APRIL 2010 - Projects Gallery is pleased to present To Die For from April 2 - May 1, 2010. The exhibition will take place at Projects Gallery 629 N 2nd St. An Opening Reception will be held on April 2nd, 2010, 6-9 P.M. The public is cordially invited to attend.

To Die For is one of 95 exhibitions that are part of INDEPENDENCE: The 44th Annual National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) conference taking place in Philadelphia from March 31 – April 3, 2010. The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA is serving as the onsite liaison and organizing body of the exhibitions program. For a complete list of programmed exhibitions, visit: http://www.theclaystudio.org/events/nceca/exhibitions.php.

Whether in effigy pots, vase paintings, or offerings to the dead, ceramics has always been a significant material in the world of the rituals of death, spirituality, and transformation. Dealing with the nature of mortality, issues of loss, hosts, ghosts, surrounding fears, and the meaning of life or afterlife, To Die For is co-curated by Judith Schwartz and Jack Thompson. Invited artists include: Mark Burns, Richard Cleaver, John De Fazio, David Furman, Peter Gourfain, Kathy King, Charles Kraft, Matt Nolen, Mel Rubin, Richard Shaw, Ehren Too, and Monica Van den Dool.

To Die For is one of four different groups of exhibitions developed for the conference, entitled From the Community (the other groups being NCECA exhibitions, The Clay Studio exhibitions, and Concurrent Independent Exhibitions.) From the Community is a group of exhibitions developed in support of the 44th NCECA Conference by individual artists, groups of artists, commercial galleries, non-profit and alternative spaces, colleges and universities. The exhibitions celebrate the work of professionals, aspiring professionals, and students.

APRIL 2010 - Projects Gallery is pleased to present Jack Thompson in his second solo exhibition at the gallery of his evocative painted ceramics.  Entitled “Re-Visionary Mythology”, on display will be works from the artist’s zodiac series as well as other works of hybrid origin and meaning in a site-specific installation. Ceramicist Jack Thompson is well known for his personal interpretation of imagery that spans cultures and religions, searching for universal expressions of the corporal and spiritual. Melding the symbols from disparate cultures, Thompson’s creations tap into the collective unconscious.

According to Glen R. Brown, Thompson “found credibility in the assertion that archetypes have exerted a clandestine influence over the content of art and myth across the centuries and around the world. Consequently, his research interests have included everything from the Egyptian Book of the Dead to the Mayan Popl Vuh, and he has traveled the globe in search of symbols that might indicate, through their curious parallels, a shared origin in the recesses of the human mind. For Thompson, ensconced within the stuff of myth lies powerful evidence that humanity possesses a common psychological core and therefore a basis for deeply meaningful communication, despite the bewildering disparities that exist on the surface between cultures”

Thompson received his M.F.A. from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and has exhibited throughout the U.S., Canada, England, and Mexico, where he was a Fulbright Scholar.  He has executed many large-scale commission/installation projects, most notably Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas and Fairmount Park and Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia.  His work has been featured in twenty publications discussing the techniques of ceramic and clay sculpture. Re-Visionary Mythology will be on display March 31 – May 1, 2010. There will also be an artist reception First Friday April 2nd from 6 - 9 p.m.

MAY - 2010 Susan Howard "Tipping Point" May 2 - 29, 2010.

Opening reception Sunday May 2nd, from 1-3 p.m.

Information coming soon.