An Obvara Raku Workshop!

After asking about it repeatedly for three years, I successfully convinced the lovely folks over at Dakota Potters Supply to allow us to do an obvara raku workshop on October 21, 2023! Obvara is a low-fire scalding-and-sealing process wherein you create a fermented sourdough/beer bath, plunge approximately 980°C naked ceramics fresh out of the kiln into it, wait for them to start to bloom with different tan-to-brown markings, and then arrest the surface carbonization process by rinsing the pieces off in a water bath. Obvara has an even higher chance of cracking due to the extreme thermal shocks involved than non-bath raku processes.

Getting the chance to do raku is relatively rare, and many ceramists haven’t even heard of obvara, let alone had the opportunity to do it - so I’m really grateful for the experience! Joining me on the trip were Morningside faculty Paul Adamson, alumni Calissa Hanson and Deb Murakami, and students Laura Greene, Taylor Greene, and Lauren Hedlund.

In addition, I learned about honey raku from a ceramist at this year’s ArtSplash festival - it’s basically like horsehair, feather, or sugar raku surface carbonization, but with honey! I brought some along and we tried it out too - though I want to experiment with it some more at future workshops as I was so excited about the obvara opportunity that I only kept one textured plate aside for honey raku.

Here are some photos from the workshop itself, soon to be followed by pictures of my finished pieces! I applied for and was granted funding from our Faculty Development Committee to help with my costs, so I made and brought 18 pieces along this go-round - both to make up for any thermal shock victims, and because I didn’t need to apply glaze to my obvara or honey raku ceramics so I could get more processed compared to when I need to apply 1-8 layers of glaze to each piece on-site before firing (for crackle and copper glazes or ferric chloride dips). If you’ve been following my raku workshop production, 18 is about double the number of ceramics I typically aim to bring.

Materiality Solo Show in Morningside's Eppley Art Gallery!

I’ve been fortunate enough to receive Morningside University Ver Steeg and Morningside Experience Grant funding to support my research through my summer artist residencies at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine and Phoenix Athens these past couple of years - and now, I am exhibiting that artwork (as well as artwork from my Whiterock Conservancy residency, raku workshops, and general studio practice) in a solo show on campus in Eppley Art Gallery!

I titled this show Materiality because of the wide variety of media on exhibit; for artwork in this show, I dug my own wild clays, made my own ash glazes and saggar-fired plant vines onto pottery, built substrates out of recycled wood and concrete, worked atop unusual surfaces including antique ceramic tiles and papyrus, incorporated a wide range of veterinary materials, harvested natural cave pigment, and made use of scientific processes including chromatography and frontal polymerization.

Materiality is on display August 23-October 7, 2023. It’s open to the public on weekdays during business hours, which will be 8am-5pm once we have student workers begin their shifts, but until then it’ll be 8am-4pm. The show reception will be Wednesday, September 26th from 3-4pm - I’ll give a short artist talk, we’ll serve refreshments, and the event is free and open to the public!

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Shelby Prindaville's Eppley Art Gallery Fall 2023 "Materiality" show poster.

Morningside Student Designed the New Sioux City Garden Club Logo!

Miriam Moore’s new Sioux City Garden Club logo design!

I love to partner with community organizations in art department coursework with beneficial, real-world projects. This semester, I agreed to host a design competition within our graphic design program for the Sioux City Garden Club! Their president, La Vone Sopher, reached out to me and we worked out a plan: students in Graphic Design I and II would submit logo designs, and the club would proffer a $50 first place (and use that logo) as well as a $25 second place prize.

Students in these two courses submitted 26 designs, and there were a lot of quality options for the garden club to choose from! The board winnowed it down to six, and had the club members vote to select their first and second place designs. Graphic design and history major Miriam Moore’s logo was the winner!

I like to take on these sorts of projects - even though it invariably adds to my workload - because students get to work with actual clients, the top designers receive compensation, and all students create portfolio pieces while the winner sees their work enter the community. It also raises both the winning artists’ and our art department’s visibility… particularly when we issue press releases about the successful conclusion of the partnership!

Here’s the Morningside University press release (complete with a quote from me), which was picked up by KWIT and a KTIV television interview.

I Earned Tenure at Morningside University!

I am extremely happy and honored to announce that I have earned tenure at Morningside University. I came in on a shortened tenure clock due to having already earned tenure and promotion at my previous institution, so this news comes in my third year here at Morningside University as Art Department Chair and Associate Professor of Art!

In that time - even in a pandemic - I have experienced the professionalism, academic excellence, support, and warmth of the Morningside community in an abundance of ways. I look forward to continuing my work and service as I join the ranks of the tenured Morningside faculty!

Time for a New Adventure!

I am very excited to announce that I have accepted a new position starting in the fall at Morningside College in Sioux City, IA, as Art Department Head, Director of the Helen Levitt Art Gallery, and Associate Professor of Art. Morningside is a great liberal arts college with a vibrant art community, and I am enthusiastically looking forward to this new adventure and the career progression it offers me!

Nevertheless, I have been honored to have served the University of Saint Mary as Art Program Director and Assistant Professor of Art for six years, and to have earned tenure and promotion in rank to Associate Professor just as I am departing. I will miss the many amazing faculty members, staff, students, and SCL, as well as the beautiful campus, that make USM unique. I learned a lot in my time at USM and will be leaving with a multitude of treasured memories and strong friendships.

Here’s to embracing change, opportunity, and growth!