AU alumna Chapman brings ceramic sculpture exhibition to Coburn gallery

ASHLAND, Ohio -- The Coburn Art Gallery and the Ashland University Department of Art + Design will host Hush II, a ceramic sculpture exhibition featuring Ashland University alumna Kimberly Chapman.  The exhibition opens Thursday, Oct. 7 with a reception from 4:30-6:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

The exhibition pulls from three groupings of ceramic works by Chapman: Bridled Women, Elsie’s Arsenal and the Refugee Series. The sculptures explore how men have used disinformation and false claims against women since the beginning of time to justify their actions and exonerate themselves from blame. Chapman’s work centers on what’s left behind after terrible things happen, from the perspective of women and children.

The eerie, delicate white porcelain sculptures shed light on these dark topics. For its content, the artwork calls upon past experiences as well as emotionally charged sociopolitical issues. By exploring topics like silencing women, the refugee plight and domestic violence, viewers are given an opportunity to contemplate such prevalent issues in today’s contemporary culture.

In addition to the exhibition, AU students will exhibit their visual art journals exploring the topic of  immigration alongside Chapman’s works in the gallery.

Chapman will give a visiting artist talk Oct. 21 at 10 a.m. in the Coburn Art Gallery. The exhibition and artist talk are co-sponsored by Ashland University’s Symposium Against Indifference -Truth in the Age of Disinformation.

Chapman graduated from Ashland in 1979 with an Associate of Arts degree and then went on to a 25-year career in marketing. She recently graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in order to pursue her dream of becoming a full-time artist. In 2020, her first solo show, Hush, was featured at the John J. McDonough Museum in Youngstown. Chapman also has a current exhibition titled “Eighty-Six Reasons (for asylum admission)” at the Fawick Gallery at Baldwin Wallace University.

The Coburn Art Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and is free and open to the public. COVID-19 safety protocols require that face masks must be worn inside all campus buildings.

For more information about the opening reception or the exhibition, call 419-289-5652 or visit the gallery’s page on Facebook.

Ashland University is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) values the individual student and offers a unique educational experience that combines the challenge of strong, applied academic programs with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students.###