Exhibition Title: atween: Grant Benoit and Mary Cale Wilson
Dates: March 9 – April 10, 2022
(IRVING, Texas) — Beatrice M. Haggerty Gallery at The University of Dallas is pleased to present the exhibition: atween: Grant Benoit and Mary Cale Wilson
Grant Benoit and Mary Cale Wilson discovered their similar aesthetic and thematic interests while sharing a meal at Penland School of Crafts in 2017. Formally trained in printmaking and ceramics, they combine traditional methods with mixed media (tarpaper, carpet, found domestic objects…) to create works that explore ideas of identity, memory, culture, and place. Though not a collaboration in the purest sense of the word, the work presented stems from Benoit and Wilson’s conversations about their shared interest in memory, nostalgia, object permanence, and place. Presented in the gallery, their artwork is a manifestation of those conversations and invites viewers to contemplate their own relationship to spaces, places, and things.
Benoit uses printmaking to create sculptures, installations and artist books. The prints–dissected and reconfigured, layered onto objects, or installed directly into the structure of the gallery–explore one’s relationship to the past. Using the multiple and layering techniques, he creates sculpture and installation focusing on the mechanisms of memory. “By transforming objects handled daily, internal instances of memory are explained in terms of the everyday, the physical. Through language and common visual elements, I challenge the language of science to explain the stirrings of memory.”
Wilson’s work explores domestic objects and the spaces they occupy. Her sculptures are made from parts cast from hobby molds and other household objects. These parts are assembled together into pieces that are based on historical, highly-decorative functional ceramic objects such as Dutch tulipieres and German porcelain and reference decorative objects such as chandeliers and rugs. Memory also plays an important role in Wilson’s work. “When creating these forms, I assemble parts to create a new something with a new context that is seemingly traveling through time, pulling from various decades and memories.”
Grant Benoit holds a Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL and a Bachelor of Art in Studio Arts in Printmaking and Ceramics from Spring Hill College in Mobile, AL. Benoit is an active contributor in the dialogue on contemporary print and craft, presenting most recently at the Southern Graphics International Conference, as well as speaking at The University of Missouri, Morehead State University, and Western Carolina University on his practice. He exhibits both nationally and internationally, most recently having solo exhibitions at Tennessee Tech University, DEMO Project in Springfield, IL,Good Children Gallery in New Orleans, LA and Eichold Gallery in Mobile, AL. Benoit is a former Artist-in-Residence at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN and is currently the Director of Education and Artist in Residencies at Craft Alliance in St.Louis, MO.
Mary Cale Wilson was born in Fairhope, Alabama and grew up in a rural community outside of Savannah, Georgia. Mary Cale received dual BFAs in Ceramics and Art Education from the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia and an MFA in Ceramics from San Diego State University. In 2019, she was named Emerging Artist by Ceramics Monthly. She has completed residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, Montana where she was a Windgate Scholar, and a winter residency at Penland School of Crafts. She has exhibited nationally at venues such as the Clay Studio of Philadelphia, the American Museum of Ceramic Art, and the Museum at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. Mary Cale was most recently curated into the 76th Scripps Ceramics Annual and the 2020 NCECA Annual “The Burdens of History.” Mary Cale currently lives in San Diego, California and is a Lecturer in the School of Art + Design at San Diego State University where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Ceramics.
Visit www.udallas.edu/gallery for more information.
About the Beatrice M. Haggerty Gallery: The Beatrice M. Haggerty Gallery is located in the Art History Building at the corner of Gorman Drive and Novinski Circle on the University of Dallas campus at 1845 E. Northgate Drive in Irving. The gallery, which is part of the university’s Haggerty Art Village, is free and open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 to 5 p.m. For more gallery information or for current COVID policies and procedures visit: udallas.edu/gallery or call 972-721-5087.
About the University of Dallas: The University of Dallas, located in a metropolitan area of nearly 7 million people, is a leading Catholic university widely recognized for academic excellence by well-known publications, organizations, and accrediting bodies. It offers distinctive undergraduate and graduate programs in the liberal arts, business, and ministry that are characterized by academic rigor, an exceptional faculty, and a commitment to shaping principled leaders in the Catholic intellectual tradition. For more information, visit udallas.edu
