Risa Hirsch Ehrlich – Artist Vitae

ph. 212.740.2136 | email: risa@risaclayart.com | www.risaclayart.com

Stoneware, Porcelain and Raku Ceramic Artist

ARTIST STATEMENT:

“Ceramics is a fragile medium. I like its accidents. I invite them. I invite randomness and even breakage — then use these elements to structure the drama. The work I love best plays with themes of secretiveness and slyness. I like little caves, dark holes, false leads, raggedy edges, unfinished corners, visible tearings and visible mendings, unexpected and unpredictable effects. I like clay behaving like clay but sometimes like cloth. I like clay beginning frail and ending powerful. I like challenging clay to be beautiful despite my efforts to disdain beauty. The dialectic is to turn destruction upon itself and thence into art.”

AWARDS & HONORS

2009 Juror (sculpture and crafts), Bronx Council on the Arts
2009 Individual Artist’s Grant, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance
[supported by JPMorgan Chase Foundation and the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone]
2007 Gallery OSA Collection, Our Savior’s Atonement Lutheran Church, New York, NY
2007 Honorable Mention, 5th Annual Visual Arts Exhibition, Lehman College, Bronx, NY
2006 Artist-in Residence, Lookout Point Sculpture Park, Damascus, PA
2005 Artist-in-Residence, Lookout Point Sculpture Park, Damascus, PA.
2001 1st Place, Ceramics, 12th Annual NJ Small Works Show, OCCC, Demarest, NJ
2001 Scholarship, Old Church Cultural Center, Demarest, NJ.

TALKS AND SLIDE PRESENTATIONS

NoMAA Awards Grantee Roundtable (slide show and talk), NYC, 2009
University of Maine at Presque Isle, ME, Gallery Talk, 2008
A.T.O.A. (Artists Talk on Art), NYC, 2002, 2001
Makor Cultural Center, NYC, 2001, 2000

SOLO/DUAL ARTIST EXHIBITIONS

2008 University of Maine, Presque Isle, ME — Consider a Moment of Stillness, *solo exhibit
2005 Cornerstone Center, NYC — Mostly Reliefs *solo exhibit
2005 Studio-Gallery 88, NYC — Vessels and Reliefs *solo exhibit
2005 Ceramics at Suhae Gallery, Ft. Lee, NJ — In Contemplation
2004 MMC Gallery, Marymount Manhattan, NYC — L x W x H + Texture
2002 Mo-Tien Studio, Dobbs Ferry, NYC
2001 Elkoff Studio, with Clara Elkoff, NYC — Two in Clay
2000 Ort Studio, with Alena Ort, NYC — Current & Recent

GROUP SHOWS & GALLERIES

2009

NoMAA Grantees Exhibition, NYC
Ba’hai Community Gallery, Queens, NY
Psychological Interiors, Lehman College, NYC
HVG 11th Annual, NYC
Riverside Inwood RING Show 2009, NYC
20th Annual New Jersey Small Works Show, The Art School Old Church, Demarest, NJ

2008

Below 220 Art Show, Hudson View Gardens, NYC
HVG 10th Annual Art Show, Hudson View Gardens, NYC

2007

Utowa Gallery, NYC
Gallery OSA Group Show, NYC
Below 220, NYC
HVG 9th Annual Art Show, Hudson View Gardens, NYC
Riverside Inwood Ring Show 2007, NYC
5th Annual Visual Arts Exhibition, Lehman College, Bronx, NY
18th Annual New Jersey Small Works Show, The Art School at Old Church, Demarest, NJ

2006

Riverside Inwood Ring Show 2006, NYC
4th Annual Visual Arts Exhibition, Lehman College, Bronx, NY
River View Gallery Annual, NYC
Cathedral Arts Festival 2006, Jersey City, NJ
Utowa, NYC
Tokyo-New York Ceramics Competition, Nippon Gallery, NYC
HVG 8th Annual Art Show, Hudson View Gardens, NYC

2005

Suhae Gallery, Ft. Lee, NJ — Traditional/Contemporary- Korea/USA
The Art of Anagama, Delaware Valley Artists Alliance, Narrowsburg, NY
Tokyo-New York Ceramics Competition, Tokyo, Japan
16th Annual New Jersey Small Works Show, Old Church Cultural Center, Demarest, NJ
Cathedral Arts Festival 2005, Jersey City, NJ
Chameleon Gallery, Cazenovia, NY
Lehman College, Bronx, NY
River View Gallery, NYC
HVG 7th Annual Art Show, Hudson View Gardens, NYC
Catskill Art Society Clay Crafts Show, Hurley, NY
16th Annual New Jersey Small Works Show, Old Church Cultural Center, Demarest, NJ
Work-in-the-Barn, Lookout Point Sculpture Park, Damascus, PA

2004

Utowa, NYC
Macy Gallery, Columbia University, NYC
Tokyo-New York Ceramics Competition, Nippon Gallery, NYC
Cathedral Arts Festival 2004, Jersey City, NJ
j.b.spoke Gallery, Huntington, NY
Chameleon Gallery, Cazenovia, NY
Casa Hispaniola, NYC
15th Annual New Jersey Small Works Show, Old Church Cultural Center, Demarest, NJ
River View Gallery, NYC
HVG 6th Annual Art Show, Hudson View Gardens, NYC

2003

Cultural Narratives, Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA
Paterno Trivium, NYC
CMPS Annual, NYC
14th Annual New Jersey Small Works Show, Old Church Cultural Center, Demarest, NJ
Small Works Invitational, New Arts Program, Kutztown, PA
Cathedral Arts Festival 2003, Jersey City, NJ
Tokyo-New York Ceramics Competition, Nippon Gallery, NYC
j.b.spoke Gallery, Huntington, NY
Casa Hispaniola, NYC
Macy Gallery, NYC
River View Gallery, NYC
HVG 5th Annual Art Show, Hudson View Gardens, NYC

2002

Riverside Inwood RING Show 2002, NYC
Plates ’02, Riverside Community College, Riverside, CA
13th Annual New Jersey Small Works Show, Old Church Cultural Center, Demarest, NJ
Tabletop 2002, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY
Art-in-the-Park, Strauss Park, NYC
Cathedral Arts Festival 2002, Jersey City, NJ
George Washington Bridge Space (GWB), NYC
j.b.spoke Gallery, Huntington, NY
River View Gallery, NYC
Mo-Tien Studio, Dobbs Ferry, NY (solo show)

2001

Ute Stebisch Gallery, Lenox, MA
Vase National, Peck Gallery, Providence, RI
12th Annual New Jersey Small Works Show, Old Church Cultural Center, Demarest, NJ
The Neighborhood Gallery, Washington Heights Library, NYC
Riverside Inwood RING Show 2001, NYC
HVG Arts Group, NYC
Elkoff Studio, with Clara Elkoff, NYC