Campbellsville University to display ceramics by artist Wayne Ferguson

By Joan C. McKinney | 02/19/2019

Campbellsville University to display ceramics by artist Wayne Ferguson

Campbellsville University student Whitley Howlett tours the ceramics display by artist Wayne Ferguson in The Pence-Chowning Art Gallery. The display will run through March 14. (CU Photo by Ariel C. Emberton)

By Joan C. McKinney, director, Office of University Communications

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. -  Wayne Ferguson will have a display of ceramics at Campbellsville University's The Pence-Chowning Art Gallery, 205 University Drive, Campbellsville, through March 14.

Everyone is invited to attend the exhibit.

Ferguson is a ceramics artist and social critic.

Large jars provide him a surface to draw, scraffito and paint images that comment on subjects like global warming or a potential bird flu pandemic.

Platters and vessels are a venue for a political commentary on war, violence and death.

Although he likes a good joke, Ferguson is serious when it comes to his craft. The issues of form, color, motif and function are his first priorities.

“The forms, glazes and palette do change periodically, but the method stays the same,” he said. “I am a hand builder at heart.”

Ferguson got interested in ceramics after attending a workshop at Berea College in the late 1960s.

He has received many accolades for his work as an artist and teacher, including the Al Smith Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Foundation, the Rude Osolnik Award and an Early Times Fellowship.

He was a visiting artist in Mainz, Germany during the Kuntz en der Stadt Gutenberg Celebration. He has traveled to Mata Ortiz, Mexico and worked with Juan Quezada and other accomplished artisans.

His exhibitions span over 50 years and are extensive. His most recent exhibit was a solo showing of ceramics and drawings at the Ohr Okeefe Museum in Biloxi, Miss.

For more information about the exhibit, contact Davie Reneau, associate professor of art, at dreneau@campbellsville.edu.

Campbellsville University is a widely-acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 13,000 students offering more than 90 programs of study including Ph.D., master, baccalaureate, associate, pre-professional and certification programs. The university has off-campus centers in Kentucky cities Louisville, Harrodsburg, Somerset, Hodgenville and Liberty with Kentucky instructional sites in Elizabethtown, Owensboro and Summersville. The university also has a full complement of online programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.

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