Malcolm Mobutu Smith Exhibition at iMOCA

iMOCA Exhibition for Malcolm Mobutu Smith, April 1, 2011 – May 14, 2011
Opening reception Friday April 1^st, 6:00 – 10:00PM, open and free to the public and in conjunction with the IDADA First Friday Art Tour.

Exhibition Title: “Inner City Inspiration: An Artist’s Evolution in Clay”

Malcolm Mobutu Smith will be the featured artist in his ground-breaking exhibition titled “Inner City Inspirations: An Artist’s Evolution in Clay”. The show will provide an in-depth visual explanation of how his roots in the hip-hop and graffiti worlds have inspired and informed his development as an educator and acclaimed artist. The show will include a full-scale graffiti mural in collaboration with local graffiti writers, setting a visual stage for a broad sampling of three-dimensional ceramic vessels and sculptures, traversing his career as a contemporary ceramic artist.

Community partnerships include IPS School #2 Center for Inquiry grade school, located 725 N. New Jersey Street in downtown Indianapolis. Working with the art teacher, Ms. Daphne Draa, and the school’s 5^th and 6^th grade art club, Smith will include an interactive component that that will engage the students in the creative process of ceramics and an introduction to his recent use of 3D modeling software.  The museum will also host a series of artist led gallery talks that will be free and open to the public. 

iMOCA (Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art) is located 1043 Virginia Avenue, suite 5, in Fountain Square, Indianapolis, Indiana. The museum features thought-provoking exhibitions showcasing the latest trends in contemporary art. The museum presents a new exhibition every two months and participates in the IDADA First Friday Art Tour. Hours: Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 11am – 6pm. For additional information and images, please contact Shauta Marsh, Assistant Director at smarsh@imoca.org or go to http://www.indymoca.org/

Malcolm Mobutu Smith is Associate professor of Ceramic Art at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. He earned his MFA degree from the New York College of ceramics at Alfred University in 1996. As an undergraduate, he studied at both the Kansas City Art Institute and Penn State University receiving his BFA in ceramics in 1994. The artist lecturers frequently and has conducted workshops at Purdue University, Parkland College, Syracuse University and Michigan State. His works are represented in numerous private and public collections. More on the artist at: www.malcolmmobutusmith.com  

Mark J Ruschman
Exhibition Curator
iMOCA

PRESS RELEASE

March 6, 2011

INNER CITY INSPIRATION / An Artist’s Evolution in Clay

MURAL PROJECT by Malcolm Mobutu Smith, Mike Burchfield & FAB Crew

 In conjunction with iMOCA Exhibition April1 – May 14

Sponsored by INDIANA UNIVERSITY

with additional support by AMACO (American Art Clay Company)

Malcolm Mobutu Smith’s Inner City Inspiration will

provide an in-depth visual explanation of how his roots

in hip-hop and graffiti art inspired and informed his development

as an educator and artist. The show will include a

full-scale graffiti mural in collaboration with local graffiti

writers FAB Crew, setting a visual stage for a broad sampling of

three-dimensional ceramic vessels and sculptures,

traversing his career as a contemporary ceramic artist.

iMOCA (Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art) is located 1043 Virginia Avenue, suite 5, in Fountain Square, Indianapolis, Indiana. The museum features thought-provoking exhibitions showcasing the latest trends in contemporary art. The museum presents a new exhibition every two months and participates in the IDADA First Friday Art Tour. Hours: Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 11am – 6pm. For additional information and images, please contact Shauta Marsh, Assistant Director at smarsh@imoca.org or go to http://www.indymoca.org/

Community partnerships include IPS School #2 Center for Inquiry grade school, located 725 N. New Jersey Street in downtown Indianapolis. Working with the art teacher, Ms. Daphne Draa, and the school’s 5^th and 6^th grade art club, Smith will include an interactive component that that will engage the students in the creative process of ceramics and an introduction to his recent use of 3D modeling software.  The museum will also host a series of artist led gallery talks that will be free and open to the public. 

