Nick Ryan Gallery is pleased to present Continnum, a two-person exhibition featuring new work by Kansas City based fiber artist, Debra Smith and Arizona based ceramicist Sam Chung.
Debra Smith studied at the Italian Academy of Fashion & Design and Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence before earning a BFA in Fiber from the Kansas City Art Institute and an Associate Degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including in New York, Kansas City, the Netherlands, France, and New Mexico. After living in Brooklyn for more than a decade, Smith returned to Kansas City, where she currently lives and works.
“I work with vintage textiles that already hold their own rhythm, grain, and history. I cut, stitch, and recompose these materials to find a new line inside what was handed down, shaping clarity from textiles that have lived full lives before reaching my hands.
These compositions hold the tension between what is inherited and what is chosen. Created during a time of pressure and recalibration, the work became a way to find focus while forming new structures that honor the past and create a contemporary language.” -Debra Smith
Sam Chung is a Korean-American ceramic artist and Professor of Ceramics at Arizona State University, where he has taught since 2007. His work reframes historical ceramic forms from a cross-cultural perspective. He received his MFA from Arizona State University and BA from St. Olaf College. Chung was awarded a U.S. Fulbright Scholar grant in South Korea for the 2021–22 academic year and has exhibited throughout the United States and internationally. His work is held in the collections of the Everson Museum, Crocker Art Museum, Icheon World Ceramic Center, Guldagergaard, and other public collections. His residencies include KwangjuYo, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, the Archie Bray Foundation, Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center, the International Ceramics Studio in Hungary, and The Pottery Workshop in China.
“Clouds are an auspicious symbol representing immortality and longevity. I adopted them as a metaphor for my own floating sense of identity between Korean and American cultures. Their ever-changing, formless nature reflects the fluidity of my cross-cultural identity. Metaphorically, they break out of the past while leaving a remnant of tradition intact. The cloud imagery is contemporized to create a new identity for the pots, suggesting renewal and transformation.” -Sam Chung
