Check out the recording here!

Speakers:
Allison Baker earned her MFA in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design, a BFA in Sculpture and BA in Gender Studies from Indiana University. Her work investigates hegemonic femininity as a site of transgression and resistance with tongue planted firmly in cheek where she deploys irony and the abject in order to make space to ponder the soul crushing banalities of what many might term “women’s work.” It’s funny (hopefully) but funny with a serrated edge.

Allison clawed her way into higher education with a thesaurus and words she cannot pronounce; currently, she is an Associate Professor of Sculpture and Studio Art at Hamline University where she tries to impart some knowledge of finesse, persuasion, and manual labor. Allison has exhibited nationally and internationally including at the CICA Museum in South Korea, Zverev Centre of Contemporary Art in Moscow, the Knockdown Center in New York, and Franconia Sculpture Park where her work is currently exhibited.

Kay Dartt is a sculptor with a practice that combines engineering, education and community outreach. She has a Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Binghamton University as well as a MFA in Sculpture from Alfred University. As a Clinical Assistant Professor of Art at Shepherd University she teaches sculpture courses and manages an interdisciplinary fabrication space called the FASTEnER Lab with a focus on STEAM engagement. In this facility Kay educates students of all ages to be independent builders and socially minded innovators. In 2020 she received Shepherd University’s President’s Faculty Excellence Award for her work in creating PPE for front line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the iron casting community she is the Co-Director of Keystone Iron Works, an iron casting program engaging young students by connecting faculty and community through mentorship, stewardship, respect for process and teamwork. The program has received two National Endowments for the Arts awards and yearly arts engagement grants. At the 2021 National Conference for Contemporary Cast Iron Art and Practice she received the Paige Wainwright award for her part in creating the Iron Future Scholarship Fund and fundraising for it through a metal casting performance. The award is an honor given to those making education and metal casting practices more accessible for future generations. In her sculptural work, she uses a variety of materials to synthesize biomorphic forms, consumer language and parametric design process that reflect the imbalance between natural, artificial and virtual environments within our culture.

Whether he’s pouring iron, inking a woodblock, or manipulating laser beams, Eric Fuertes is a fierce advocate of the democratization of art making. Born and raised in South Texas, Eric earned his chops in sculpture at Texas A&M – Corpus Christi and in foundry work at Houston's Keen Foundry. After undergrad, Eric headed north in pursuit of sub-zero temps and his MFA in Sculpture at Northern Illinois University. He is now based at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he continues to evangelize the gospel of making, advocate for underrepresented artists, and agitate the boundaries that divide computer-aided design and traditional modes of making.

Katie Hovencamp received her BFA from Arizona State University in 2009 and her MFA from the Pennsylvania State University in 2014. Hovencamp has exhibited her work in numerous exhibitions within the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Her work has been reviewed in Sculpture Magazine, Chicago Reader, and several online and print publications. She was the recipient of the Outstanding Student Achievement Award for Contemporary Sculpture in 2014 and the University Graduate Fellowship at the Pennsylvania State University in 2012. Hovencamp has participated in residency programs at Vermont Studio Center, Serde Interdisciplinary artist group in Latvia, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland.

In 2016, she was awarded an artist residency with International Sculpture Center at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, NJ. She has taught at various institutions such as the Edna Vihel Center for the Arts, Totts Gap Art Institute, Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg Area Community College, Northampton Community College, and Keystone College.

Jerry Ross Barrish, 4th generation San Franciscan, studied sculpture and film at San Francisco Art Institute from 1970-1975 on the GI Bill. After receiving his BFA & MFA, Barrish completed three feature-length narrative films. Returning to sculpture in 1989, working in figurative assemblage of plastic found materials, represented in many permanent collections including The Oakland Museum of California, Berkeley Art Museum, Crocker Museum and, San Jose Art Museum. His 16-foot bronze commission “Bayview Horn” is installed at The Shipyard, new redevelopment area in the southern portion of San Francisco.

Barrish resides in Pacifica, where he serves as Artistic Director at Sanchez Art Center. He has recently moved his sculpture studio to a remodeled warehouse at 33 Bartlett Street in the Mission District in San Francisco.

Barrish is the subject of William Farley’s documentary feature film “Plastic Man, the artful life of Jerry Ross Barrish.” Barrish says, “If you watch the film, you’ll know more about me than my mother did.” www.jerrybarrish.com

Lynn Verschoor attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from South Dakota State University, her Master of Science degree in information media and instructional design from St Cloud State University and her Master of Fine Arts from the University of South Dakota. For the past 30 years she worked in the museum field as a gallery director, curator and for the past 20 years as the Director of the South Dakota Art Museum.

Janis Plotkin’s work as a community organizer led her to develop an early interest in film as a tool for communicating values, history and culture. Janis helped to program and produce the groundbreaking San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the first and largest film festival of its kind, where she was instrumental in building diverse audiences that reached 35,000 attendees, and programmed local broadcasts on public television KQED. She is currently Senior Film Programmer for the Mill Valley Film Festival. She has taught undergraduate film classes at Stanford University, University of California, Davis and San Francisco State University. In 2010 Plotkin joined with film colleague, William Farley to produce the documentary Plastic Man: The Artful Life of Jerry Ross Barrish.


About the Film: PLASTIC MAN: THE ARTFUL LIFE OF JERRY ROSS BARRISH
Directed by William Farley, Produced by Janis Plotkin

Sometimes an individual is compelled, in the face of daunting odds, to find his identity by making art and becoming an artist...

Jerry Barrish was the product of a hardworking family of Jewish boxing enthusiasts vaguely connected to the mob. It was these connections that got him started in the bail bonds business. Then he broke the mold, becoming the bailout guy for radical sixties protestors. “Don’t’ Perish in jail, call Barrish for Bail” was an anthem for a generation. Inspired by the times, he went one step further, embarking on a hero’s journey where art may be his salvation…

http://www.plasticmanbarrish.com/