“Rosa’s Squirrel” by Aaron Calvert, 13x8x9 in., stoneware clay, underglaze, enamel, 2018.
ARTIST BIO:
Aaron Calvert holds a BFA from Kent State University and an MFA in ceramics from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. He is a professor of art at Henderson State University.
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT:
From the Historic Arkansas Museum:
The phrase “gone to seed” usually implies that something is past its prime: commercial agriculture deems flawed fruit and vegetables useless, no longer profitable or spoiled. With this in mind, “Gone to Seed” may seem like a strange exhibit title. Susan Chambers portrays every plant in orderly perfection, and Aaron Calvert forms each wild animal sculpture with intention and care. But beneath the thrilling flash of saturated colors and ornate surface designs, you will discover thoughtful consideration of our complex connection to plants, animals and other living creatures.
Both artists are curious observers, and their art practices are deeply rooted in positive, life-affirming relationships with the outdoors. They investigate the hybrid environment we all inhabit: an overlapping patchwork of manicured lawns and uncultivated terrain, simultaneously subdued and untamed. The subjects of Susan and Aaron’s artworks — the quiet gardener with her native plants — the hollow gaze of a squirrel or raccoon caught up in human chaos — subtly communicate our profound entanglement with the natural world, and the importance of (at least occasionally) relinquishing control and allowing things to go to seed. Flawless flowers inevitably shatter and wilt; unblemished fruit eventually shrivels and rots; but seeds always emerge as a promise of continuity and renewal.
See more of Calvert’s work in the “Gone to Seed” exhibit on display at the Trinity Gallery in the Historic Arkansas Museum through Aug. 22.