Sheriff Joe & his deputies
An invitational show featuring past & current KU students Since 2010
Featured Artists Include:
Samantha Archer, Ami Ayars Harrington, Chris Burke, Brandi Lee Cooper, Neil Goss, Erin Gunnelson, Zach Palasz, Grace Anne Peterson, Amanda Schneider & Joseph Meinecke.
Opening Reception on First Friday, March 4th, from 6:00-10:00pm
NCECA Viewing on Friday, March 18th, from 6:00-9:00pm
Closing Reception and Beer Tasting on Saturday, March 26th, from 6:00-8:00pm
Featured Artists:
Samantha Archer was born in the Flint Hills of Kansas in 1989, and currently resides in Kansas City, KS. She studied painting, ceramics, and sculpture at the University of Kansas, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a minor in Art History in 2015. Samantha’s influences are Surrealism, Dadaism, and feminism. Her work exaggerates the objectifying and unattainable nature of mass media’s fickle standards of beauty.
Ami Ayars Harrington grew up in the suburbs of Kansas City and now lives in the East Crossroads. She received her BFA in Ceramics from the University of Kansas in 2011 and holds minors in French and Art History. She currently curates Plenum Space Gallery, and works as a Specialist for Victoria's Secret. Before, she worked at EPIC Clay Studio as their Studio Manager & Technician and was their first Artist in Residence. She has shown work at local venues as well as nationally, such as the Missoula Art Museum in Montana.
About her work she states: "I am fascinated with the exploration of the planet and what it is still hiding from us. Earth is a vast and varied place, full of wonder. We will never know the full extent of the planet and all it’s inhabitants and that idea is where my inspiration lies. My work aims to capture a sense of exploration and discovery. I make ‘creatures’ and compose their environments. I want to share these little worlds with my viewers in a way that makes them inquisitive and provokes them to create fresh, alternate realities for which these objects can exist within."
Chris Burke received his BFA with an emphasis in ceramics from the University of Kansas in 2014. He currently works at Southern Pottery Equipment and Supply in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as the sales manager. He continues his studio practice there, firing his work in wood kiln as well as experimenting at mid-fire temperatures.
His most recent work utilizes slab construction and colored slips to create sculptural pottery, with inspiration from topography and geography.
Brandi Lee Cooper was born and raised in Arizona. She comes from a pioneer ranching family, where animals and the land are at the heart of their lives and livelihoods. Due to her heritage, Brandi Lee has always had a love affair with wild creatures and untamed places. She received a BS in Zoology in 1993 from Northern Arizona University. For years, she worked as a naturalist and environmental educator. She has been an assistant at the La Meridiana International School of Ceramics in Tuscany for five years. Currently, she is a post-baccalaureate student in ceramics at the University of Kansas. Brandi Lee makes work that celebrates nature’s incredible capacity and aspires for her pieces to serve as a reminder of the importance of interconnectedness.
Neil Goss lives in Lawrence, KS where he concentrates his work around natural Earth processes while responding to human impacts upon those processes. In 2012 he received two BFA's in Design with concentrations in Textiles and Ceramics from the University of Kansas School of the Arts. Goss has focused the last 5 years of his life to researching and practicing sustainable arts processes such as natural dyeing, weaving (backstrap weaving), utilizing hand dug clay, wood-firing clay and foraging art materials. Goss has taught workshops, completed public art installations and done artist talks from coast to coast in the United States. He currently is a practicing professional artist, artist-in-residence at the Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City, MO and teaches pottery and natural dyeing at the Lawrence Arts Center.
Erin Gunnelson was born and raised in Minnesota and is currently a second year ceramic Post Baccalaureate at the University of Kansas. She received her BA from Winona State University in 2013 with an emphasis in ceramics. She was awarded Outstanding Student Majoring in Art due to her political ceramic work in her senior solo exhibition. She is fascinated by American culture and politics and uses humor to make light of the serious subject matter while provoking discomfort with the viewer. With her work she aims to advocate power and promote change and communicate her thoughts of political injustice.
Grace Anne Peterson is an active studio artist who works in a wide variety of mediums including ceramic, paper, metal casting and wood. She holds a BFA from the University of Kansas and has taught art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and at the Lawrence Art Center in Lawrence, Kansas. Her current work combines personal symbols developed since childhood to create maps that continue to reflect her understanding of interpersonal relationships, social and cultural expectations and identity.
In addition to her studio practice, Peterson currently works as the Visual Arts Coordinator for the City of Salina, Kansas where she serves as the the Visual art Director to the Smoky Hill River Festival, administrates Salina’s Public Art Program and is a resource partner to local artists.
Amanda Schneider is an artist residing in Lawrence, Kansas. Her work is presently a study of the human form and body language. Ms. Schneider received a bachelors degree in Ceramics from the University of Kansas. She has exhibited her work in group exhibitions including the 2014 Undergraduate College Student Exhibition in Kansas City, Missouri and was an Honorable Mention recipient of the Brosseau Creativity Award in 2014.
Joseph Meinecke received his MFA in Studio Art with and emphasis in Ceramics in 2009 from the University of Iowa. Now residing in Lawrence he maintains a professional practice, is an Adjunct Instructor and Studio Technician at the University of Kansas and enjoys being an educator. He likes giving away functional work to appreciative users.