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    Columbus Makes Art Presents: Artists Heather Kaplan’s and Ryan W. Kelly’s Ceramics

    Heather Kaplan and Ryan W. Kelly have exhibitions at ROY G BIV Gallery this month. While their work is grounded in ceramics, it includes performative and installation elements. Ahead of their artists’ talk on Saturday, June 25 at 2:30 p.m., I spoke with both artists about their practices and bodies of work.

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    Ken Aschliman: How would you describe your work?
    Heather Kaplan: Your grandma’s tchotchkes on crack. There’s clearly a weird collector-y feeling but it also has a dreamlikeness or playpark quality. It’s got a lot of that mash-up of toys thing. It’s like a cross between your grandma’s imagination of tchotchkes and all the My Little Ponies I played with as a kid.

    KA: What do you want people to get from your artwork?
    HK: I’m hoping to convey some kind of playfulness or lightheartedness, a sense of imagination. It sort of speaks of landscapes or surrealism. For me that transports me to a play-like state or different worlds.

    KA: What’s the most common question people ask you about their work?
    HK: I think people struggle with the unsettled groupings. People think I should tell them how the work should be shown or put together. There’s a lot of me already in this work, in the choices that I do make, but I’m also okay with others curating the work and moving it around and discovering what they can make with it.

    KA: If you could have dinner with anyone (dead or alive), who would you choose and why?
    HK: I’d pick Bill Murray. I really feel like dinner with Bill Murray would be awesome because there’s something about me that wants to do fun things, that thinks it’s okay to be playful and enjoyable and really like to laugh.

    See Heather Kaplan's work at Roy G Biv Gallery through June 25. Photo courtesy Roy G Biv.
    See Heather Kaplan’s work at Roy G Biv Gallery through June 25. Photo courtesy Roy G Biv.

    Ken Aschliman: When did you start this body of work? What was your inspiration?
    Ryan W. Kelly: I’ve gone back and forth between large-scale performance/installation pieces and small-scale work like this for a long time. The majority of this work was made in the last six months, in the context of conversations with grad students about how and where we encounter ceramic artwork. In particular I was thinking of the English country house “Charleston” that was home to many of the Bloomsbury Group. Every surface is covered in some sort of decoration, but it all seems to be a comment on decoration rather than falling into traditional styles.

    KA: What do you want people to get from your artwork?
    RWK: Well, I hope they enjoy it. I hope people make connections to historical references and tropes and understand the humor I’m trying to get across.

    KA: What’s the most common question people ask about your work?
    RWK: It’s not a question but a statement: “You must have so much fun.” It drives me crazy. A lot of hard work goes into this frivolity.

    KA: If you could be any mythological creature, which would you choose and why?
    RWK: I feel a real kinship with Sasquatch as I am a hairy, hairy man. But an aspirational creature would be the Centaur because they are way sexy.

    Heather Kaplan’s and Ryan W. Kelly’s exhibitions end Saturday, June 25. Join us on the last day of the exhibition at 2:30 p.m. for a talk with both artists at ROY G BIV Gallery, 997 N. High St., Columbus, OH 43201. For more information, visit Roygbivgallery.org.

    Columbus Makes Art Presents is a bi-weekly column brought to you by the Greater Columbus Arts Council – supporting art and advancing culture in Columbus. The column is a project of the Art Makes Columbus campaign, telling the inspiring stories of the people and organizations who create Columbus art. Each column will be written by a different local arts organization to give you an insiders look at how #artmakescbus.

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    Ken Aschliman
    Ken Aschlimanhttp://www.kenaschliman.com
    Ken Aschliman is the director of ROY G BIV Gallery. He previously worked in school and family programs at the Columbus Museum of Art. He holds a BFA from Columbus College of Art & Design.
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