Artist: Kristen Van Patten
Kristen Van Patten, TEXAS
I create fine stoneware and porcelain ceramics which are wheel thrown and hand built in my home studio. I use muted and industrial palettes for clay bodies, colored slips, and glazes which allow for the underlying structure of the vessels to be accentuated.
My work has an industrial aesthetic which is influenced by my interest in the constructed landscape and architecture - specifically the Brutalist architectural movement from the 1950s - 1970s which utilized cast concrete and bold design elements to create utilitarian structures. I enjoy making functional ware and challenging myself to incorporate my love for strong lines, dynamic compositions, pronounced angles, and matte finishes. These more assertive elements are carefully balanced with qualities of elegance, harmony, and classical forms.
Kristen Van Patten is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Austin, TX. After receiving his MFA in Painting and Sculpture from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2007, Mr. Van Patten relocated to Austin in 2010. His work is influenced largely by his interest in Architecture, specifically Modernist Architecture and its successor, the Brutalist movement which asserted its concrete masses into citiscapes from the 1950s to the mid 1970s. Some of the elements he utilizes for his ceramics are the strong lines and geometric forms, matte finishes, and the aesthetics of exposed industrial materials such as cast concrete and steel “I” beams. Kristen makes functional works that challenge him to incorporate a love of modern design and structural engineering into personal, handcrafted, one of a kind objects.
Experience
Full time artist / 2006 to Present
Adjunct Art Instrucor 2016-2010
Instructor, Gallery Coordinator, Studio Technician / Southwestern University 2010 to 2016 Lego Engineering Instructor / Play-well Technologies 2008 to 2010 / / San Francisco, CA Building and Shipping Facilitator / Crown Point Press 2007 to 2010 / / San Francisco, CA
Teaching Assistant in Painting / Head professor: Carlos Villa / SFAI 2007 / / San Francisco, CA Teaching Assistant in Painting / Head professor: Bruce McGaw / SFAI 2006 / / San Francisco, CA Woodshop Tech / SFAI 2006-2007 / / San Francisco, CA
Painting Department Monitor / SFAI 2004-2006 / / San Francisco, CA
Education
MFA Painting & Sculpture / San Francisco Art Institute 2005-2007 / / CA
BFA Painting / San Francisco Art Institute 2003-2005 / / San Francisco, CA AA Art / Orange Coast College 1998-2003 / / Costa Mesa, CA
Exhibitions
Texas Clay Festival // Gruene, TX 2021
Texas Clay Festival // Gruene, TX 2020
Texas Clay Festival // Gruene, TX 2019
Unreal / Verge Arts // Austin, TX 2016
Hunting Art Prize Finalist Exhibit / / Houston, TX 2015
Stepping Away From Reality / Gallery Black Lagoon / /Austin, TX 2014
Hunting Art Prize Finalist Exhibit / / Houston, TX 2014
Friends and Family / Gallery Back Lagoon / / Austin, TX 2013
West of East / Gallery Back Lagoon / / Austin, TX 2012
Blurred Lines / Gallery Back Lagoon / / Austin, TX 2012
Chapel Hill Art League Group Show / / Chapel Hill, NC 2012
Mars Gallery / / Paducah, Ky / 2011
Austin – Series 1 / Gallery Back Lagoon / / Austin, TX 2011
Syntrophy / Gallery Black Lagoon / / Austin, TX / 2011
Bimana / Evergold Gallery / San Francisco, CA / 2010
Lapse / Lobot Gallery / / Oakland, CA / 2010
Chillin Productions / Mezzanine / / San Francisco, CA / 2010
Capsule / Union Design / / San Francisco, CA / 2009
Techne / Hatch Gallery / / Oakland, CA / 2008
GROUNDED? / The Intersection & Southern Exposure / / San Francisco, CA 2007 (Juried by: Kristan Kennedy, Director, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art Erik Knutzen, Program Developer, Center for Land Use Interpretation
Kirithi Nath, Filmmaker, Writer, Educator, and Curator)
Faux Naif / Klimm Gallery / / San Francisco, CA / 2007
Velvet Da Vinci Gallery / / San Francisco, CA / 2007
Mission Art Walk / / San Francisco, CA / 2007
Vernasage / Herbst Pavilion / / San Francisco, CA / 2007
Evolution / Swell Gallery / / San Francisco, CA / /2007
SFAI Now / Red Ink Studios / / San Francisco, CA / 2007
SFAI Holiday Exhibition / / San Francisco, CA / 2006
Gen Art Bay Area Emerge / Warfield Building / / San Francisco, CA 2006 / Juried by: Daniell Cornell, Director of Contemporary Art Projects and Curator of
American Art, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Jill Dawsey, Independent Curator, and most recently Curatorial Associate Painting and Sculpture, SFMOMA
Meg Shiffler, Gallery Director, San Francisco Arts Commission
Parallax / Swell Gallery / / San Francisco, CA / 2006
AC/VC / Audio Cinema / / Portland, Or / 2006
Velvet Da Vinci Gallery / / San Francisco, CA / 2006
Modular Objects / / Diego Rivera Gallery / San Francisco, CA / 2006
Live Worms Gallery / / San Francisco, CA / 2005
Residencies
Air Space Residency - Paducah, Ky 2011
Publications
Whitefish Review – Issue #6 Winter 2009/2010
Reviews
Stretcher.org – Gloria Tanchelev / May, 2007
Artbusiness.com - November, 2006
San Francisco Chronicle – Kenneth Baker / November 11, 2006
“Kristen Van Patten has spanned a large room with an installation of wires, magnets and painted wood nodules. It symbolically links the levity of Alexander Calder's mobiles with contemporary manias: conspiracy theorist paranoia and string theorist euphoria at the connectedness of everything.”
-Kenneth Baker November 11, 2006 San Francisco Chronicle