Beth Katleman
{{Short description|American artist}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Beth Katleman
| image = Beth Katleman Studio Portrait.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1959}}
| birth_place = Park Forest, Illinois, United States
| nationality =
| known_for = Sculpture
| awards = Arts/Industry Fellowship, JM Kohler Arts Center (1995), Moët Hennessey Prize (2011)
| website = {{URL|bethkatleman.com}}
}}
File:Arcadia, 2017, Beth Katleman, photo by Alan Wiener.jpg
File:Follly, Beth Katleman, photo by Alan Wiener.jpg
File:Folly, detail, Beth Katleman, photo by Alan Wiener.jpg
File:Folly, detail, elf, snail, Sacre Coeur, Beth Katleman, photo by Alan Wiener.jpg
Beth Katleman (born 1959 in Park Forest, Illinois) is an American artist known for porcelain assemblage sculpture cast from found objects.{{cite news |last1=Rodgers |first1=Bill |title=Beth Katleman: Domestic Nightmares in the Language of Kitsch |publisher=CFILE |date=July 23, 2015}} Her allegorical installations fall within the genre of pop surrealism,{{cite news |last1=Ohanesian |first1=Liz |title=Beth Katleman's Ornate Sculptures Delve into Themes of Opulence and Over-Consumption |volume=49 |publisher=Hi- Fructose |date=October 1, 2018}} combining decorative elements, such as Rococo embellishments and 19th century Toile de Jouy wallpaper scenery, with satirical references to consumer culture, fairy tales and classic literature.{{cite web |last1=Rappaport |first1=Emily |title=Blending Rococo and Kitsch, Beth Katleman Explores the Myths of Domesticity |url=https://www.artsy.net/article/editorial-blending-rococo-and-kitsch-beth-katleman-explores |website=Artsy |publisher=Artsy}} Katleman's work is in private and institutional collections and is exhibited internationally, including an installation commissioned by architect Peter Marino for Christian Dior, in the Hong Kong and London flagship boutiques.{{cite book |last1=Goldfarb |first1=Brad |title=Peter Marino: Art Architecture |date=June 27, 2016 |publisher=Phaidon |location=New York |isbn=9780714871288 |pages=25}} She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, and is the recipient of the 2011 Moët Hennessey Prize, a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation grant, the Watershed Generation X Award, a Kohler Arts/Industry Fellowship and a residency in Cortona, Italy sponsored by the University of Georgia, Athens. Katleman holds a BA in English from Stanford University, an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art and an MBA in Arts Management from UCLA.
Influences
Katleman's work addresses dualities{{cite news |last1=Helander |first1=Bruce |title=Beth Katleman's "Folly" |issue=3 |publisher=The Art Economist |date=2011|volume=1 }} between nature and culture; order and chaos; kitsch and fine art; dark humor and optimism; consumption and desire.{{cite news |last1=Milgrom |first1=Lilianne |title=Three-In-One, A conversation with Beth Katleman, Molly Hatch and Shari Mendelson |issue=3 |publisher=Ceramics Now |date=June 2015}}{{cite journal |last1=Copeland |first1=Colette |title=Beth Katleman: Folly |journal=Ceramics Art and Perception |date=September–November 2011 |issue=85 |pages=42–43}} {{according to whom|date=May 2019}} Her sculpture is informed by parallels and differences between classic European decorative arts and American pop culture. The objects that she casts into sculpture are sourced from dime store trinkets, gadgets, dolls and toys. Katleman is influenced by porcelain rooms, such as The Royal Palace of Aranjuez in Spain;{{cite news |last1=Oltuski |first1=Romy |title=Fall Jewels: Off the Walls |url=https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a12126/beth-katleman-three-dimensional-wallpaper/ |publisher=Harper's Bazaar |date=September 10, 2015}} Toile de Jouy wallpaper found in Versailles and the Victoria and Albert Museum;{{cite web |last1=Archer |first1=Sarah |title=A Design Fair With a Sense of Play |url=https://hyperallergic.com/125468/a-design-fair-with-a-sense-of-play/ |website=Hyperallergic |accessdate=May 9, 2014}} and time studying Italian porcelain reliefs in the Salottino di Porcellana room at the Royal Palace of Capodimonte, Naples, which she visited during an artist residency at the American Academy in Rome.{{cite web |last1=Milgrom |first1=Lilianne |title=Beth Katleman: After Folly |url=https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/ceramics-monthly/ceramic-art-and-artists/ceramic-sculpture/beth-katleman-after-folly/ |website=Ceramics Monthly |publisher=Ceramics Monthly}}
Her early work incorporated bright colored glazes, gold details and overt references to pop art. Katleman's work has been included in group exhibitions intended to blur distinctions between fine art and design. In 1998 a work from the toilet series, produced during her Kohler Arts/Industry Fellowship, was included in Bathroom at the Thomas Healy Gallery, alongside Andy Warhol and John Waters.{{cite news |last1=Green |first1=Penelope |title=Beth Katleman on Her Ceramic Curiosities |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/garden/13qna.html |work=New York Times |date=January 12, 2011}} In 2019 the Rhode Island School of Design Museum invited Katleman to create a site-specific installation in response to the 1969 exhibition Raid the Icebox I with Andy Warhol.
