Conway artist creates interactive sculpture exhibit

Heavyweight longnose gar like this one caught by Lewis Peeler of Vanndale are common and enjoyable to catch.
Heavyweight longnose gar like this one caught by Lewis Peeler of Vanndale are common and enjoyable to catch.

CONWAY — It has been a long time coming, but Conway ceramicist Barbara Satterfield, 63, is finally creating an art project she has wanted to work on since graduate school.

“I’ve been thinking about it for years,” Satterfield said with a laugh during a recent visit to her home studio. “I retired to do this.”

It’s been three years since she retired as director of the Baum Gallery of Fine Art at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. It’s been even longer since she received her Master of Fine Arts degree in studio ceramics in 1999 from the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. But she is finally seeing the project come to fruition.

The long-awaited art project is an interactive sculpture exhibit that will be installed in public places throughout the state. Titled And Then, I: Monuments to Pivotal Moments, the exhibit features individual ceramic female figures that create a variety of group portraits. Satterfield said each group portrait represents a different moment when change occurs and decisions are made.

“This new series is a way for me to connect my artwork with everyday life,” Satterfield said. “We all have stories of life changes, and I hope the artwork will encourage people around the state to share theirs.

“We all have things that happen in our lives that make us want to scream, to laugh, to cry. Things that make us want to jump up and look someone straight in the eye and say … It’s these moments that lead to decisions.”

Satterfield said viewers will be invited to leave comments or complete a survey on-site, follow a QR code to complete a survey on their mobile devices, or go online to complete the survey or share a pivotal-moment memory with the project. The confidential responses will be incorporated into the final exhibit, which is scheduled for June 15-27, 2015, at the Cox Creative Center in Little Rock.

“It’s all about interactivity,” Satterfield said of the exhibit.

“I want to know if what I have to say through my art is of value to anyone,” she said. “I hope people will communicate with me. I hope people will respond. I want to know how art connects with real-life experiences.”

Nine individual sculptures, each one posed in a different manner with a different expression on her face, will be displayed in groups of three. Satterfield created each figure, which she describes as “very realistic,” drawing from facial mannerisms, expressions and gestures akin to those displayed by her women friends and family. She took many photos and referred to them often as she created the sculptures. She created a total of 20 sculptures, but only nine will tour at a time.

“I wanted them to be full size (adult), but the size is determined by the size of my kiln,” Satterfield said. “They are ‘children-size,’ but they will be placed on wooden pedestals made by Pat Griffith of Conway, so they will be eye level with the observer.

“I wanted viewers to be able to look them in the eye, just as you would look at a friend when you had a pivotal moment. The expressions are what I treasure about people.”

Satterfield said although the figures are all female, men should be able to relate to the exhibit as well.

“My husband, Jim [Volkert], loves them,” she said. “If you are a man and have a wife or a sister, mother or women friends, you can relate to these figures. Their expressions may help you recall stories about the women in your life.”

The exhibit will open Sept. 29 in Helena at three sites. The sculptures will remain on view in Helena through Oct. 11 and will be included in a display at the King Biscuit Blues Festival on Oct. 11.

The exhibit will visit three towns in the River Valley & Ozark Edition coverage area in 2015. Local exhibits are scheduled for Conway from Jan. 19-31 at the Faulkner County Library; in Heber Springs from April 13-25, including a display at the annual Springfest on April 25; and in Dardanelle from April 25 through May 9, including a display at the annual Yell Fest on May 9. Additional installation locations and artist workshops in these three towns will be announced “on or before Nov. 1,” according to the artist’s website, www.andtheni.com.

Satterfield said the exhibit is “designed to be public art.

“[The figurative sculptures] will be displayed where people can visit during their normal day and view them,” she said. “We hope they will be viewed by people who might not otherwise go to an art gallery to see a formal exhibit.”

Patrons may view the exhibit online beginning Sept. 29.

Satterfield said the project is partially funded by a 1:1 matching grant from the Mid-American Arts Alliance. She said the $10,000 grant is part of the Artistic Innovations program that encourages bringing “more art to more people” through nontraditional presentations.

She raised half of the money for her part of the matching grant through Kickstarter (kck.st/1t76RFO), which is an online funding platform for creative projects. She wrote grants and received donations from private funds for the second half of the her part of the matching money.

To better prepare herself for creating the exhibit, Satterfield attended two workshops in 2102: The Dimensional Figure, led by Andrea Keys Connell at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deere Isle, Maine, and Sculpting the Full Figure, led by Claudia Olds Goldie at Santa Fe Clay in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

“This has been a wonderful experience for me,” Satterfield said. “It’s been so much fun.

“I have planned this for years. I’ve wanted to do it since 1997 when I started graduate school and made my first figurative sculptures. But my professor thought I should do something else.

“I kept coming back to it. Then when I turned 60, I decided to just go for it and retired to do it. That was three years ago, but I am finally doing it.”

In addition to creating her own artwork, Satterfield also operates a consulting business, BarbaraB: Exhibit Development and Design. She can be reached at (501) 733-9916 or barbaradesign@yahoo.com.

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