The UCCS Galleries of Contemporary Art (GOCA) announce a new exhibit surveying the practices of contemporary ceramic art and artists primarily working in our region . “CERAMICA: Contemporary Clay” opens in our downtown Colorado Springs gallery, GOCA121, on Friday, February 8, 5 – 9 pm. Featuring five artists – Corie Cole, Del Harrow, Jerry Morris, Elaine K. Ng and Mark Wong – a public reception includes artist talks starting at 6 pm. The exhibit will be on display through April 12, 2013 – regular gallery hours are Wednesday – Saturday, 12 – 5 pm or by appointment.

GOCA is a contemporary arts organization with two galleries – one founded on the UCCScampus in 1982 and a satellite opened in 2010 in the Plaza of the Rockies building.

About the artists:

Corie Cole employs humor, cognitive dissonance and the absurd to jar the viewer out ofcustomary ways of thinking about politics, and to critique the power of the individual and thefigurehead. Cole completed her MFA at Arizona State University in 2008 where her thesis work focused on the social and political implications of globalization and outsourcing. Cole works out of a back-yard ceramics studio in Colorado Springs, Colorado. www.coriecole.com

Del Harrow is a sculptor who works with a wide range of materials – including ceramics – as away of investigating objects through “successive experiments with strategies for placement,arrangement, and organization.” Harrow’s installations reference both “art historicalcompositions and vernacular spaces: game fields, farms, domestic interiors, forests. Thesespaces share abstract forms: planes, mesh-works, surfaces, and hierarchies.” Del Harrow wasfeatured in the recent “Overthrown” ceramics-focused exhibit at the Denver Art Museum andhas exhibited and been awarded residencies worldwide. Harrow currently teaches at ColoradoState University in Fort Collins, CO. www.delharrow.net

Jerry Morris creates complex installations involving multiple clay and mixed-mediacomponents which when combined have tremendous impact on the viewer. Morris is creatingan entirely new site-specific work for this exhibit. Morris received his BFA from CU -Boulderand was recently awarded a residency at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, where he created theinstallation for the CERAMICA exhibit. www.jerrywaynemorris.com

Elaine K. Ng’s work “explores ideas of impermanence, transition, and the uncomfortablespace between destinations-those moments after leaving what once was, before arriving atwhat will be.” Ng’s site-specific installations employ a spare but lush visual lexicon,communicating incredibly evocative ideas using simple clay, string and fibers. Ng is currentlycompleting her MFA at Cranbrook Institute in Michigan. www.elainekng.com

Mark Wong’s conceptual “1,000 Crane Platters” project highlights the artists penchant fordimensional and output challenges with clay, a twist on his own cultural tradition of folding and dispersing 1,000 origami cranes. An installation of 1,000 hand-thrown clay platters will cover the walls from floor to ceiling and even wrap around into the adjoining Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region space. At the close of the exhibit, the 1,000 ceramic platters will bedispersed to collectors all over the world. Platters can be purchased in advance of the exhibitat www.wongwares.com

Work by Elaine K. Ng Photo by Courtesy GOCA