Artist in Residence Gwen Oulman-Brennan

We recently ushered in three new Artists in Residence at our Grand Center location! Ceramicist Rachel Akin, Fibers Artist Mindy Sue Wittock and Metals Artist Gwen Oulman-Brennan.

Gwen Oulman-Brennan earned a BFA at the University of Iowa in painting in 1998. After moving to St. Louis she studied Painting at Fontbonne University where she earned an MFA in 2006. As the subject of Gwen’s work became less about the imagery and increasingly more about the materials she was using in her paintings she began to explore small metalwork. Her painting materials ranged from concrete and metal to silk and glycerin. Her instructors at Craft Alliance opened the door to working with metal which inspired her to apply to graduate school to further study Jewelry + Metalsmithing. Gwen completed her masters degree at the Rhode Island School of Design in the spring of 2009.

Some of her recent work explores the act of breathing. Some of her pieces inflate by breathing into them, others explore the aesthetics of the air-flow in and out of our bodies. We recently did a quick interview with her!

How many years have you been a metals artist?
I can't remember a time that I wasn't a maker. I have moved and continue to move between 2D and 3D mediums. It was more than fifteen years ago that I took my first jewelry and metals class, a lost wax casting course. Over the years I came to think of myself primarily as a painter. It was five years ago as I was finishing my MFA in Painting that I noticed my interests shifting away from the imagery and towards the materials. It was around this time that I began taking classes at Craft Alliance. These classes would eventually lead to me to return to school to study jewelry and metalsmithing at the Rhode Island School of Design. A metal artist , maybe only for the last three years but my work is informed by a lifetime of making and material exploration.

Describe the work you are making or hope to make during your time at Craft Alliance:
While in Rhode Island my work focused on breath. I focused on making visual the intimate and communal act of taking air into our bodies and releasing it. The concept I start with is really just that - a starting place - a way to ground my work- parameters in which to create around.

In these first few weeks at Craft Alliance I have begun a new exploration - one of a kind knots and tangles. The pieces I have begun are carvings of shoes strings in bone. I plan to spend these next few months exploring knots through materials like stone, metal, and bone.

I am also continuing a small production line of jewelry that I designed highlighting the facets of a gemstone. By making wax impressions of gemstones I've created "settings" of the absent stone.

What inspires your work?
I am inspired by the everyday and familiar. By exploring an idea over time and through a variety of materials I discover unexpected and new connections that continue to fuel my work. It is these material discoveries and synthesizing of ideas that continue to inspire me.

Interview with Kahlil Irving

Recent high school graduate Kahlil Irving has spent 3 years as part of our Crafting-A-Future program at Craft Alliance. He will be attending Kansas City Art Institute this fall with a full ride scholarship. We are so proud of his accomplishments!

How did you get involved in Crafting-A-Future?
Well, I got involved in Crafting-A-future when Leslie Silverstein came to my high school to put up a mural the students created in some of the upper-level art classes. I was told to apply and then on I have been participating in the program.

What do you love the most about working with clay?
Working with clay is like anything else I have come in contact with, something I need to evaluate and become comfortable with. I have realized through practice I can become better or more knowledgeable about something and clay is amazingly responsive to my practice to the amount of time I have put into learning about it. The response and results that I get are the reasons why I enjoying working with the material.

Where do you go for inspiration?
Inspiration comes from what I see around me. It comes from what I see and feel everyday. My past and the world's past are my biggest influences. Like ancient ceramics from Asia, the studio artists in the Craft Alliance clay studio, and artists/potters that I meet.

What was the best part of being in the Crafting-A-Future program?
The best part of participating in Crafting-A-Future is all of the opportunities I have gotten. The pot sales, volunteering, meeting many different people, all contribute to the great experience I have had.

Do you have any advice for any up and coming Artists?
My advice isnt just to young artists, its to anyone and everyone that will listen and try to understand it. The world we live in is larger than we know. Deep mental and emotional realms exist. If there is anything anyone can do is see all that they can see and try to make the best of every oppurtunity they get to do whats best for themselves and others. Follow your heart and reason with your mind, life will all unfold.

Craft Alliance Gala was ARTrageous!

"Best Gala Ever!" "So Much Fun!" These were just some of the enthusiastic comments overheard during our ARTrageous Gala on Friday night. We honored Emerson and their generous support of our Mural Arts Program and David Charak, whose generosity enables us to inspire and engage people through contemporary craft. All proceeds will benefit Craft Alliance’s education, exhibition and community outreach programs.


The evening began with cocktails and our silent auction. We had so many amazing artists donate artwork!

We had a fashion show featuring local designer Michael Drummond's line The Exquisite Corpse! So many fabulous outfits walked down the runway!


Special Guest Auctioneer Julius Hunter lead this year's Live Auction featuring trips to New York City, Cabo San Luca and a Once-in-a-Lifetime Dutch adventure for two! We also auctioned off artwork including a one of a kind charm necklace made by Craft Alliance artists!


Student Kahlil Irving spoke about his time at Craft Alliance and his work in the Crafting-A-Future program. Afterward we had a dutch style auction and raised over $11,000 in scholarships for the CAF program!

After dinner we ended the night with a wonderful After Party with loads of dancing! It was a fabulous success! We thank everyone that came to show their support for Craft Alliance. For more photos from our Gala visit our Facebook Page!

