Exhibit Features Range of Drawings, Prints, Sculpture
Joining an esteemed line of Alma College guest artists, Rebecca Mott presents a range of inspired drawings, prints and sculpture at the Flora Kirsch Beck Gallery.
Mott’s exhibit opens Monday, Feb. 14th and continues through Thursday, March 17 in the Clack Art Center on the Alma College campus. A gallery reception takes place at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 17. Exhibit hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.
Mott, currently a professor at West Shore Community College, has enjoyed creating things since she was young. Choosing art as her profession, she earned a bachelor’s degree in three-dimensional studio art in 1984 at Eastern Illinois University. She followed up with master degrees in fiber art, sculpture and ceramics at Southern Methodist University.
Artwork by Mott
“I always made things as a child and, when I became older, decided to go into a field that married creative and critical thinking with the manipulation of materials,” she says. “It promised to always offer new challenges.”
The artist’s primary medium is clay. Her earlier work included a series of Raku fired shrines. She also enjoys drawing and printmaking.
“I’m very much drawn to the textual qualities that can be achieved in surfaces of both my sculptures and prints,” Mott says. “I particularly like to carve into surfaces.”
Her work reflects a continual interest in pre-historic and indigenous artwork.
“I’m very interested in the use of mythic, or what some might call archetypal, imagery,” she says. “I have always been inspired by art of the past, as well as literature, poetry and the natural world.”
She adds that no artwork exists in a void, and that all art is somehow related to art that came before it.
“I think it’s important to be familiar with the artwork of those who have come before because we don’t create something out of nothing,” she says. “We may rearrange forms and ideas but nothing is completely new.”
Mott draws her inspiration from a variety of sources, including poetry, literature, comparative religion, mythology and visiting art museums.
“A lot of the time, I just wait for some image to emerge that I can’t stop thinking about,” she says. “Usually, I start with that image and eventually it works itself into an idea, and then a form.”
Posted: Mon, February 14th, 2011 at 8:02AM
