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Artist: Kristen Van Patten


Kristen Van Patten, TEXAS

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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


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