MOUNT VERNON -- Wood-fired ceramic works by five Cornell College alumni will be featured in an exhibit, "Cornell Alumni Woodfire," Sept. 12 through Nov. 7 in the Peter Paul Luce Gallery of McWethy Hall on campus.
An artists' reception will be held in the gallery Sept. 18 from 4 to 6 p.m., in conjunction with the International Woodfire Conference at Coe College, which is organized by Cornell graduate Gary Hootman from Sept. 15 to 18. A second reception will be held in the gallery during Cornell's homecoming, Oct. 9 from 3 to 5 p.m.
The Peter Paul Luce Gallery is free and open to the public. Regular hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Besides Hootman, a 1986 Cornell graduate, other alumni exhibiting functional and sculptural works are Leila Denecke (1972), Barbara Reinhart (1976), Takusuke Kawasaki (1992) and Joe Cole (2000).
Hootman earned master's degrees in ceramics from the University of Iowa and has a studio in Swisher. He works exclusively in stoneware, with forms that range from delicate tea bowls to large outdoor sculptures. He has exhibited in Australia, South Korea and Japan and throughout the United States.
Denecke has earned a number of honors, including a 1984 Rotary Foundation International Fellowship to study at the Tekisui Museum of Art, Ceramic Art Research Institute, in Ashiya, Japan; a 1991 commission to design a monument for a new municipal library in Ibaraki City, Japan; a McKnight Foundation Residency grant in 1998; a 2001 Artist-In-Residence award in Seto, Aichi-ken, Japan; and a 2004 McKnight Artist Fellowship. A former pottery instructor at the Minneapolis Museum of Art, she lives in Minnesota.
Reinhart has exhibited her work throughout the Midwest and in New Mexico, most recently in a two-person show at Minneapolis' Northern Clay Center and a solo exhibit at the DeLuce Gallery of Northwest Missouri State University. She has earned the Frederick Layton Fellowship Award and the Frederick Layton Special Achievement Award, plus a Travel Fund Grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board. She is an assistant professor of art at the University of Wisconsin in Waukesha.
Kawasaki holds a master's degree from the University of Iowa. He has worked closely with his father, Chitaro Kawasaki, chair of the ceramics department at Kyoto Seika University in Kyoto, Japan, and the venerated Japanese potter Shiho Kanzaki. Kawasaki has a studio in Shigaraki, one of the oldest pottery centers in Japan.
Cole spent two years as apprentice for Mark Hewitt in Pittsboro, N.C., and then helped construct a pottery and kiln with another former Hewitt apprentice. Cole lives in Seagrove, N.C., where he makes pots for various area potteries.
