Artists: Kirsten Heteji & Alanna Veitch
Artist’s Reception Date: Thursday, March 5th
Time: 5:30-7:30 pm with Artist Remarks at 6pm
In the Gallery: March 3rd–March 28th
Show Description:
‘Circle Back’ reflects on each artist’s personal approach to revisiting familiar techniques and concepts through a fresh lens of creation. Both artists explore the cyclical nature of the psyche, yet they differ greatly in how they think through and engage with their making process.
Artist Bios:
Kirsten Heteji received her MFA Illinois State University in 2019 and her BFA from Alfred University in 2013. She was a resident artist at Natchez Clay in historic Natchez, Mississippi in 2014. Kirsten has been awarded several scholarships to attend art centers such as Anderson Ranch, Arrowmont and Peter’s Valley as well as a full scholarship to an art tour in Costa Rica. She has taught several ceramics classes and fundamentals to various age groups throughout her career. Kirsten has shown in art fairs, juried shows and exhibitions across the US. She currently resides in Bloomington, IL
FB @kirsten.heteji
Instagram @kheteji
Alánna Veitch received her BFA from Illinois State University in 2021. She has been a teacher’s assistant and taught several ceramic classes at Mclean County Arts Center in Normal, IL using paper clay and sculptural techniques. Her work has been in various exhibitions within the region, winning several awards for her work. She currently resides in Bloomington, IL.
FB @alanna.veitch
Instagram @aveitch_art
Artist: Sara D. Simonson
Artist’s Reception Date: Thursday, April 2nd
Time: 5:30-7:30 pm with Artist Remarks at 6pm
In the Gallery: March 31st–April 26th
Show Description: to be added
Artist Bio: After a 26-year career teaching literacy in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at Western Illinois University, where she served as both professor and department chair, Sara Simonson was named Professor Emeritus in 2016. In retirement, she discovered a joyful passion for working with clay.
Sara’s ceramic work is playful, whimsical, and driven by curiosity about form rather than function. Working in both earthenware and stoneware, she creates sculptural pieces that invite viewers to explore texture, pattern, and movement. In addition to ceramics, she also creates jewelry and sculptural forms in metal, primarily sterling silver.
Since she began exhibiting in 2018, her work has been included in numerous national and international juried exhibitions, earning awards such as Best of Show at the Honeywell Annual Fine Art National Juried Exhibition and recognition at the Arts North International Juried Exhibition. Her ceramic tessellation series was also featured in an exhibition at the Quad Cities International Airport.
She lives and works in Macomb, Illinois, where much of her work begins at her kitchen counter or in her garage studio. Currently, she and her partner are building a backyard ceramics and metals studio as her creative practice continues to grow.
Artist Statement
Being tough, hard, and unfeeling has been the protective armor that I convey to those closest to me, hiding the overthinking, pain, and fragility in my journey through life.
Using clay, I can physically manipulate my output, revealing my intimate emotions in a piece of work. Moreover, the selected glazes expose the rough patches and my interpretations of self permanent marks that I grapple with everyday.
The clay acts as a therapeutic process to work through memories that I have pushed down and concealed from others in order to project what I have believed to be a more perfect image. The clay is pushed, pulled, formed, and attached, offering insight to the viewer my underlying truths in a visual format. Fascinated by texture, I find myself making marks in clay and/or applying glazes that communicate aspects of my self-concept.
Through repetition and layering, these abstract singular pieces and group installations embody facets of my subconscious and identity.
You can check out more of Sara’s work at her Instagram: sara_d_ceramics
Artist: Karin Rutkin
Show Title: Maps of the Intangible
Date: October 6th – 29th
About the Show: A National Juried Show by Karin Rutkin
