Josh Deweese / Chris Autio
"Old Friends - New Work in Clay and Photography"
November 15 - December 15
Josh DeWeese Artist Statement
This exhibit with my friend Chris Autio presented the opportunity for something new. Having done some experimentation with our local Bear Canyon earthenware, I decided to invest the time in making a full kiln load of work with the material to see what could happen. The pots in this show are made with a mix of Montana earthenwares from Bear Canyon, east of Bozeman and M2, a clay site east of Lewistown. The pots are decorated with slips, terra sigillata and minimal glazes, and fired in my wood kiln. I am excited by the results and look forward to sharing them.
Josh DeWeese is a Professor of Art teaching ceramics at Montana State University in Bozeman where he is currently serving as the Director of the School of Art. From 1993-2006 DeWeese served as Resident Director of the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, Montana and he holds an MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred, and a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute. He is the co-founder of the International Wild Clay Research Project at Montana State University, promoting the use of local materials and sustainable practices in the ceramic arts. In 2022 DeWeese received a Montana Governor’s Award in the Arts. He has exhibited and taught workshops internationally, and his work is included in numerous public and private collections.
Chris Autio Artist Statement
After arriving in Mexico, I immediately began photographing everything Mexican: colored balloons, tacos served at night, food plates, paper-mache skeletons. This is par for the course when traveling. But I soon developed a different eye for different material.
I enjoy a certain satisfaction figuring out how to travel in another country. Finding the small collectivo taxis, paying with new money, speaking in broken Spanish. I wandered small villages, forgotten corners. Photographing junk. Signs from the last decade: the same forlorn stuff around the world, I suppose. I began composing photographs within the city, thinking in terms of value and texture, edifices being a common backdrop.
Close to where I stayed in Oaxaca City is the Manuel Alvaro Bravo Gallery, the largest library of photography I have ever visited. I made frequent trips to this library, which energized a reconnection and fervor in my work. I began walking miles a day looking for images. Not having distractions also helped immensely.
Photographing an idea almost becomes palpable at times. Edges of humanity reach landscape, buildings meet sky scape. Nature coincides with the edifice. Walls in Mexico retain eras of time, from 400 year old mud bricks behind recently applied spirit prints and graffiti. Brilliant flowers drop into the scene like a saucy Italian opera stage.
Yet my intent was to distill that further, to not have my images about anything in particular, with no context in mind. I convinced myself that I was meaningfully corralling worthy elements within the photo without having them mean or suggest anything. I suppose a more contemporary description of this attitude in art is selflessness. Being a traveler perhaps more easily allows one to be disconnected from the scene, at least disinterested.
If there is an area of photography that embraces ideas of abstraction, I figure I was getting my toes wet. I take chances with what some elements of style rule, like putting an area of interest to the side, or use the rule of thirds. If there is any rule, it is to shoot a lot of film. Many on the roll are edited out, some of the printed are edited out. Sometimes after reviewing negatives I will decide to print one that is inescapably interesting.
When photographing very large granaries in central Washington, my telephoto lenses helped me organize areas of value.
I will print using matte surface, which is friendly to various oils and oil sticks. A strong enough black and white will not be colored. But when I do, I create a palette of color on the side, sometimes right on the surface, applying with rags and my fingers. The surface of darkroom gelatin prints are easy to work using oil colors and oil sticks. It is forgiving because I can remove and reapply colors.