The Lawrence Arts Center is thrilled to announce the Ceramics and Printmaking Artists in Residence for 2017-2018. This year the Arts Center received a record number of applications for these two yearlong positions. These two artists selected represent the best in an overwhelmingly strong pool of candidates.
Our Ceramics artist in Residence for the next year will be Shiyuan Xu and our Printmaking Artist in Residence will be Michael Benedetti.
Shiyuan Xu – 2017/18 Ceramics Artist in Residence
Shiyuan Xu was born in Hangzhou, P.R China. Shiyuan received her BA in Ceramics from the China Academy of Art in 2012, and an MFA from Arizona State University in 2016. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Shiyuan has participated in artist residencies at the Archie Bray Foundatioin in Helena, Montana and most recently at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft in Houston, Texas. Shiyuan is the recipient of 2017 Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist Award.
Artist Statement:
I draw inspiration from nature, particularly at the microscopic level. Reinterpreting scientific facts into art forms, I hand build porcelain paperclay structures with slabs and coils from inside out. I try to build vastness with a minimal structure to imitate the intricacy of natural form, and I experiment with various glazes to form and freeze the motion of growth. The more closely we look at the world around us, the more we appreciate the both nature and life.
See more of her work here:
Michael Benedetti – 2017/18 Printmaking Artist in Residence
Michael Benedetti was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In May 2016, he graduated from the University of Georgia with a Master’s degree in Printmaking. Since then, Michael has been active within printmaking communities throughout the world by participating in residencies worldwide, including a residency at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado and a research residency in Ghent, Belgium where he studied low-toxic and sustainable options for printmakers.
Artist Statement:
My current research focuses on identity and the abstraction of memory and emotion through the use of architecture, modularity, and systematic image creation. This is explored through two related bodies of work, B19 and The Architecture of Memory. Works in these series examine my surroundings and personal history concerning rooms and architectural interiors that I have inhabited spanning my childhood home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to the apartment I lived in as a graduate student in Athens, Georgia, apartment B19.
See more of his work here:
http://www.themichaelbenedetti.com/
These artists will join us in August to start their yearlong residencies during which they will be developing new bodies of work, collaborating in our studios, taking part in community driven projects, and teaching classes.
To learn more about the Lawrence Arts Center’s Residency Program, visit:
https://lawrenceartscenter.org/artist-resources/residencies/