"FORMS & FIGURES" creates intergenerational space for OHIO artists

Decades of artistry and education found themselves joined together in the Ohio University Research and Technology Center for the opening of “FORMS & FIGURES: Chuck McWeeny and Brad Schwieger.” The exhibit highlights two professors emeritus who have a combined 80 years of experience teaching and creating, planting deep roots in Athens and the Bobcat community.

The exhibit, which is two concurrent displays of both Schwieger and McWeeny’s work, opened on Aug. 27, and is available to be viewed by the public until Oct. 23. Both Schwieger and McWeeny have long careers as artists and academics; Schwieger began teaching at OHIO in 1990, while McWeeny served as the Dean of the College of Fine Arts from 2006-2013. Each has had installations across the globe, from Germany to New Zealand and now, back to Athens.

During both of their tenures, OHIO’s ceramic department became a top ranked institution, reaching 5th in the country by U.S. News. The program also hosted a number of international symposia and national conferences.

Each room of the gallery is home to over a dozen works of art, with one room dedicated to McWeeny and the other dedicated to Schwieger. The rooms represent a flash point of artistic inspiration, showcasing a small glimpse into two industry-shaping oeuvres.

“All of the pieces represent a group of forms with a shared visual vocabulary,” McWeeny said in an artist statement. “The plates come from a ceramic tradition in form and are made to stand on their own and also inform the sculptural pieces. They are finished sketches or drawings.”

Each of the artists had different ideas for what work is represented in the gallery. McWeeny was primarily interested in representing the nuances of memory with physical, solid structures.

“I see the finished installation as an environment of fragments whose relationships continue to shift as the viewer moves through the space,” McWeeny said in an artist statement. “This installation is representative of the last 10 years of my practice.”

Schwieger, alternatively, found an interest in place and architecture that inspired several of the works he created that are on display.

“Like architecture, pottery deals with elements of form and structure, interior/exterior, utility or containment, surface detail and adornment,” Schwieger said in an artist statement. “I have attempted to produce work that shares the minimal and complex, the miniature and monumental, the formal elements of design, the implied and the possibility of actual function.”

For Daniel King, the school of Art + Design’s gallery director, the purpose of this show is multigenerational. Not only does the gallery have opportunities for students to gain relevant experience, but it also goes to great lengths to make sure the students in the college are engaged.

“Ultimately, we love to celebrate the faculty and the visiting artists for their hard work, but the whole point of the galleries is to engage young artists who are learning the craft and the profession,” King said. “If the young artists aren't coming out, if the students aren't coming out to either help create the event or to enjoy the event and the art and engage with the visiting artists, then we're not doing something right.”

Fortunately for art students at Ohio University, the two visiting artists are experienced in enriching the experiences of the next generation of ceramics professionals, painters and more.

“These faculty know that, but this is an academic setting, and so the primary purpose of (the gallery) is to be involved in the cohort of young artists learning their practice and their craft and their field,” King said. “With these faculty, they've been dedicated to our program for so many decades that they wouldn't expect anything else.” 

The visiting artists have a wealth of experience to pull from, and “FORMS & FIGURES” is the perfect encapsulation of the wealth present at OHIO.

“Over my career, I’ve realized that actually making work (technique) is not the biggest challenge,” Schwieger said in an artist statement. “Generating ideas that are worth researching and pursuing, however simple or complex they might be, has become the most challenging part of being an artist. I’ve been inspired by the many places, people and pottery in my life. My intention is to keep my work evolving and changing, responding to my experiences.”