SYRACUSE, NY.- The Everson Museum of Art present s today the work of Anne Cofer in an exhibition titled Anne Cofer: Concealed Objects, February 7 – April 26, 2009. Anne Cofer was the recipient of the Best-of-Show Award given at the 2008 Everson Biennial exhibition.
“By successfully using unfired clay in new and exciting ways, Cofer has transcended the boundaries of what has been acceptable in traditional ceramic practice within the academic world,” said Debora Ryan, Everson Museum of Art Senior Curator.
Anne Cofer’s interest in materials and artistic processes is evident in Concealed Objects, a provocative new site-specific installation created for her first solo museum exhibition at the Everson. Cofer creates objects that exist for a moment and place in time and are then recycled and reused for other projects. The installation designed for the Everson is composed of skirt forms constructed of cloth and wet clay suspended from the ceiling in grid fashion. The skirts, arranged in perfect harmony within the space that contains them, appear to float in contradiction to the heavy clay that pulls them downward. Each garment is cut from a Victorian-era dress pattern (ca. 1895), combined with wet clay and modeled by hand to capture every fold of the fabric as it cascades to the floor.
The repetition of form and motion recalls the monotonous tasks of domestic chores that have existed for centuries without change. Cofer assigns new meaning to the found and recycled fabrics she chooses for the garments: the bed linens, table cloths, furniture upholstery, and well-worn clothing conceal the individual histories, memories and stories untold about their previous owners.
Cofer took first prize at the 2005 National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) student exhibition for a work entitled Daily Toil, a series of 40 unfired clay slabs draped in muslin and suspended over wire similar to the current installation. Anne Cofer currently lives and works in Syracuse.
An Opening Night Lecture and Reception will be held February 6, 2009 beginning at 5:30pm. The Lecture and Reception is free for Everson Members, $10 for Non-members. From 6.00 – 8.00pm, enjoy the exhibitions over light hors d’oeuvres catered by Alto Cinco, live entertainment and a cash bar.
Anne Cofer: Concealed Objects is made possible in part by Clayscapes Pottery Incorporated.
