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Artist: Iren Tete


Artist: Iren Tete
Iren Tete, NEBRASKA
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My work is a translation of memories into shapes, experiences into colors, languages into symbols. The fragmented relationship with my cultural identity is easier to deconstruct when paired down to an exploration of process, form, and color. Ideas of containment, strength, and beauty are translated into line, form, and color. A color palette that is predominantly white and black represents my cultural dichotomy. Addressing a perpetual, yet elusive, quest for balance, these colors coexist within forms but are never seamlessly integrated.

I address dichotomies directly through process. Through pinching, coiling, slab-building, and wheel-throwing I vacillate between the need for structure and the desire to capture a playful spontaneity. Strong visual cues - patterns, repetition of forms, contrasting colors - reconcile these desires and establish a visual coherence. Pinch marks create a visual rhythm, imbuing the forms with a casual relaxation. Precise geometric forms serve as a study of not only visual, but also structural, typologies. A vocabulary of architectural forms is implemented to represent strength, fortitude, and time. 

Form and shape exploration facilitate my personal visual language development. This language which utilizes simplified shapes is composed to exhibit a visual tension, or playful awkwardness, that translates into a sensory experience, both visually and tactilely. Personal and formal fragmentation are addressed not only through visual cues but also through the idea of containment that unites the work. The idea of containment serves as anchor - visual, emotional, cultural.

EDUCATION
2016-19 MFA Candidate, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE

2015-16 Post-Baccalaureate Student, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS

2013-14 Post-Baccalaureate Student, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO

2009-13 Bachelor of Science – Kinesiology and Health Sciences, Art Minor, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA

RESIDENCIES
2014-15 Anonymous Potter Fellowship, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN

2013 Work Study, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN

2012 Volunteer, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Newcastle, ME

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2015-16 Gallery Associate, Strecker-Nelson Gallery, Manhattan, KS

2014-15
Exhibitions Assistant, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN

Gallery Associate, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN

2011-13 Studio Assistant, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2016 - Instructor of Record, Ceramics for Non-Majros, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Spring 2017, Fall 2016

2015-16 Ceramics Instructor, Manhattan Arts Center, Manhattan, KS

LECTURES/ WORKSHOPS
2016 Workshop Assistant to Bede Clarke, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

2015 Lecturer, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA

2014 Workshop Instructor, Zeke Gallery, Steelville, MO

2013 Workshop Assistant to Steven Hill, Columbia, MO

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2017 11th Yunomi Invitational - Akar, Iowa City, IA

2016 The Cup, The Mug - juried by Peter Pincus, Main Street Arts, Clifton Springs, NY

UNL Ceramic MFA Candidates, Medici Gallery, Lincoln, NE

The Intimate Object XII, Charlie Cummings Gallery, Apex. NC

2016
Ceramics Symposium, Zeke Gallery, Steelville, MO

Around the Corner, The Beggar's Table, Kansas City, MO

NCECA National Juried Student Exhibitions, Kansas City, MO

Shippensburg University Ceramics Invitational, Shippensburg, PA

Fogelberg, Red Wing, Anonymous Potter Exhibition, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN

2015
Strictly Functional Pottery National, Market House Craft Center, Lancaster, PA

The Intimate Object XI, Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainsville, FL

Featured Artist, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN

Steelville Arts Council Clay Symposium, Zeke Gallery, Steelville, MO

Members Juried Exhibition, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN

Teapots VII, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD

Invitational, Bulgarian Embassy, Washington, D.C.

2014
Winterfest 2014, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD

The Intimate Object X, Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, FL

The Clay Cup: Vessel, Icon, Canvas, George Caleb Bingham Gallery, Columbia, MO

Art We Use, Dairy Barn Arts, Center, Athens, OH

Small Favors IX, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA

Mug Shots National Juried Cup Exhibition, LUX Center for the Arts, Lincoln, NE

UNF National Juried Exhibition, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL

College Student Art Exhibition, Zeke Gallery, Steelville, MO

NCECA National Juried Student Exhibition, Milwaukee, WI

2013
Genesis Show, Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, VA

Art Minors Exhibition, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA

2012 Bowl Invitational, Studio 550, Manchester, NH

AWARDS
2016 American Craft Council, Scholarship to attend the ACC "Present Tense" Conference, Omaha, NE

2014
Honorable Mention, Mug Shots National Juried Cup Exhibition, LUX Center for the Arts, Lincoln, NE

2nd Place Undergraduate Student Award, NCECA National Student Juried
Exhibition, Milwaukee, WI

2013 Honorable Mention, Genesis Show, Peninsula Fine Arts Center; Newport News, VA

COMMITTEES 
2016-17 Undergraduate Art Portfolio Review Committee, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA

GALLERY REPRESENTATION
Companion Gallery, Humboldt, TN

Stella Collective, Lincoln NE

PUBLICATIONS
2016 NCECA National Juried Student Exhibition Catalogue

2015 Strictly Functional Catalogue

2014
Ceramic Monthly, Ceramics Yearbook

NCECA National Juried Student Exhibition Catalogue

2013
University of Missouri Article

The Gallery Magazine, Williamsburg, VA

2012 The Gallery Magazine, Williamsburg, VA


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