Special thanks to:

MANSUR Real Estate Services

ARTEKNA Architecture    

Center for Inquiry, School #2 Art Club, for their participation with the mural project.

The Mural Carpenters: Tommy Battista, Curt Worthen and James Brown.

Inner City Inspiration / An Artist’s Evolution was curated for iMOCA by Mark Ruschman,

Ruschman Fine Art, Inc.

Generous support for this exhibition provided by Indiana University:

Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

Office of the Provost

School of Education

Indiana University Foundation

Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs

Navel Gazing, Pewabic Pottery, Detroit, Michigan

 http://www.indiana.edu/~sofa/

 School of Fine Arts (SoFA) Gallery at Indiana University will present Rendering and Meaning: Infinite Speed, Zero Errors & Total Memory: Creativity and Desire in the Digital Age, which will open February 24 and continue until March 13, 2009. This show represents the combined efforts of Anton Reijnders and myself exploring the creative potentials and intersections for ceramics and rapid prototyping technologies. We will give a Gallery Talk in the SoFA Gallery 3:00 pm, Friday, February 27. An Opening Reception will accompany the exhibit Friday, February 27 from 7:00 – 9:00 pm. All events are free and open to the public.

Anton Rejinders is a ceramicist who lives and works in the Netherlands . Anton regularly leads workshops and involved as visiting artist in the Netherlands and abroad. He was head of the workshop and studio’s at the European Ceramics Workcenter in Hertogenbosch (Nederland) and author of The Ceramic Process.
Rendering and Meaning was made possible by New Frontiers Visionary Scholar Grant “Infinite Speed, Zero Errors & Total Memory: Creativity and Desire in the Digital Age” through Indiana University Office of Vice Provost for Research(OVPR). A special thank you to Advanced Visualization Lab and UITS for their generous support.

Ruschman Art Gallery in Indianapolis Indiana is hosting a solo show of my recent clay works.

The show runs from Dec. 5th 2008 – Jan. 3rd 2009

The title of the show is Backjumps and you will find some images of works in the show at this link and check out the rest of the Ruschman Gallery stable of artists.

http://www.ruschmangallery.com/

anton2008poster

Please see poster for details on the upcoming panel discussion October 11, 2008 3:45pm- 6:00pm

Great news! Please see the latest issue of Ceramics Monthly for an article on my work reviewed by critic Matthew Kangas.

http://www.ceramicartsdaily.org/magazines/Ceramics%20Monthly/currentissue.aspx/

“The quiet baby” and “B’rer Rabbit” will be on view in the warehouse
gallery of the Archie Bray Foundation as part of the Bray Resident
Summer Exhibition.  The exhibition opened on June 19th and will close
after July 26.  Also on view is “Beggar I” in the silent auction
exhibition in the same gallery.

The quiet baby is rooted in a character from the recent Dave Eggers novel
“What is the What,” the fictional autobiography of Sudanese refugee
Valentino Achak Deng now living in the U. S.  Along the protagonist’s
journey, he and his companions encounter an orphaned baby who miraculously
makes no sound even when danger is near thus protecting all of their lives,
the quiet baby.  B’rer Rabbit is visiting with the quiet baby on break from
the title role in the installation “The Judgement of B’rer Rabbit.”

http://www.santafeclay.com/

Enjoy!

 I must give extra special thanks to my webdesigner Adam Schweigert who was able to capture all the flavor I asked for and more.

I am finally getting up to speed in the internet game and hope to create– if not an everyday habit with the Blog concept–at least a very regular updating of this site. The interface is very user friendly so I should have few excuses.

I will be updating my site with words, pictures, exhibition, lectures and special events imformation  as proactively as possible- so please visit often as I hope to keep things moving.

Again, welcome and feel free to drop me a line at the contact tab with your thoughts, ideas, questions, problems and solutions about clay, art, teaching,opportunities and attractions.

link to the August Wilson Center http://www.africanaculture.org/events/index.php

Link to a show review http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08121/877605-42.stm