Bradley Bradshaw
Staff writer
Every month, the art department displays an artist’s work in the Arnold Art Gallery. This gallery hosts art majors, alumni and guest art experts to give them the opportunity to exhibit their artistic efforts. The art department and students anticipate each art exhibit and Ian Childers, this month’s artist, is also excited about his collection that will be presented.
Childers graduated from Shorter in 2004 with an art degree and graduated from the University of Massachusetts College of Art and Design with a Master of Fine Arts. He then taught at Shorter as an adjunct from 2008-2011.
Jessica White, a Shorter student who took Childers’ class, remarked, “This show is different from the works I’m used to seeing of Childers’ because all the glazes are amazing purples and blues and reds.”
White says his technique of the crystalline glaze (which is the little star bursts seen on the pots) adds a subtle yellow.
“The whole show is very beautiful and elegant in my opinion, and the fact that I knew him as an adjunct here at Shorter makes it even more exciting to see his work with such amazing colors,” said White.
Kelly Mills, assistant professor of art, believes his technique of glazing is amazing.
“His classic ceramic vessels serve as grounds for his exquisite glazes. Using simple, uncluttered forms, he activates the surface through a variety of techniques, most notably the crystalline glaze method.”
Childers is currently a professor at Mississippi University for Women. He enjoys working with clay the most.
“My vocabulary comes from my hands. Clay and fire are the materials with which I speak,” said Childers.
Tori Nelson, junior English major, says that Childers’ work has always fascinated her.
“I was fortunate enough to study under him and appreciate firsthand the delicate technique behind his works,” said Nelson. “He appreciates functionality as well as aesthetics. His exhibit perfectly portrays his work as a whole: simple, yet breathtakingly beautiful.”
Childers will end his display with a lecture about his ceramics on Feb. 2 at 11 a.m. in the Arnold Art Gallery.