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THE WORLD OFFERS ITSELF
JUNE 9 - JULY 22
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This exhibition brings together the work of Michael Kline, Peregrine O'Gormley, and Barb Schwarz Karst
Each of these accomplished artists finds inspiration in the natural world, creating expressive images that are at once familiar and exotic, exuding quietude, but never without the suggestion of something wild.
The title of the show comes from the poem "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver.WARNING: Simply putting an artwork in your shopping cart does not mean it is reserved. The item is not yours until you place your order and pay for it. Another person may “scoop” your item if it sits in your shopping cart unattended.
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ARTIST BIOS
MICHAEL KLINE
Michael Kline makes utilitarian ceramics with botanical-themed painted and stamped surfaces. For most of his career, Kline has worked with wood-fired salt-glazed stoneware, usually with organic patterns painted on a thick white slip surface, glass ”runs,” and an alkaline ash glaze. In the late 1990s, he began making large pots inspired by the traditional stoneware of North Carolina’s Catawba Valley and Seagrove regions. Eight years ago he visited the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art and was struck by 15th-century examples of the Korean sanggam technique. Since then, he has focused on applying this technique to his own work, creating floral stamps and inlaying the impressions with white slip on a dark stoneware base, then firing in a gas kiln. Kline’s pots are readily identifiable by their delicate patterning, robust forms and somewhat coarse materials.
Kline began working with clay in college, and while he initially pursued a civil engineering degree, he graduated with a BFA in Ceramics. He taught at the Westside YMCA in New York before attending a Michael Simon Workshop at Penland School of Crafts. Following the workshop, he became a full time studio potter, sharing a work space with Mark Shapiro and Sam Taylor in Western Massachusetts. After an artist residency at Penland, he set up a studio in nearby Bakersville where he continues to work today. He has taught numerous workshops across the country, and was a presenter at the Utilitarian Clay Conference at Arrowmont School of Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN.
PEREGRINE O'GORMLEY
Peregrine O’Gormley grew up on 40 acres of woods and grazing land rife with wildlife in the mountains of central New Mexico. His namesake, the Peregrine Falcon, tied him to the beauty and vitality of the natural world. In addition to careful observation and reverence for nature, his father instilled in him a sincere concern for its well-being. O'Gormley earned a degree in biology from The Colorado College, and after a period of international travel, moved to Washington where he built a home overlooking Puget Sound.
O’Gormley works from his home studio, carving his original sculptures from wood and stone. Careful to avoid the harvest of living wood, he works with dead, down material. His artwork has been featured in group and solo shows across the country, including Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum (Wausau, WI), National Museum of Wildlife Art (Jackson, WY), Woolaroc Museum (Bartlesville, OK), and Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (Bainbridge Island, WA)—a 2020 solo exhibition that was covered by American Art Collector magazine.
Fine Art Connoisseur magazine selected O’Gormley for its “Up and Coming Artists” feature in 2017. He has won multiple National Sculpture Society awards including the Pat Munson Prize for Avian Sculpture (twice), and the Green- Wood Cemetery Award. In 2019, he was honored with the Southwest Art Award at the Coors Western Art Exhibit in Denver, CO.
BARB SCHWARZ KARST
The seven paintings by Barb Schwarz Karst in this exhibition are a reflection on her many encounters with Montana wildlife over the years: a cautious but calm great horned owl perched above a walking trail...a heard of bighorn sheep taking their time crossing a gravel road...a mountain lion tearing after a buck through heavy woods.... These paintings pay tribute to the animals, large and small, rare and commonplace, with which we share our chosen home. They’re in keeping with other, fully realized bodies of work by Schwarz Karst that honor the rough-and-tumble history and culture of The Treasure State. "Montana is in my blood,” says Schwarz Karst. “Having lived here my entire life, I’m truly dedicated to Big Sky Country. Through my many years of teaching art to its children and also sharing my own artistic creations, I hope to leave behind my sincere love and respect for this gutsy state."
Born and raised in Missoula, Schwarz Karst has received numerous awards and achievements throughout the years. Most recently, she has become an acclaimed three-time award recipient of the National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic at the Salmagundi Club in New York City. Prior to receiving this prestigious award, Schwarz Karst received a fellowship to study with TICA (Teacher Institute of Contemporary Art) with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Additionally, she holds an MIS Graduate Art degree from the University of Montana and a B.S. in Art Education from Montana State University-Billings. Schwarz Karst’s artworks have been featured internationally in exhibitions, museums, print publications, and collections private and public.
