The Arcade, Weybosset Street

Judd Schiffman

About the artist and the work

The most fundamental and difficult question a person can ask him or herself is “Who Am I?” It is challenging to truly know another person, and yet I think it is even more difficult to know oneself. We are all composed of a combination of culture, personality, family upbringing, past experiences, and genetics. These qualities inform the way we think about, experience and interpret the world. History can feel inescapable but how much of that history is true and if we can slip away, what are we left with? My work concentrates on the nuances of the question, “Who am I?” with a primary interest in the way that Jewish American culture constructs identity. Referring to information gathered in literature, art, film, television and history, I investigate the expressions of Jewish culture and how these values are perceived and demonstrated in society. Among other sources, my imagery is found in memories, episodes of Seinfeld and stories that my grandparents have told me and translated into pieces that appear to have been thoroughly touched. The touching is essential in delineating a reality from a memory, a stereotype from a truth. I am never searching to get it right, but am always hoping to expose another layer.

Judd's work will be on view during the NCECA conference.

"The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) is a dynamic, 501(c)3 organization that engages and sustains a community for ceramic art, teaching and learning. In addition to deepening knowledge within the field, NCECA expands it by working to cultivate the next generation of ceramic artists and enthusiasts through programing that affects professional artists, K-12 schools, community centers, universities, museums, galleries, businesses, organizations, collectors and enthusiasts of ceramic art. Currently comprised of approximately 4,000 members from the United States and more than 20 foreign countries, NCECA reaches thousands of additional individuals each year through its programs, publications, events, exhibitions and resources.

NCECA cultivates and sustains networks for reflective and creative practice through an annual conference, special interest symposia, and national and regional exhibitions. NCECA’s annual conference features dozens of presenters, demonstrations networking opportunities and exhibitions over three and a half days each spring, each year in a different US city. NCECA’s Board of Directors and special appointees review hundreds of proposals for sessions and exhibitions gathered through open calls for submissions.  Sponsored exhibitions include the NCECA Biennial, the NCECA Invitational and the National Student Juried Exhibition. In conjunction with the NCECA-sponsored exhibitions the organization also reviews, sites and promotes nearly 100 concurrent exhibitions in the host region surrounding the annual conference."

URI Providence Campus Library

In and Out of the Thickets by Liliya Krys

March 2-28 Gallery Night Reception March 19th from 5-9pm.

Now a local artists and professor of Studio Art, of her artwork and specifically the 14 works in the URI Providence Campus Library windows, Liliya Krys says:

“I spent my early youth on one of the Kuril Islands named Iturup. My town was built at the base of a sleeping volcano, with a view of the Pacific Ocean, and all the stark beauty of nature. Proximity to nature was not an occasional pleasure, but an everyday event. Often we would go into the deep wilderness just for the heck of it. I always wondered why pushing through the debris of deadfall, passing over mountain rivers, and getting stuck in the marsh excite me? The physical strain, scratches and falls, the cold, heat, and sweat, the basic fear of the unknown, and the pleasure of overcoming it taken altogether, awaken the senses. I could experience a vivid sense of place, and of being alive. Previously, I was looking for a better understanding of the human condition while working with the figure. But that understanding has manifested itself in the form of landscape. The structure of the woods, direction, and passages resound like the bone structure of the human body. I have found the connection. The still remembered wild roots of humanity reveals itself through the landscape. The insights landscape gave me, transitioned into my intimate involvement into space. This space fractures from abstract to representative, from color to being mute, from drawing to painting. My aim here is to create an intimate dialogue of my inner and outer worlds of memory and present, along with the conversation between the media of drawing and painting.”

All exhibits and events are free and open to the public.

URI Providence Campus Library Window Gallery on Washington