The Helzer Gallery Featured Artist Program is a series of virtual programming created to introduce the audience to the work and creative practice of various artists. The first featured artist is former PCC student Marjorie Dial, who works from Portland and North Carolina. Her interest in a career as an artist and ceramicist began after taking several ceramics classes at Rock Creek with art faculty Micki Skudlarczyk.
In her video, Dial takes the viewer on a walk at Township 10, an artist residency she founded in Marshall, N.C. She offers a glimpse into her studio practice, where she makes drawings using ash and slip while sharing ideas about the lexicon of forms she has developed in her ceramic sculptures. Township 10, founded in 2018, is a project focusing on the intimacy, intensity and transformational qualities of studio life.
View Dial’s tour: https://youtu.be/fUcCFIygJNo
Born in Columbia, S.C., Dial holds a master’s degree in fine arts from the Oregon College of Art and Craft and a bachelor’s degree from Yale University. Dial is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice includes sculpture, print-making and writing. She develops bodies of work through space-specific interactions, research and frenetic making. Her interests lie in the capacity for work to shift meanings, engage in story-telling and attune to information outside of conscious awareness.
Her work has been shown in exhibitions at several Portland venues, including Eutectic Gallery, Front of House, Ash Street Project Gallery, T Project Gallery and Hoffman Gallery. Dial received the MFA Award of Distinction from the Oregon College of Art and Craft and was invited to attend the Center for Contemporary Ceramics at California State at Long Beach as a resident artist in 2019.
While nothing can replace the physical act of engaging with artworks, the short “studio visit” videos produced by featured artists can open the door to a different side of the creative process. These artists also engage with Portland Community College art classes through virtual events. The Helzer Gallery, located at PCC’s Rock Creek Campus, will return to regular gallery programming once PCC returns to normal operations.
Photos and Story by Alfredo V. Moreno
