CLC art exhibit features works by renowned potter, Warren MacKenzie
More than 60 ceramic art pieces created by world-famous potter Warren MacKenzie will be on display at the College of Lake County Robert T. Wright Community Gallery of Art from Nov. 17, 2017 to Jan. 13, 2018. An opening reception for Daniel and Caroline Anderson's Warren MacKenzie Collection will take place from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17, and is free and open to the public with live music and refreshments.
The exhibit's pieces have been collected by the Andersons of Edwardsville, Ill. over 55 years. MacKenzie was born in 1924 and grew up in Wilmette, Ill. and attended New Trier High School in Winnetka. MacKenzie started teaching ceramics in 1952 at the University of Minnesota, where he is a Regents' professor emeritus and continues to create "everyday" pots in his rural Stillwater, Minn. studio.
The Andersons are donating their extensive collection to the CLC Gallery of Art as a legacy gift to honor the connection between the ceramics program at CLC and his Mounds anagama wood kiln in rural Edwardsville, Ill., where Daniel Anderson shares his wood kiln with the CLC ceramic faculty and students. The CLC wood firing crew has been the primary work force during the twice-a-year anagama firings over the last 10 years.
Anderson taught ceramics for 32 years at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), where he serves as emeritus professor. One of his students was Ben Bates, a CLC ceramics instructor and lab assistant. Over the years, the two ceramics programs have forged tight bonds, sharing creative expertise and equipment.
"Dan Anderson was my graduate teacher. He and I remained close after I finished at SIUE in 1998," Bates said. "I proposed the idea of bringing CLC students down to take part in firing his large 500 cubic foot anagama kiln as a sort of generational tradition, and we have been doing so twice a year since 2008. Warren MacKenzie is one of the most well-known studio pottery artists of all time and could be considered a national living treasure."
The Gallery of Art is located in the Library at the Grayslake Campus, 19351 W. Washington St. Please park in Lot 1 on the north side of campus and enter through the Technology Building entrance (T1). For more information, call the Communication Arts, Humanities and Fine Arts division at (847) 543-2040 or visit http://gallery.clcillinois.edu/.
Gallery hours: Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; closed Sundays. Hours vary during college breaks and between semesters. For information on the exhibit, call (847) 543-2040.