Gallery One, Chicago
Western Exhibitions is thrilled to present Folk Methods with Spatial Problems a group show curated by Shannon Rae Stratton featuring quilts and ceramics by Henry Crissman, Chris Edwards, Lauren Gregory, Virginia Rose Torrence. Folk Methods and Spatial Problems emerges from the experiences at Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency in Saugatuck, Michigan with four artists who co-teach in ceramics (Crissman and Torrence) and quilting (Edwards and Gregory) and continue the legacy of craft as a collaborative, communal endeavor where knowledge and skills are shared alongside the conversation and innovation that solidifies community. The show opens on Friday, June 13 with a public reception and runs through August 16. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 6pm.
Craftsmanship is a knowledge base that has always been created and circulated through the interdependent and collaborative space of the workshop, atelier and/or studio. While this fact is universal, across history and geography, each summer, craft pedagogy persists on the summer campus at Ox-Bow.
Chris Edwards and Lauren Gregory have co-taught “Soft Compositions” for over three years, Henry Crissman and Virginia Torrence, in addition to a teaching partnership, have established the Ceramics School, a workshop and residency in Detroit. Inevitably these close working and teaching relationships make impressions on the studio practice of collaborators, whether conceptually, formally, or materially, creating the kind of art and craft lineage that results in regional “schools” or “styles” that become more evident in historical time than in the immediate present.
In Folk Methods and Spatial Problems, evidence of shared approaches to aesthetics and humor, the depiction/construction of volume and space and commentary on value(s) abound, resulting in a group of work that showcases the joy and irreverence that is at home in craft media. The tactics of craft— to make something that can relate to the body and function — is a place for re-orientation to the world. Or maybe more of a re-minder of the world: that it is through the intimate use of objects that we are re-embodied – which at present, feels urgent. If we are to (re)build the skills of interdependence and compassion, we need a re-embodying that takes us out of the screen and back into community.
Henry James Haver Crissman’s multi-faceted community-based holistic art practice is rooted in clay— building on its expressive, vernacular, and communal capacities — and manifests as objects, installation, kiln making, video and performance work, community projects and curation, teaching, facilitation, and space making. He lives and works in Hamtramck, Michigan where he co-founded and co-directs Ceramics School, a community ceramics studio and artist residency in a connected rowhouse and storefront. Crissman is an adjunct professor at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and has been co-teaching the wood-fired ceramic courses at Oxbow School of Art since 2023. Crissman earned a BFA from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit in 2012, and an MFA at Alfred University in 2015.
Chris Edwards is an artist and Licensed Clinical Social Worker living and working in Chicago, working primarily in quilting, ceramics, and puff paint. He received his Master of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from SAIC in 2011 and his Master of Social Work from the University of Iowa in 2014 while completing a term of service with Americorps. He lives in Chicago with his husband, dog, and two cats. He has exhibited work at Western Exhibitions in Chicago, Ox-Bow House in Saugatuck, Wrong Marfa in Marfa, Elephant Gallery in Nashville as well as Adds Donna, Tusk, LVL3, Oggi Gallery, Dreamboat, and Julius Caesar, all in Chicago.
Lauren Gregory is a multidisciplinary artist and educator born whose practice bridges painting, animation, and quilting, exploring themes of storytelling and the interplay between tradition and technology. Her GIFs, looped video installations, and animated shorts have been screened at MoMA PS1, the New Museum, MOCA Los Angeles, and film festivals worldwide. Her animation and directing work includes commissions from the Washington Post and music videos for Leonard Cohen, Norah Jones, James Taylor, Sarah McLachlan, and Toro y Moi. Gregory teaches animation at Parsons School of Design, quilting at Ox-Bow School of Art, and is a graduate student mentor at Belmont University. She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and lives and works in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is represented by Red Arrow Gallery.
Virginia Rose Torrence earned her BFA in Crafts from the College for Creative Studies in 2013 and her MFA in Ceramics from Alfred University in 2016. Her work has been exhibited at venues including Trinosophes (Detroit), Wasserman Projects (Detroit), and The White Page Gallery (Minneapolis), among others. Based in Hamtramck, MI, Torrence co-founded Ceramics School, a community ceramics studio focused on accessible art education, where she teaches, manages the studio, and makes pottery and sculpture. Torrence has been co-teaching the wood-fired ceramic courses at Oxbow School of Art since 2023. Torrence works as a facilitator, teacher, sculptor and potter. These practices often intersect and are a reflection of her passion for care, accessibility, and community nourishment.
Shannon Rae Stratton is a writer, artist and independent curator. With a foundation in studio craft and painting and over 20 years experience organizing exhibitions, events and other cultural platforms, Stratton’s practice is a culmination of diffuse experiments and experiences borne out of an insatiable curiosity for the why and the how the world is processed by artists and makers. She co-founded Threewalls, an artist-run space in Chicago, IL, in 2003 where she was Director until 2015. From 2015-2019 she was chief curator at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, NY where she organized Roger Brown: Virtual Still Lifes and Tanya Aguiñiga: Craft and Care, among others. Her writing includes the catalog for the Roger Brown show and Faith Wilding: Fearful Symmetries published by Intellect Books, which is available at the gallery. She is currently Executive Director of Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency in Saugatuck, MI and teaches at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she now serves as the Director of the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program in Painting and Drawing.