Portrayal of Another

Opening the same night as Setting The Mood: The Arful Table was Benjie Heu's solo ceramic exhibit: Portrayal of Another. This talented local artist's sculptural work hangs from our walls in the Charak Gallery.

The pieces presented are a narrative of the evolving hero and his many trials and tribulations. The hero's journey is a voyage of self-discovery, an expedition whose true destination is the realm within each of us, where we must find our own unique center with all its strengths and weaknesses. The journey is not just physical, but a spiritual one, as the hero evolves from ignorance and innocence to experience and enlightenment. The most outlandish adventures are accounted with an eye fixed on the bare essentials. Battles against time, against the obstacles that prevent the fulfillment of desire or the repossession of something cherished but lost are themes that provoke me. Revealing truth and humor in the face of horror and the seemingly absurd is my answer. - Benjie Heu

Setting The Mood

Friday night was the opening for Setting The Mood: The Artful Table juried by Bruce Hoffman, Director of Snyderman - Works Gallery in Philadelphia. Of the more than 120 entries, Hoffman accepted 50 pieces to be included in the exhibition. 15 local artists were chosen for the show including John Baltrushunas, Clinton L. Berry, Matt Keim, Kitty Mollman and many more! Unfortunately Bruce could not make it to the opening but many of the artists did! The show is up through July 11th in our Delmar Whitaker Gallery.

When Craft Alliance asked me to jury Setting the Mood: The Artful Table, I immediately said yes. Viewing the submissions was like looking at photos of old friends. The functional world has somewhat escaped me the past few years, and it was a joy to meander through the images of cups, bowls, platters and serving utensils. I hope this exhibition inspires everyone to throw a dinner party, pull out the family heirlooms, or better yet find a craftsman you love and commission something that your grandchildren will remember as fondly as your grandmother’s warm hug. -Bruce Hoffman

Fun For All!

We recently held the Crafting-A-Future opening the same night of our Friday Fun-For-All!
The friends and family of our Crafting-A-Future students stopped by for the opening of their end-of-year exhibit featuring the work they have created in the classes at Craft Alliance! They are all such talented emerging artists!
Later in the night, our studios were filled with budding artists as they learned new skills! Enameled copper pendants, glass beads, clay pots and more were made with the help of our accomplished teachers during the Fun-for-All. It was quite a fun filled night! Despite a looming storm, so many people came out to make art!

Interview with Michelle Hamilton

Our Mother's Day Trunk Show in the Gallery Shop includes the work from local ceramic artist Michelle Hamilton! Her Spring inspired pieces are colorful and functional! I love her nestled bowls! They are the perfect size for dipping sauces!

During her visit, Michelle agreed to answer a few questions for us!

Tell us about your process:
My Work is wheel thrown cone 10 porcelain. It is multi-fired in an electric kiln. The imagery comes from two sources. The flowers are photographs from my garden. The birds and french posters are book images from the 1800's. All imagery is manipulated using Photoshop and printed using a fireable decal process.

What is the inspiration for your work?
My number one source of inspiration is photographs of my garden and the orchid show at the Missouri Botanical Garden. My photographs are integrated into two different series. My functional line combines my love of bright colors with the simple act of using a piece of art in your everyday life. My large Urn series also utilizes multi-layered botanical imagery but combines it with classic forms and the occasional tongue and cheek look at life.

What do you love most about working with clay?
It depends on the day or where I am at in the creative process. I love to throw and honestly think that a freshly thrown piece is at its most beautiful state. I love to glaze. Anticipating the energy that color can bring can be a thrill. Finally, using one of my pieces or better yet a piece from a friend or admired artist. Functional clay art just makes food taste better!

Do you have and advice for budding ceramic artists?
Listen carefully to the masters. Read about processes and look at other work. Then go to the studio shut the door and create what makes you happy.

Perceiving Sensibility

Carlie Trosclair, a Washington University MFA Student transformed our Grand Center gallery for her thesis project Perceiving Sensibility. The show is a must see! Open through June 6th!

Carlie's mock up and paint sitting in the window.

Installation in progress.

The complete transformation! I love the way the light flows through the fabric!

"If we consider the built environment as an extension of our bodies, what would that image materialize as? By altering the physical and sensorial properties of interior spaces, my work is constructed to create cracks in the psyche of the habitual and the known. Through manipulation and re-creation of given architectural spaces, I create new realities that sensitize our physical experience. Taking on the form of immersive environments, viewers are engaged as they move in conjunction with and in reaction to the created surroundings." -Carlie Trosclair

Mannequins in the Loop

There were artists dressing mannequins all along the loop today as part of the Mannequins on the Loop event! The mannequins will be on display through the end of the month! Our artist, JoAnn McNeil, created a one of a kind display from recycled items!

Video! Taking down Tim Curtis

Tim Curtis explores the use of language and text in art. He recently presented an ever-evolving body of work at the Grand Center location of Craft Alliance. The work utilized text on chalkboards that function as object within a fine art context. The walls of the gallery were blanketed with handmade chalkboards from floor to ceiling. The visual sensation of multiple chalkboards surrounded the viewer with the voices of Tim’s internal dialogue.

On Monday we took the work down to prepare for a new show, the MFA thesis exhibition of Washington University student Carlie Trosclair. View Carlie's work at the opening on Friday, April 23 from 6-8 pm. Her will will be up through June 6, 2010.