Gallery Up is presenting a two-person show entitled Flora by artists Jenni Brant and Jennifer Mecca from February 6 – March 23, 2012. The official artists’ reception, on February 9 from 6 – 8pm, is free and open to the public and will include a cash bar. A closing reception is also scheduled for March 8, 2012 from 6 – 8pm.
Handmade for someone special
Flora comes from an idea of bringing the highest quality vase work and ceramics to Old Town Rock Hill just in time to surprise that special someone for Valentine’s Day. Up will also provide the “flora” for those patrons purchasing a vase during the opening reception on February 9.
Both Jenni Brant and Jennifer Mecca make elegant and carefully crafted vessels and ceramic ware meant to ritualize, celebrate, and bring merriment to the traditions found around the dinner table. Their elaborate surface treatments bring a level of sophistication and excitement to their utilitarian forms.
Jenni Brant
Brant comes from Nebraska City, NE and is also the Executive Director of Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. She received a BFA with honors from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and an MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She was named an Emerging Artist of 2008 by Ceramics Monthly and was recently recognized as a finalist for the Lydon Emerging Artist Program through the Society for Contemporary Craft in 2010. Her work has been featured in Ceramics Monthly, 500 Plates & Chargers by Lark Books, and as a Nebraska Story on NET television. She is represented at Terra Incognito (Chicago, IL), Artisan Gallery (Paoli, WI), Lost Coast Culture Machine (Fort Bragg, CA), LUX Center for the Arts, and Sheldon Museum Store (Lincoln, NE).
Jennifer Mecca
Mecca maintains a home studio in Gastonia N.C. as working potter, and teaches ceramics at Winthrop University. She earned her M.F.A. at East Carolina University, and during that time she studied abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia, Estonia, and Finland through an exchange program sponsored by East Carolina University. Her work has been featured in Ceramics Monthly, Clay Times, 500 Cups by Lark Books, and Introducing Ceramics. Mecca’s work can be seen in several fine-craft galleries on the east coast, and she has also exhibited work at the North Carolina Pottery Center, the Rocky Mountain Museum of Art, Greenville Museum of Art, Genaseo State University, and the Odyssey Center for Ceramic Art.