In 2010 Katleman transitioned to working entirely in white porcelain, often installed as sculptural tableaus to produce a three-dimensional wall paper effect. Literature, in particular classical mythology and fairy tales, also inspires the work.
Process
Katleman fabricates her sculptures using hand cast porcelain objects that are combined into a singular composition and kiln fired without a glaze to produce a matte white surface. A completed installation can contain up to 3,500 individual cast elements.{{cite web |last1=Swengley |first1=Nicole |title=A Great Relief |url=https://howtospendit.ft.com/art-philanthropy/25013-a-great-relief |website=Financial Times |publisher=Financial Times}} The molds used to produce the castings are made after combinations of source materials are experimented with, using digital imaging software and hand drawn renderings. These 2D compositions are then used to visualize placement while working with figures from her studio library of objects.
Exhibitions
- Raid the Icebox Now, RISD Museum, Providence, Rhode Island
- 2018- Strange Arcadia, Spagnuolo Art Gallery, Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
- 2017- Confabulations of Millennia, Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, Maine{{cite web |last1=Saja |first1=Richard |title=Confabulations of Millennia |url=https://www.meca.edu/article/confabulations-millennia/|website=Maine College of Art |publisher=Maine College of Art}}
- 2016- Unconventional Clay, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri{{cite web |last1=McKenzie |first1=Heidi |title=Unconventional Clay |url=https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/ceramics-monthly/ceramic-art-and-artists/ceramic-artists/unconventional-clay/# |website=Ceramic Arts Network |publisher=Ceramic Arts Network}}
- 2016- Contemporary Clay: A Survey of Contemporary American Ceramics, Western Carolina University Fine Arts Museum, Cullowee, North Carolina{{cite web |last1=Erickson |first1=Heather |title=Contemporary Clay |url=https://www.wcu.edu/bardo-arts-center/fine-art-museum/past-exhibitions/contemporary-clay.aspx |website=West Carolina University |publisher=West Carolina University}}
- 2015- Tchotchke: Mass-Produced Sentimental Objects in Contemporary Art, The Gund Gallery, Gambier, Ohio{{cite news |last1=Starker |first1=Melissa |title=Kenyan College Exhibit Explores Investment in Knickknack Sentiment |url=https://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2015/02/01/01-beauty-of-baubles.html |publisher=The Columbus Dispatch |date=February 1, 2015}}
- 2011- Flora and Fauna: MAD about Nature, Museum of Art and Design, New York, New York{{cite web |last1=Parson |first1=Wendi |title=The Celebration of Nature in a Myriad of Media is the Focus of the New Exhibition Flora and Fauna, MAD about Nature |url=https://madmuseum.org/press/releases/celebration-nature-myriad-media-focus-new-exhibition-flora-and-fauna-mad-about-nature |website=Museum of Arts and Design |publisher=Museum of Arts and Design}}
- 2011- Folly, Jane Hartsock Gallery, New York, New York
- 2011- Pavilion of Art and Design, New York, New York, London, England and Paris, France, Todd Merrill Studio Contemporary
- 2009- Selections from the Kohler Company Collection, 798 ArtZone, Beijing, China New Works/Old Story, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, California{{cite web |last1=Kohler Arts Center |first1=John Michael |title=Kohler Co. National Arts Marketing Project|url=https://namp.americansforthearts.org/by-program/promotion-recognition/awards-for-arts-achievement/bca10/kohler-co |website=Americans for the Arts |publisher=Americans for the Arts}}
- 2008- The Diane and Sandy Besser Collection, M.H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, California
- 2000- Blown Away, Garth Clark Gallery, New York, New York{{cite web |last1=Johnson |first1=Ken |title=Blown Away |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/04/arts/art-guide.html |website=The New York Times |publisher=The New York Times}}
- 1998- Bathroom, Thomas Healy Gallery, New York, New York, curated by Wayne Koestenbaum
- 1996- The Pull of Beauty, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York and the National Building Museum, Washington, D.C., curated by Kiki Smith and Victoria Milne{{cite web |last1=Milne |first1=Victoria |title=The Pull of Beauty |url=http://storefrontnews.org/programming/the-pull-of-beauty/ |website=Storefront for Art and Architecture |publisher=Storefront for Art and Architecture}}
- 1994- Artists from the Archie Bray Foundation, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, Montana and University of Washington Art Gallery, Seattle, Washington
Collections
- Nike, United States
- M. H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, California
- Christian Dior Boutique, London
- Christian Dior, Hong Kong
- Ci Kim Arario Gallery Collection, South Korea
- John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
- Kohler Company Collection, Kohler, Wisconsin
- Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, Montana
- Right Management, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Rhode Island
- Kamm Teapot Foundation, Sparta, North Carolina
References
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Category:Sculptors from Illinois
Category:People from Park Forest, Illinois
Category:20th-century American women sculptors
Category:20th-century American sculptors
Category:21st-century American women sculptors
Category:21st-century American sculptors
Category:American contemporary artists
Category:American women ceramists
Category:20th-century American ceramists
Category:Stanford University alumni
Category:Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni