ROCK SPRINGS — The WWCC Art Gallery at Western Wyoming Community College will host a ceramic exhibit, titled “Thicket,” by Cheyenne ceramicist and Laramie County Community College Instructor of Art, Matt West, MFA, at the Rock Springs campus from Wednesday, Aug. 24, through Thursday, Sept. 29. West’s work features elaborate ceramic teapots and other vessels that, in the artist’s words, “celebrate the breath of human experience.”
West will host a Gallery Talk on Thursday, Sept. 29, at 12:30 pm. This event is free and open to the public.
“At its center, pottery nourishes human sustenance while celebrating human spirituality,” Wests says in his Artist’s Statement. “It is no surprise that pottery speaks volumes about the human experience. Of all pottery vessels to speak humanness, I find the teapot accessible as an aesthetic, sculptural form.
“I aspire to craft my teapots with an invitation to touch, for human contact, for something to hold on to, for contemplation, as well as celebration,” he says. “I search out contrasts in viewpoints of human qualities: hard to hold versus comforting; aggressive versus serene; intimate versus elusive. My teapots speak of challenges, duality, tension, and uncertainty, as does life itself.”
WWCC Gallery Director and Professor of Art Florence McEwin, Ph.D., described West’s work as “exuberant, functional, and expressive in any one piece.”
West earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Ceramics and Ceramic Sculpture from the Rochester Institute of Technology’s School for American Crafts in Rochester, N.Y. He earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He has conducted study and research in Tuscany, Italy and has been a recipient of the Wyoming Arts Council’s Individual Artist Grant.
West’s work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the Rocky Mountain region. He has taught at LCCC since 1988.
This and all WWCC Gallery exhibits are free and open to the community. For more information, contact Professor of Art Florence McEwin at fmcewin@westernwyoming.edu.
