Located on the second floor of McKnight Art Center West, the Clayton Staples Gallery is a dynamic exhibition space for the work of visiting artists, faculty and master's students.

Every academic year, the School of Art, Design and Creative Industries produces four exhibitions of work by regional and national artists. In addition to exhibiting their work, visiting artists typically deliver a public lecture and conduct student critiques and/or facilitate a workshop or demonstration.

The Clayton Staples Gallery is also used as an exhibition space for graduate thesis shows.

 

Current Exhibition

Sophia Agbayani, Madison Bowron, Christina Bruce, Tim Fey, Paola Iseley, Evelyn Mar, Olivia D'Laine, and Katherine Snider: "Untitled: Student Creations Across Disciplines"

April 26 - May 3, 2024

Opening Reception: Friday, April 26, 5:00 - 7:00 pm

 

Multiple images

Multiple images

Multiple images

Multiple images

 

 

Previous Exhibitions

 

Scott Jones 

April 10 - April 16, 2024

 

Multiple images

 

Work Statement:


鈥淢y work is self-reflective; the political aspects aren鈥檛 necessarily the inspiration, but the introspective and psychological aspects are.鈥� - Scott Jones

My current work is an exploration and examination of masculinity through the lens of my own personal experiences鈥攑articularly the newness of being a father鈥攅specially during graduate school where there can be moments of intensity to work through. It鈥檚 all about embracing modern masculinity; a lot of which is rooted in self-empathy. Masculinity has evolved, and the world is establishing new groundwork, my work is trying to catch up to that. It鈥檚 not that, 鈥渨e鈥檙e behind,鈥� I think that鈥檚 a stretch, it鈥檚 just that we weren鈥檛 educated. My work is self-reflective; the political aspects aren鈥檛 necessarily the inspiration, but the introspective and psychological aspects are.

My work also ties into 60s Abstract Expressionist sculpture and painting - a lot of which was rooted in outdated patriarchal ideology. That鈥檚 why I titled my show 鈥淩eclaimed,鈥� there鈥檚 a lot I鈥檓 reclaiming: myself, my own ideas of empathy, but also this form of expression from its past.

 
 

Mollykate Geddis: "Visual Pleasure"

March 29 - April 3, 2024

 

gallery image with hanging woven fabric

 

Exhibition Statement:

鈥淲e adore chaos because we love to produce order.鈥� - Maurits Cornelis Escher

Human beings crave and enjoy order, but they also enjoy the process of creating order out of chaos. Escher鈥檚 quote implies that the desire for order comes from a need for structure. While my work is not about the polarity between chaos and order, it provides a sense of reflection on the human tendency to create a balance between two opposing forces that coexist and interconnect. With this introspective frame of mind, one can begin to understand the connection between organizing and reducing anxiety.
Creating order and structure in one's environment can help promote a sense of calm and control.
I use visual pleasures to stimulate and celebrate anxiety, which can be related to the experience of feeling moved by visual stimulus. I use design tools such as color, line, texture, and overall composition to create sources of visual pleasure. This provides the viewer an opportunity to organize and contemplate construction or deconstruction where the visual pleasures diverge. The crocheted connections demonstrate a meticulous construction process to join each porcelain element. The disparate components come together which provokes contemplation about the dual nature of creating and dismantling, and the tension between them. The crocheted elements show interconnection and interdependence, with each loop relying on the others for integrity which highlights the delicate nature of relationships.
 
 

Anthony Corraro: "To Dust"

March 18 - 22, 2024

 

gallery view with drawings made of dust and a video projection on the wall

 

Exhibition Statement:

"To Dust" is a solo MFA Thesis exhibition from Anthony Corraro. "To Dust" is composed of prints made entirely out of dust which was meticulously gathered by sweeping up the artist's studio space and home. Using CMYK silkscreen techniques, Anthony creates intricate yet ephemeral designs which embody the tension between idealism and realism. The dust which makes up the work is not affixed to any surface and is susceptible to even the slightest disturbance. Described by the artist as a practice in mindfulness, the process is a representation of his relationship to the ebb and flow of time.
 
 
 

Arzu Ozkal & Irma Pu拧karevi膰: "San Diego/Wichita/Mail Art/Design/Play"

February 5 - March 8, 2024

 

woman with flowers

 

Woman holding wire spelling the word play

 

(installation images forthcoming)

 

Exhibition Statement:

Clayton Staples Gallery is delighted to present a collborative exhibition, "San Diego/Wichita/Mail Art/Design/Play." In September 2023, Arzu Ozkal (San Diego, CA) and Irma Pu拧karevi膰 (Wichita, KS) agreed to collaborate on a mail art exchange project, drawing inspiration from the legacy of creative practitioners who utilized the postal system to send and receive art鈥攁 movement that gained momentum in the 1960s known as the International Mail Art Movement or Correspondence Art. This dynamic exchange culminated in the creation of the San Diego/Wichita Mail Art/Design/Play Exhibition.
 
Informed by the unconventional and experimental nature of Fluxus, their process embraced absurdity, spontaneity, noise, mess. Their intention was not only to intellectually disorient one another, navigating the realms of artistic expression with a deliberate disruption of traditional boundaries, injecting a sense of unpredictability and conceptual inquiry into their collaborative exploration.
 
Arzu Ozkal (b. Ankara, Turkey, 1976, lives and works in San Diego, CA) & Irma Pu拧karevi膰 (b. Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1983, lives and works in Wichita, KS) Ozkal's practice is committed to fostering collaboration and inclusivity while critically engaging with social and cultural issues. Pu拧karevi膰 is a graphic designer, lettering artist, and educator whose work focuses on her passion for type and typography.
 

 

萝莉社 & ALU: "Wichita/Sarajevo Connecting Stories"

January 16 - 30, 2024

 

Overview of deck of playing cards

 

  Example of playing card with blue background and sunflowers   Playing card image with joker wearing a fez

          

Exhibition Statement:

Clayton Staples Gallery is delighted to present a special winter treat, "Wichita/Sarajevo Connecting Stories," an exhibition that spans between Kansas & Bosnia and Herzegovina. Senior Graphic Design students from 萝莉社and sophomore students from The Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo were given the prompt of researching a significant story from their own region as a means of introduction. Students were then tasked with creating a unique deck of playing cards and we invite you to see the results.
 
萝莉社 and ALU created these playing cards with the aim of learning and expanding our world view through play and research. We hope you will join us for the special limited engagement at Clayton Staples Gallery.