Provided by Bucks County Community College:
This wooden sculpture by Mami Kato is among the works on display in “Old School, New School” at Bucks County Community College’s Hicks Art Center Gallery through March 11. Kato is one of five artists whose creations represent a mix of old and new design traditions.
Credit: Bucks County Community College
When old traditions combine with new methods of design, you get “Old School, New School,” an exhibition at Bucks County Community College’s Hicks Art Center Gallery through March 11.
The exhibition focuses on the range of approaches to designing and making objects in contemporary craft, according to guest curator Mark Sfirri.
“Historically, the definition of craft required that an object have a function,” Sfirri writes in his curator’s statement. Now, however, “the distinction between craft and art is a non-issue … very few of the objects in this exhibit are functional.”
The exhibition features the works of Chris Bathgate, Miriam Carpenter, Danny Kamerath, Mami Kato, and Rod McCormick, artists “who were selected for their skill in making objects and for their unique voices,” explained Sfirri. The “New School” artists are two who use digital design and computer-aided techniques in making their work, while the other three are “Old School” who employ traditional approaches to designing and making objects.
“The creativity and skill demonstrated in each piece makes clear that neither means of achieving the result is superior,” notes Sfirri, a Bucks professor who is internationally known as a fine woodworking artist. “They are simply different approaches.”
The Hicks Art Center Gallery is located on the campus of Bucks County Community College, 275 Swamp Rd., Newtown, Pa., 18940, where there is ample free parking. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday and Friday; 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. For more information, visit www.bucks.edu/gallery or call 215-968-8425.
Bucks County Community College receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
