Minah Kim (South Korea) & Mackenzie McDonald (USA) will present the work created during their residency at CRETA Rome.
South Korean artist Minah Kim presents the way to remember your memory. for her, "clay is a material that embodies both private and collective memories; transforming information of the past into the tangible present. As a transnational being, the psychological backdrop of my work relates to my understanding of the ecology of different communities, drawing links and connectivity between them; through gesture, fear, and desire. This particular work, ‘the way of remembering your memory,’ is a re-description of the Gwangju democratic movement in 1980 South Korea during which my parents lived in their early 20s. Remembering their history is absurd because I didn’t exist there. Borrowing images of the sky, fumes, and crowds of the 1980 uprising, my work renders the fear and desire of physical particles which resonate with me.
BIO
Minah Kim is a Korean artist living and working in Philadelphia, US. She has shown her works internationally and nationally, including Plug Gallery (KS, US), Site:Brooklyn (NY, US), District Clay Gallery (DC, US), Asia Contemporary Ceramic Art Academy (Hangzhou, China), Taoxichuan Art Fair (Jingdezhen, China), Frankfurt Herbstmesse (Frankfurt, Germany), Seoul Art Museum and Gyeomjae Jungsun Museum (Seoul, South Korea), and Gimhae Clayarc Museum (Gimhae, South Korea). She earned her B.F.A and M.F.A. in Fine Arts and Ceramic Arts at the Ewha Womans University, and an M.F.A. at the University of Arkansas in Ceramic Arts. She completed residences at MASS MoCA (MA, US) and more. Currently, Minah Kim is a resident artist at c.r.e.t.a. Rome (Rome, Italy) and The Clay Studio (PA, US).
Mackenzie McDonald has titled the exhibition Fruttiera. "Fruttiera is a collection of works inspired by the omnipresent citrus trees and fruit stands that grace the streets and palazzos of Rome. Architectural ornamentation, fragments of antiquity, and votive figurines are evocative of the rich history of the city and its material culture. The work and color palette of the Della Robbia studio is of significant influence. Succulent surfaces and the glistening of glaze beckon the viewer to step closer. Together the collection creates a space reminiscent of decorative arts references and the classical still life, a celebration of color and form."
BIO
Mackenzie McDonald is an American ceramic sculptor. She graduated from Alfred University in May 2022 with a BFA and a minor in Art History. She was an assistant at the 2022 and 2019 Women Working With Clay Symposium in Roanoke, VA. In 2019 Mackenzie received the William Lee Scholarship from Trendspot Inc. The same year she was awarded the Dr. Judith Temple Scholarship from Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts. In 2019 Mackenzie worked as a Design intern at the Cohen Gallery and as the Student Assistant to Curator of Collections at the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum where she continued to work until graduating. In 2020 she was a research intern at Ferrin Contemporary and a resident artist at Project Art in Cummington, MA. In 2021 Mackenzie was included in the NCECA Juried Student Exhibition and awarded Third Place Undergraduate Award of Excellence. Mackenzie had her first solo exhibition, Sunny Side Up, in 2021 at the Robert C. Turner Gallery. In 2022 she showed her work at NCECA in Sacramento with the Virtual Clay Collective. She was awarded Best in Show for her BFA Thesis Exhibition Garden Variety.
