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A well-known local artist couple is teaming up with two of its former students for Mentors & Makers, an art exhibition at Rochester Contemporary Art Center that is a continuation of the center’s Maker/Mentor series, which examines the dual role of artists as creators and educators.
Wendell Castle and Nancy Jurs, of Scottsville, have chosen to exhibit their artwork alongside artists Tom Lacagnina and Bethany Krull, respectively, for the show that is running through March 13.
“It’s an ongoing series they have where they ask a couple people to exhibit and suggest they invite someone — a student or someone they mentored,” said Castle. “That’s what we did. I hardly ever exhibit in Rochester. Most all of my work is in New York City or Europe. I thought it would be nice.”
Castle, an internationally-renowned artist and designer that has been considered the father of contemporary Art Furniture, is currently an educator and artist-in-residence at Rochester Institute of Technology’s School for American Crafts.
“It’s somewhere between sculpture and furniture,” Castle said of his work.
His artwork is included in the permanent collections of numerous museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Art and Design.
Castle said he has exhibited with his wife before, but that they have their own distinctive styles.
“Our vocabulary is really quite different,” he said. “There aren’t too many similarities.”
Jurs is a ceramic artist and a graduate of RIT. She has taught at the State University of New York at Brockport, Columbia University and Rochester Institute of Technology. Her sculpture work and public installations have been featured both locally and nationally and are in collections in the Smithsonian and the Memorial Art Gallery. In the current exhibition, she is featuring works that are a continuation of her series on armor.
“I thought it was a wonderful idea, to kind of give a leg up to a protégé,” said Jurs about the show. “I think it’s a nice concept. ... It’s four different approaches to art.”
Jurs chose Krull to participate in the show. Her clay works explore the complex interactions between humans and animals. She completed her graduate work in ceramics at RIT with Rick Hirsch before working with Jurs in her studio. Her work has been featured in over 50 exhibitions throughout the United States and is in the collections of the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo and at Rochester Institute of Technology. She is currently a ceramics instructor at Goggleworks Center for the Arts in Reading, Pa.
A well-known local artist couple is teaming up with two of its former students for Mentors & Makers, an art exhibition at Rochester Contemporary Art Center that is a continuation of the center’s Maker/Mentor series, which examines the dual role of artists as creators and educators.
Wendell Castle and Nancy Jurs, of Scottsville, have chosen to exhibit their artwork alongside artists Tom Lacagnina and Bethany Krull, respectively, for the show that is running through March 13.
“It’s an ongoing series they have where they ask a couple people to exhibit and suggest they invite someone — a student or someone they mentored,” said Castle. “That’s what we did. I hardly ever exhibit in Rochester. Most all of my work is in New York City or Europe. I thought it would be nice.”
Castle, an internationally-renowned artist and designer that has been considered the father of contemporary Art Furniture, is currently an educator and artist-in-residence at Rochester Institute of Technology’s School for American Crafts.
“It’s somewhere between sculpture and furniture,” Castle said of his work.
His artwork is included in the permanent collections of numerous museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Art and Design.
Castle said he has exhibited with his wife before, but that they have their own distinctive styles.
“Our vocabulary is really quite different,” he said. “There aren’t too many similarities.”
Jurs is a ceramic artist and a graduate of RIT. She has taught at the State University of New York at Brockport, Columbia University and Rochester Institute of Technology. Her sculpture work and public installations have been featured both locally and nationally and are in collections in the Smithsonian and the Memorial Art Gallery. In the current exhibition, she is featuring works that are a continuation of her series on armor.
“I thought it was a wonderful idea, to kind of give a leg up to a protégé,” said Jurs about the show. “I think it’s a nice concept. ... It’s four different approaches to art.”
Jurs chose Krull to participate in the show. Her clay works explore the complex interactions between humans and animals. She completed her graduate work in ceramics at RIT with Rick Hirsch before working with Jurs in her studio. Her work has been featured in over 50 exhibitions throughout the United States and is in the collections of the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo and at Rochester Institute of Technology. She is currently a ceramics instructor at Goggleworks Center for the Arts in Reading, Pa.
“She shows a lot of promise,” said Jurs. “I really thought she has a lot going for her, talent-wise. She’s very ambitious and very skilled.”
Lacagnina is a wood and mixed-media sculptor who studied with Castle at RIT in the 1960’s, then worked as his assistant for two years before going on to teach at the School of Art Design at Alfred University for 29 years. He has lectured at universities across the country and is a professor emeritus at Alfred.
“I’ve had a lot of good students over the years,” said Castle, adding that he has hired several artists that Lacagnina has trained. “He’s really got a lot of good work. ... I thought this was a good opportunity.”
