Brittany Corrales
November 20 - December 13, 2015
Brittany Corrales holds a Master’s degree in Art History from ASU. She has interned at Phoenix Art Museum and recently served as the Windgate Curatorial Assistant at ASU Art Museum. She currently writes for the Arts Beacon and the Phoenix New Times.
Heather Couch
Heather Couch is a ceramic artist and sculptor from Tennessee, currently living and working in the Phoenix area. She has just graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Ceramics from Arizona State University. Heather has studied art at Hong Ik University in Seoul, South Korea, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Chautauqua School of Art, and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in addition to her undergraduate education at Union University in Jackson, TN, where she was recently invited to return as an exhibiting visiting artist. She is currently teaching faculty and studio technician in ceramics at Phoenix College and a resident artist in ceramics at the Mesa Arts Center.
Heather Couch – Fault Lines
Heather Couch often designs her work to fail. Undermining the integrity of her clay objects through overworking and forming weak connections, she then subjects them to quick temperature changes and aggressive firings. In the kiln, they tear themselves apart, exploding and shattering from the pressure. As Couch manipulates and monitors the work, she reveals the faults in the ceramic process.
Couch’s architectural structures offer the illusion of safety and balance. The clumpy wool, methodical pinching, and interminable loops suggest a tactile intimacy, yet they are bound by an ephemeral tenuousness. The materials maintain an internal memory of what they have endured and stand in anticipation of a gentle catalyst, waiting for that which might nudge them to crumble.
Curated by Brittany Corrales, Fault Lines explores the aesthetics of failure and the moments of stillness that hover just before destruction.
Fault Lines is produced in collaboration with the Phoenix Institute of Contemporary Art (phICA) as part of its Emerging Curators Initiative. This exhibition is supported by Scottsdale League for the Arts with additional support by Tana and Ridge Smidt/Arizona Home Care, Ellyce and Eddie Shea, Ted Decker Catalyst Fund, and phICA.
Exhibition dates: November 20 – December 13, 2015
Opening Reception: Friday, November 20, 2015 6:00 – 10:00 p.m.
