McHenry County College (MCC) is currently hosting two unique art exhibits in Galleries One and Two and the Epping Gallery respectively.
On display through October 30 in Galleries One and Two, located inside and outside the Learning Commons, is the Clayworkers' Guild Annual Members Show.
Since 1979, The Clayworkers’ Guild has been an organization of artists who use clay as an expressive medium. Members strive to aid, encourage, advise, and work together to support each other’s endeavors. In 2022, the Guild expanded its presence by opening Artisans on Main in Woodstock, IL. The storefront showcases members’ pottery and ceramics for sale and serves as a teaching space for handbuilding, wheel-throwing classes, and special events.
This year’s judge is Sonya Baysinger, who has served as the Executive Director of the Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park for the past 11 years. She earned her Master of Arts from Washington State University and her Master of Fine Arts from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She is a working artist and Instructor of Art at McHenry County College and Columbia School of Art, Chicago. Her sculptures, jewelry, drawings, and paintings have been exhibited nationally and internationally.
There will be an artist reception with the Guild on Monday, October 5 from 6 – 8 p.m. in the MCC Conference Center (A211). Awards will be presented at 6:45 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
For more information about the Guild, visit their Instagram @clayworkersguildofil or find them on Facebook www.facebook.com/clayworkersguildofillinois.
On display in the Epping Gallery through October 30 will be Young Hands, Ancient Lands by Eric Breitenbach. The Epping Gallery is located on the lower level of Building B, across from the MCC Store.
Young Hands, Ancient Lands brings together two bodies of photographic work that explore the powerful relationships between humans, animals, and the natural world.
Young Hands began with an interest in the relationship between humans and non-human animals, inspired by Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation. Photographs made at the Volusia County Fair in Deland, Florida, document young people ages five through nineteen as they care for farm animals in the days leading up to the Fair’s agricultural exposition. The work captures the tenderness and seriousness of these relationships alongside the difficult reality of the animals’ ultimate fate.
Ancient Lands grew from an encounter with the mountains of Utah’s Wasatch Range. After first experiencing Alta as a skier, the surrounding Salt Lake region became increasingly compelling: a lowland surrounded by enormous mountains whose presence profoundly affected those who lived and traveled among them.
Eric Breitenbach has been a still photographer for more than 40 years and a filmmaker for more than 25. His photographs have appeared in such publications as The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, and Details. They are in the permanent collections of the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies, The Carpenter Center at Harvard University, and The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Since 1989, he has produced documentaries for National Geographic Explorer, The Sundance Channel, The Sci-Fi Channel, and National Public Television. He is a Professor Emeritus at Daytona State College and lives in Crystal Lake, Illinois, with his spouse. For more about Eric, visit www.ericjohnbreitenbach.com.
For more information about the art galleries at MCC, to request pricing, or to be added to the mailing list for upcoming exhibitions, please contact Trevor Power, Art Gallery Curator, at tpower@mchenry.edu.
