Secret Life of Objects and Mike Norman Retrospective

About

In this Secret Life
of Objects, our curators bring together artists who imagine the life of a
ceramic object beyond the pedestal through drawing, collage, and film. The
Secret Life of Objects will share the most compelling clay work crossing
material boundaries and will draw in new audiences to engage in the role of
voyeuristic observer. The representational object, presented in a frozen
moment, will be re-presented through various narrative devices—a
non-traditional approach to interrupt our process of perception. Artist in
this exhibition include: Natalia Arbelaez, Stephen Bird, Arthur Gonzales,
Valerie Ling, Leslie Macklin, and Anu-Laura Tuttelberg.

Learn more: 

https://northernclaycenter.org/2020/12/17/secret-life-of-objects/

Mike Norman’s work is allegorical, alchemic, poetic, and deeply influenced
by his ceramic roots in “Minge-sota.” Norman grew up in Duluth near the shore
of Lake Superior with his artist parents about whom the neighbors would
whisper, “they are Bohemians.” He and his sister spent their childhood
reading, painting, building forts, and creating imagined adventures in the
wilderness. At his grandparents’ farm, he developed a deep love of animals
and a particular affinity for the big black and brown floppy-eared dog named
Rip. You can see Rip and other animals Norman has loved, over and over again
in the illustrations on his pots and the figures in his sculpture. These
animals have become part of his lexicon, his personal taxonomy of stand-ins
for nostalgic adventure and poetic iconography. This retrospective of
Norman’s work will celebrate his career of over 50 years and will feature new
sculpture made specifically for the exhibition.

Learn more: https://northernclaycenter.org/2020/12/17/mike-norman-retrospective/