Life in the Mississippi: Ceramic Sculpture of Richard Mammel
FAYETTE, Mo. – The Ashby-Hodge Gallery of American Art at Central
Methodist College opened a new exhibition featuring the ceramic
sculpture of a highly regarded Illinois artist, announced gallery
curator Joe Geist.
Titled “Life In The Mississippi: The Ceramic Sculpture of Artist Richard
Mammel,” the exhibition opened on Jan. 19 and will run through March 6.
A reception for the artist was held in the gallery the opening Sunday of
the show.
Also being featured during the exhibition are works from the 1940s that
are part of the Ashby-Hodge Gallery’s permanent collection.
Mammel says his works “tend to be ceramic figurative narratives, at
times metaphorical, at times confrontational. My narratives tend to
remind my audiences of our follies, an appeal for us to strive to become
what we claim to be, and sometimes alerts to what we are perhaps
becoming.”
He adds that his ceramic art also reflects on aggression in the form of
the destructiveness of wars, emotional damage and “our continued
destructiveness toward the environment.” These themes take shape
primarily in ceramic sculptures, as well as drawings, graphics and
sculptures in various media.
The artist was born in Fargo, N.D., in 1945. He completed undergraduate
studies in 1967 at Moorhead State University in Minnesota and received
his Master of Fine Arts degree in 1970 from the University of Montana,
Missoula. While there, he studied ceramic sculpture under the direction
of Rudy Autio, often referred to as “one of the 20th century’s three
‘clay revolutionaries’ – Autio, Peter Voulkos and Jim Leedy. Mammel
currently is a professor of art at Quincy University, Quincy, Ill., a
Franciscan Catholic liberal arts institution.
His art works have been widely displayed at exhibitions throughout the
United States for the past 30 years. Many have been purchased by
universities, museums, businesses and private collectors. Commissioned
works include ceramic sculpture, architectural ceramics, utilitarian
ceramics, wood and metal sculptures, painting and drawings.
