February 17, 2012
(re)PRODUCE(d): Ceramics by Susan Crowell
Associate Professor Susan Crowell’s work is featured in (re)PRODUCE(d), open through February 17 at the Residential College Art Gallery.
In the past five years, since the rise of Colony Collapse Disorder, I have been concerned with the biological and botanical relationships in which bees participate and play a critical role. As a hobby beekeeper, I integrate the science and aesthetics of apiculture into my ceramic sculpture, and my intention is to reveal the details of small worlds upon which our larger world depends. In the fall of 2011, an artist’s residency at the Jingdezhen Pottery Workshop presented a unique opportunity for in-depth, as well as contextual study of pollen. Reflecting upon and responding to CCS in China, the largest honey-producer in the world, I created work for this exhibition at the Jingdezhen Pottery Workshop. (re)PRODUCE(d) presents a bee’s-eye view of pollen, within the problematic of industrialized honey production.
I am especially grateful to the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan, which enabled my research and residency in China, and to the Jingdezhen Pottery Workshop and the artists and artisans of Jingdezhen, who assisted and inspired my work for this exhibition.
(re)PRODUCE(d): Ceramics by Susan Crowell
January 13 - February 17, 2012
Residential College Art Gallery, University of Michigan
701 East University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
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