Students nationwide create for annual Paper and Clay Exhibition
The seventh annual Paper and Clay Exhibition opened on Feb. 5 and will go through March 1. This exhibition takes submissions from all over the country to showcase in Utah State University’s Tippetts and Eccles art galleries.
Maddie McHugh; senior in fine arts with an emphasis in ceramics, is a student at the University of Mississippi who said she was happy to find out about the exhibition from two of her professors.
According to McHugh, the combination of paper and clay was an interesting idea she hadn’t seen before.
“I really wanted to try and submit a piece of work to the Paper and Clay show because I really like focusing on incorporating my wheel-thrown pottery and also printmaking techniques,” McHugh said. “It’s a perfect in-between of the two.”
McHugh’s ceramic piece, called “Enjoy it!” is inspired by her days serving as a waitress in New York. She said she now enjoys serving through her art, not in a restaurant.
“I realized that functional pottery wasn’t what was communicating my message about my experiences in a restaurant,” McHugh said. “So I decided to make functional poetry and then eventually break it.”
Collagraph art piece titled, “No Longer Available,” by Samantha Snyder of Brigham Young University on display in the Tippetts and Eccles Gallery on Feb. 20.
McHugh added in the printmaking techniques to convey the stress of working in the restaurant business.
“This just solidified my meaning and my intention with my work,” McHugh said.
Sarah Miller, first-year graduate student in the Louisiana State University ceramics department, heard about the exhibition from another graduate student.
Miller’s piece, called “Home Team,” explores the complicated relationship with her family in baseball.
“Sports has been a big deal for my family, and it’s not something I’ve always gotten necessarily,” Miller said. “Baseball has been a kind of touchstone and misconnection point for a lot of the interpersonal relationships.”
Miller’s piece is also made of clay, which she said is one of her favorite mediums to use when exploring memories.
“Clay is going to hold every single fingerprint that you put into it,” Miller said. “It’s me trying to figure out how I can connect with my family over one of the few ways they know how to connect with people.”
McHugh had a background heavily influenced by sports as well. She decided against getting a studio art degree her first time through school because of athletics.
“I had an athletic scholarship to run cross-country and track,” McHugh said. “I traveled so much with athletics, and the time it took for practices, I would have not been able to really learn my craft and do art justice.”
However, McHugh eventually stopped doing sports and decided her art history degree wasn’t enough. This is what prompted her to go back to school and pursue a degree in fine arts.
McHugh said her degree in art history has been helpful as she continues making pieces.
“I always appreciate the history of it,” McHugh said. “Learning from the other greats who have made work that has influenced me so much is so important.”
According to Miller, art can be a form of communication, and it’s one she tries to harness in her work.
“Art has always been a great way to have conversations with others when words fail,” Miller said. “I believe nothing else can as it can provide such a fantastic kind of intimate impact for the viewer.”
Miller said the impact of art is especially apparent in academic institutions.
“It can communicate research or personal experience,” Miller said. “It can build bridges where you wouldn’t think there would be.”
Porcelain art piece titled, “Spoon Me,” by Henry Evan Thomas of Georgia State University on display in the Tippetts and Eccles Gallery on Feb. 20.
McHugh said art has been incredibly important in her life, especially in her collegiate experience.
“Art to me is everything about not only producing work that is so influential to you but also something that resonates with the people who will look at it,” McHugh said.
The exhibition is currently being judged to determine the winners, who receive monetary prizes of $500, $300 and $200 for first, second and third places.
The winners will be announced at the reception on Feb. 29. The exhibition is free to attend throughout the month.
For more information on the paper and clay exhibition, visit cca.usu.edu/art/events/paper-and-clay.
“More work always needs to be produced because there’s always something to talk about,” McHugh said. “It’s all very interconnected.”