The Adams State University Cloyde Snook Gallery exhibit, Propel, by local artist Sharon McCoy, displays a body of ceramic sculptures fixed on a portrayal of longing and a passionate desire to journey beyond the restrictive present. McCoy will give an artist lecture at 4 p.m. Thursday, February 19, in the Art Building room 227. An opening reception will follow the lecture until 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Propel, a solo exhibition, embodies the emotions of isolation and captivity tempered with the hope of escape. McCoy’s figures appear in a trance-like state of daydream absorbed by fanciful journeys, and are propelled into imaginative journeys as well as lives of personal completeness. The show will be displayed from February 16 through March 12.
The elongated figures in Propel are symbolic of unmet desires. The clothing varies on each sculpture to become specific with each journey. Vehicles can range from a comfy chair to a high chair or the chair can transform into a flying machine that can resemble an animal or even a moon. In addition to using clay as her primary medium, McCoy incorporates found objects and metal into many of her sculptures.
Propel is a depiction of fanciful flights taken in creatively propelled chairs and vehicles as an avenue for escape from daily entrapments. McCoy invites the viewer to take a journey with her.
The exhibition will also feature McCoy’s recent publication of her children’s book, What If? In addition, there will be a book signing as well as a reading of the book.
McCoy is a studio artist in Monte Vista, Colo. In May of 2014, she graduated with academic honors, earning an MFA in ceramics at Fort Hays State University, in Hays, Kansas. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, in art, from Adams State. She has also studied as an Artist in Residence in Shigaraki, Japan.
She has recently represented FHSU in the National Student Juried Exhibition at NCECA in Milwaukee, WI, where she was honored with the Studio Potter Merit Award.
To see more of McCoy’s work, visit Sharon McCoy.
For more information about the exhibit in the Cloyde Snook Gallery, contact the Art Department at 719-587-7823.
