Ohio couple to exhibit clay and fiber art Feb. 19-March 20 at Goshen College

Art Exhibit: Susan and David Cayton, clay and fiber
Dates: Feb. 19-March 20, 2006
Reception: Feb. 19, 2-4 p.m.
Location: Hershberger Art Gallery, Goshen College Music Center
Cost: Free and open to the public

GOSHEN, Ind. – The artifacts of a civilization say a lot about its culture. David Cayton hopes that his ceramic sculpture “genuine fact artifacts” will offer a “tongue-in-cheek look at what could be the work from a newly discovered unknown culture,” he said.

Susan Cayton will be exhibiting her fiber art alongside her husband’s imaginative sculptures in the Goshen College Hershberger Art Gallery, located in the Music Center, from Feb. 19 to March 20. A reception for the exhibit will be held on Feb. 19 from 2 to 4 p.m. The event and exhibit are free and open to the public.

Residents of Perrysburg, Ohio, the Caytons operate Five Point Studio where they continue to create their art and sell art supplies. “With this show we are simply trying to present the viewer with an opportunity to see how two different artists play with those aspects of art that excite and drive them to create and explore ideas,” David Cayton said.

David’s own sculptures incorporate images that play against each other in “ways that are impossible, impractical or even boarding on being a little surreal,” including eagles catching goldfish and physical conflicts of drive shafts and pulleys, he said. “They strive to create a sense of discovery through artifacts from an unknown culture without written language. They ask the viewer to participate by interpreting what the objects and images tell us about this society.”

By subjecting the sculptures to a smoldering sawdust firing, they are blackened, which “is an attempt to use those processes available to early cultures,” David said. While most of his work is made from clay, several images have been created using the forming technique of electroplating. In this process, copper is electroformed over a number of surfaces ranging from wax to folded paper.

David is professor emeritus of art at Bowling Green State University, where he began teaching in 1964. While his teaching concentrated primarily on printmaking, he also taught drawing, oil and watercolor painting, sculpture and ceramics courses at Bowling Green State University and Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. He is one of the co-authors of an art text titled “Art Foundations, Theory and Practice.”

David’s work has been seen in competitive exhibitions from the New Art Center in Osaka, Japan, to the Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, Calif., and in numerous individual and one-person exhibitions. His work is represented in the collections of the Indiana Council for the Federation of the Arts, The Hope Colgate-Sloan Collection, The Bowling Green State University Collection, The Kalamazoo Institute of Fine Arts, Defiance College, Bluffton College, Montana State University, Stockton State College, The Taft Communication Corporation Collection, Society Bank and the Longwood College Fine Arts Center.

Susan Cayton’s fiber art explores the various ways of creating pattern and rich surfaces – often presented on pieces meant to be worn, ranging from scarves and shawls to large ponchos. The process includes hand dying, spinning and plying the fiber to control its texture, and then designing the new motifs. These pieces explore a technique known as “warp” or “weft shibori” in which a very thin fishing line or a strong cotton thread is used in the warp or woven into the fabric as it develops on the loom. Each weaving pattern potentially creates a different dye pattern, which may also be altered by time in the dye pot or the type of fiber used – each providing a different effect from the same dyed piece.

This exhibit of Susan’s fiber art represents several years of work as a spinner, weaver, dyer and teacher. “Now as a retired teacher and full-time studio artist, I have the opportunity to dwell more on one medium at a time, but there are always several projects going on simultaneously on the many looms and wheels in my home,” she said. “I think that this creative process with all its diversity, reflects my approach to living as a woman, wife, mother, business owner, teacher and artist. For me, the learning process never ends.”

Susan received a bachelor’s degree in art education and a master’s degree in art from Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. Over the years, she has taught in various art education settings for children, youth and adults. Her work has been on exhibit in shows in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

The Hershberger Art Gallery, located in the Goshen College Music Center, is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday and 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, except during school vacations. The building is accessible to people using wheelchairs and others with physical limitations.

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.