Sugarcraft

Opening Reception June 27, 6-9 pm

Since childhood, sugar has tantalized our senses of sight, smell and taste, offering a delicious form of comfort. Usually just empty calories, in Sugarcraft the sweet treat flavors a light yet substantive exploration of creation and consumption, whipped up by curator Wynter Whiteside and a large, diverse selection of artists from around the globe.

As Whiteside explains, “This exhibit is designed to playfully break boundaries, and to foster a dramatic interaction between artist, audience and the works themselves.”

Many of the participating artists represent the contemporary adoption of DIY practices as a response to mass production and consumption, as well as the fading line between contemporary fine art and fine craft. Using traditional or uncommon materials, including refined sugar, all encourage indulgence in eye candy and a playful conversation about the various aspects of taste. Casual viewers and art connoisseurs alike are invited to engage with both established and emerging artists. Among the painters, Matt Neff collects wedding cakes into a pile of rosettes and bleeding colors and Isadora Stowe invokes a cake’s frosted layers as a personal symbol of subtle inter-familial divisions. The prolific Tilly Strauss adds ice cream with a visceral piece from “A Month of Sundaes,” a series that came to life in public view.

Sweetness in texture and sculptural form is laid out smorgasbord style, including a fur delicacy from Christine Marie Davis, James Jaxxa’s cupcake fake-outs in Styrofoam and glass and a plush crying cake from My Paper Crane. Another anthropomorphized pastry is made noisily cannibalistic in a video by Kathy Santiago’s Everlasting Cakes. Contributing works that are partly or wholly edible desserts, Whiteside and cake stylist Mark Seaman bring the sensual experience of Sugarcraft full circle.

With The Candy Shoppe!, a miniature marketplace of items from exhibiting artists and DIY crafters featured by Columbus-based show sponsor Wholly Craft!, and a wide range of price points starting at seven dollars, the curator hopes to create an irresistible temptation in gallery visitors to take a taste of the exhibition to go. On Curator... Wynter Whiteside is a graduate of the Columbus College of Art and Design Fine Arts Program, with independent studies in Contemporary Art, and study abroad at Burren College of Art, Ballyvaughn, Ireland. During her emergence from the Columbus gallery scene, Wynter undertook the curation of several uniquely themed, multimedia gallery exhibits, featuring both established and emerging artists, performers and musicians. The resulting critical acclaim, as well as Wynter's genuine passion for discovering new talent, has furthered her professional career as an independent curator.

Her current project, Sugarcraft, is an international exhibition that symphonizes the worlds of Fine Art, Contemporary Fine Craft, and the Culinary Arts. Sugarcraft has evolved, from an invitation to guest curate into a travelling exhibit featuring over fifty artists. Sugarcraft will be hosted by Kasia Kay Art Projects, Chicago, IL in spring 2008, with other dates and venues pending.

Wynter is a featured artist in Sugarcraft. Her mixed media paint-based works have been featured in galleries throughout the Midwest including (most recently) at Urban Institute of Contemporary Art (MI), the Carnegie (KY), Roy G. Biv Gallery (OH), Mahan Gallery (OH), and Ohio Art League. Her work has appeared in several juried exhibitions, most notably by Claudine Ise (Wexner Center for the Arts), Joe Houston (Columbus Museum of Art), and Manifest Gallery (for Whimsical Muse, 2007). Wynter's works have also appeared in various experimental, nonprofit venues.

Exhibiting Artists: Brandy Agnew, Nikki Renee Anderson, Thomas Brouillette, Kris Chau, Sally Curcio, Christine Marie Davis, Stephanie Divencenzo, Bee Harris , James Jaxxa, Jay Krevens , My Paper Crane, Naoshi , Matt Neff, Kristin Pavelka, Connie Richards, Kathy Santiago of Everlasting Cakes, Mark Seaman of Marked for Dessert, Lindsey Sedlar, DeAnna Skedal, Amy Stevens, Isadora Stowe, Tilly Strauss, Jen Thomas, Colleen Toledano, Twinkie Chan!, Mirek Vlas, Wynter Whiteside

Miniature and small artworks by: Lindsey Ashpole Edababe, Kandi Boda , Chrissy Brown, Polly Conway, Pollyannacowgirl, Megumi Cummings of Sweet Honey Complex, Itzel Garza Mcdoofus, Christine Green Minimaker, April Hiraki-Morris Pukashell, Mio Ishida Miomio, Briana Moore Nest, Diane Paone, Chiara Puppo Aoisart, Elizabeth Raine of Eat Me Not, Sonicim, Jennifer Sternhagen KungFuCowgirl, Alison Tennant, Joan Burge Wallick CrashcanStudio, Emily-Kitturah Westenhouser, Tracy Yip *Meowgu Ong Xiao Yun

Sugarcraft
Kurator: Wynter Whiteside

Künstler: Brandy Agnew, Nikki Renee Anderson, Thomas Brouillette, Kris Chau, Sally Curcio, Christine Marie Davis, Stephanie Divencenzo, Bee Harris, James Jaxxa, Jay Krevens , My Paper Crane, Naoshi, Matt Neff, Kristin Pavelka, Connie Richards, Kathy Santiago of Everlasting Cakes, Mark Seaman of Marked for Dessert, Lindsey Sedlar, DeAnna Skedal, Amy Stevens, Isadora Stowe, Tilly Strauss, Jen Thomas, Colleen Toledano, Twinkie Chan!, Mirek Vlas, Wynter Whiteside, Lindsey Ashpole Edababe, Kandi Boda , Chrissy Brown, Polly Conway, Pollyannacowgirl, Megumi Cummings of Sweet Honey Complex, Itzel Garza Mcdoofus, Christine Green Minimaker, April Hiraki-Morris Pukashell, Mio Ishida Miomio, Briana Moore Nest, Diane Paone, Chiara Puppo Aoisart, Elizabeth Raine of Eat Me Not, Sonicim, Jennifer Sternhagen KungFuCowgirl, Alison Tennant, Joan Burge Wallick CrashcanStudio, Emily-Kitturah Westenhouser, Tracy Yip Meowgu Ong Xiao Yun