Come see Maria’s show!

Maria's show opens right after Thanksgiving....

It was great to her what Spring Street alum ((’05) Maria’s been up to, from proud mom Liza – here’s the scoop:

Maria Michaelson is having an art show entitled “Go Back and Get What We Forgot,” presenting her most recent ceramic sculptures, at Anne Sheridan Photography, 135 Second Street in Friday Harbor. Influenced by her island roots, the wall pieces, “masks,” embody the spiritual human/animal connection.

The opening reception will be Sunday, November 28, 2010, from 1-6 pm. The show will remain up Monday Nov 29 through Wednesday December 1, from 2-6pm. with the artist in attendance. It will also include a fundraising opportunity to support artists in West Africa.

Maria was born in Friday Harbor, and graduated from Spring Street International School in 2005. After spending the last four months of her senior year traveling alone in Ghana, she was given the “Independent Learner” award for the class of 2005. She received a scholarship from the Island Artisans Foundation and attended California College of the Arts, in Oakland, California. She majored in Community Arts with an emphasis in Ceramics, and graduated in December 2009. Maria had a one woman show in November 2009, at the Mama Buzz Gallery in Oakland, Ca.

After graduating last December, Maria spent the first four months of 2010 cycling the coast of California from Berkeley to San Diego hauling a paper mache sculpture that she created of a “whisperer “and a “listener” on a trailer, which housed a recording studio. She stopped along the way and recorded stories of the people she met; uploading them daily to a blog, which can be viewed here.

Maria plans to spend January through September of 2011 in West Africa. She will begin her time at an art center in Bamako, Mali, and then tour the Saharan countries, documenting and videoing local artists and traditional ceramic firing techniques.
Maria is offering people the chance to sponsor an African artist for $10. For each $10 she will ask people to address an envelope to themselves so, she can hand them to the artists that she videotapes, so they will have a chance to write to the person who sponsored their interview and understand there is a bigger world beyond what they see, with people who appreciate them and their work.. Handmade toy vespas and helicopters created from tin cans, wire, and bottle tops in Ghana, will also be for sale to support the African artist interview project.

A webpage with images of Maria’s ceramic art can be viewed online at http://mmichaelson.wordpress.com/
and a video of Maria working on the ceramic pieces for this show in her Berkeley studio can be viewed at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5BJLPGlGOQ

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