Family table set at PCC art gallery

Stacy Barnes’ “Family Table” is set at the Pratt Community College Delmar Riney Art Gallery this month.
Barnes’, exhibit started at the beginning of October and will run through Oct. 27. On the final day of the showing at 12:30 Barnes will take students and visitors on a tour of her exhibit and answer questions.  She will then go to the ceramics lab, room 414 in Chandler Hall for a workshop.  She will discuss and demonstrate handmade dinnerware and personalizing your art. Students, faculty, staff and community members are welcome to attend both portions of the workshop.
 
The exhibit consists of multiple dinnerware place settings, each set reflecting the personality of a member of her family.  It also includes some serving pieces that go along with the dinnerware.
 
“My goal is to have each person come in and know which setting is theirs,” Barnes said. “Beforehand, only my sister and husband knew what my show was about.  I think everyone
else was just expecting "pots."  My hope is that the viewer will get a sense of the personality of each of my family members.”
 
Viewers can let their imagination decide what the personality of each family member might be. One piece has separations in the plate so their food doesn’t have to touch, while another is done in plaid and titled “Is My Redneck Showing?”
 
“This exhibit is a combination of technically well formed pottery, creative thought, humor and an artistic personal touch,” said Marsha Shrack, ceramic instructor and gallery director.  “Students and community members will get a lot of insight from her workshop.”
Barnes said she got inspiration for this piece after her grandmother died. She said at that time she realized her family was the most import thing to her and that growing up around the family table meant something to her.
Barnes graduated from Kansas State University in May 2005 with a Bachelors of Fine Art in Ceramics. She was then awarded a one year Residency in Ceramics at the Lawrence Arts Center in Lawrence, Kansas where she lived and worked for two years, before moving back in September of 2007 to open a studio in her hometown. She manages and directs the 5.4.7Art Center in Greensburg.