday from 12-5 pm.

 

Learn more about Judd Schiffman at his website www.juddschiffman.com.