Artist: Mitchell Spain
Fascinated by the preservation of the past, Mitchell Spain is a ceramic artist using highly technical processes including mold-making and porcelain slipcasting to fool the eye with his ultra-realistic, 'rusty' ceramic mugs, cups, flasks and more. He draws inspiration from the Iowa family farmland on which he was raised, where he now raises his children alongside his wife, Reanna. He is the author of Threaded: A Guide to Creating Ceramic Threads.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Clay Resurrects the Past
It revives old memories and awakens my lineage of artistic relatives. My bond to this medium is rooted in my deep connection to the rural Iowa farmland on which I was raised. Within my art, I’m taken back to my earliest memories of hunting through 100 years of farm equipment, rusty car parts, and unidentified objects in the barns and buildings my family built their lives around. These remnants of a bygone era were preserved with the intention of reuse as a means to save money, a widespread practice in rural America following the Great Depression. The ingenuity needed to economically refurbish old equipment and tools was born out of necessity and passed down through the generations of my family.
My father, my first artistic influence, took these discarded relics of rural America and breathed new life into them as art. The idea of being able to reinvent a purpose for an object, and the challenge of the process, resonates with me and is a foundation of my work as an artist.
I create sculptures and functional porcelain vessels with a facade of rust and decaled imagery. These refined and technically compelling pieces appear to be selected directly from an old barn and their vintage inspired labels and ultra-realistic rust paint a vivid picture of time, emotions and memories conserved.
EDUCATION
MFA in Studio Arts, Ceramics, University of Kansas (2015)
BFA in Studio Arts, Ceramics, University of Iowa (2012)
Associate of Arts, Kirkwood Community College (2009)
PUBLICATIONS/EXHIBITIONS
Digital Debut Artist, Belger Crane Yard Studios, Kansas City, MO (December 2016).
Our Cups Runneth Over, Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA (December 2016).
Objectus, Eutectic Gallery, Portland, OR (April 2016).
Orton International Cone-Box Show, Kansas City, MO (2016).
Generations, NCECA, Kansas City, MO (March 2016).
Last Call, Companion Gallery, Humboldt, TN (March 2016).
Decalcomania, Reese Gallery, St. Louis MO (2015).
NCECA National Student Juried Exhibition (2015, 2013).
Building to Fall; Solo MFA Thesis Exhibition (2015).
Spain, Mitchell,Threaded.Ceramics:TECHNICAL;Issue 39 November 2014,pp.8-13 (2014).
Zanesville Prize for Contemporary Ceramics, Zanesville, OH (2014).
IMAGE: A Ceramic Show of Decalcomania (2014).
Annual Workhouse Clay National, Lorton, VA (2014, 2013).
Yunomi Invitational Exhibition, AKAR Art | Design | Architecture (2013-2016).
Bluegrass Bourbon: By the Bottle, By the Ounce: National Juried Exhibition (2013).
It’s Only Clay National Juried Ceramics Competition and Exhibition (2012).
The Teapot Redefined, Mobilia Gallery (2012).
New Work Artist, AKAR Art | Design | Architecture (2012).
Big Fish, Small Pot V International Exhibition, TX (2012).
By Any Means Necessary, Solo BFA Exhibition, University of Iowa (2012).
Teaching Experience/Visiting Artist
The Art and Craft of Trompe L’oeil, University of Oklahoma (2017)
Visiting Artist Demo and Lecture, Northwest Missouri State University (2017)
Graduate Instructor, Ceramics I, University of Kansas (2012-2015)
SELECTED AWARDS/ RECOGNITIONS
Honors in Studio Arts, University of Kansas (2015)
NCECA National Student Juried Exhibition, Earth/Energy, Houston, TX
Ceramics Art and Perception Technical Merit Award
3rd Place Overall Graduate
Recipient, Travel Award, University of Kansas SOTA Travel Grant (2012-2015)
Big Fish, Small Pot V International Exhibition (2012), Honorable Mention
It’s Only Clay National Juried Ceramics Competition and Exhibition (2012), 2nd Place Overall