J. R. Kortman Center for Design / Kortman Gallery

Thank you all for making this such a great holiday season for all of us here @ J. R. Kortman Center for Design! Wishing you a very happy and prosperous New Year!

 

   
          Plates are not only functional, but they have provided a medium for the decorative arts for thousands of years. They can be made from a myriad of materials, come in various shapes and sizes, and be passed on from one generation to the other. They serve as a conveyance for one of our most basic needs...food, yet they can be commemorative, collectible souvenirs, that celebrate places, people, and life events.
    The Kortman Gallery celebrates the plate as art in a holiday group exhibition featuring 40 artists who have created works of art on or about the plate. The show, titled “Plat du Jour: Art” presents plates and images of plates in a diverse range of artists and media, including painting, drawing, digital imagery, ceramics, and sculpture.
    “Souvenir and decorative plates have been around for a long time and collecting them was very popular in the 1950’s and 60’s,” says Doc Slafkosky, Kortman Gallery director. “That plate collecting trend is back, and taken on a more sophisticated flavor with more galleries and museums offering artist designed plates. We thought it would be great to see what some of Rockford’s most notable and prolific artists would create if inspired by this plate concept.”
    See what plate themed works created by 40  artists have created for this holiday group exhibit, “Plat du Jour: Art” which opens Friday, November 20th from 5:30 to 10pm in the Kortman Gallery located upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street in Downtown Rockford. It will be on display Monday through Saturday 10am to 6pm and Sundays (in December) noon to 5pm. The show runs through December 31st.
    Exhibiting artists include: Zoa Ace, Michelle Dorr, John Deill, Kyle Wolfe,  Becky Pelley, Brian Hierstein, Joanne Gustafson,  Sarah Danielle Stewart,  Johnathan Kuss, Paul Pinzarrone, Drew Helge, Norm Knott, Margret Hesler-Hynes, Javier Jimenez, R. Scott Long, Betsy Youngquist, Joseph Goral,Lisa Jimenez,Lynn Fischer Carlson, Dave Menard, Jesus Correa, Molly Carter, Pam Kehoe-Peterson, Sarah Reed-McNamara, Valerie Olafson, Karen Harding, Cherri Rittenhouse, Jarrod Hennis, Britney Lindgren, Michael Bugler, Leslie Arbetman,Matt Vincent, Jeremy Klonicki, Louis Recchia,  Jeanne Ludeke, Barry Treu, Michelle Dal Pra,  Stephen Warde Anderson, and Ellie Pinzarrone.
    .For more information call 815-968-0123 or visit www.jrkortman.com.

First Friday, November 6th, Denise Glasenapp, Leah Budde, Nancy Froelich, Dana Glasenapp, & artist Lynn Fischer-Carlson will be modeling selections from the the J. R. Kortman Holiday Jewelry Collection. We have just returned from the Pearl & Jewelry markets in Shanghai and Beijing with new and exciting designs for you to see! Relax upstairs in the Kortman Gallery over a refreshing beverage served up by ace mixologist Dennis Horton while our beautiful models show off some of our newest and classic jewelry.

    When you hear the term pottery, the first images that come to mind are earth-toned vessels of functional shapes and sizes. However, Rockford ceramic artist and professor Lynn Fischer-Carlson takes you to a different visual realm with her clay works. They are narrative sculptures, portraits in clay that generate individual personalities that are colorful, quirky, humorous, and can even be disturbing.
    Fischer-Carlson’s exhibition “Disguised: Portraits in Clay" opens Fall ArtScene, Friday & Saturday October 2nd and 3rd, in the Kortman Gallery.
    “The ceramic heads in this Kortman exhibit deal with my observations of absurd human behaviors, awkward experiences and complicated relationships,” says Fisher-Carlson. “Often poignant, maybe disturbing or disguised, and definitely with double meanings, these ceramic sculptures have become explorations about people and their odd ways. The human experience always guarantees a full spectrum of situations and interactions.”
    Fischer-Carlson’s heads are stylized, simplified forms. She hand builds these sculptures using coils of clay, pinching and compressing them together. She then adds bits of clay to provide facial expressions and other attributes, including texture and color, which adds another layer of emotion, energy or reaction.
    Fischer-Carlson is a professor in the art department at Rock Valley College. She has a BFA from Illinois State University and earned her Masters of Fine Arts from NIU, both degrees in ceramics with an emphasis in art history.  She started and designed the ceramic art program at RVC. Throughout her 16 years at RVC she has been able to bring many aspects of art and culture to our community through teaching ceramics, providing lectures to various community groups and as a working artist.
    The Kortman Gallery exhibit “Disguised: Portraits in Clay” by Lynn Fischer-Carlson will open in conjunction with Fall ArtScene, Friday October 2nd, 5 to 10pm and Saturday, October 3rd, 3p to 9pm. It will be on display through November 14th.    Kortman Gallery is located upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street in Downtown Rockford. For more information call 815-968-0123 or visit www.jrkortman.com.