Learning
Professor McCollum is presenter for international Zanesville Prize conference
Muskingum University Professor of Art Ken McCollum was a presenter at the Zanesville Prize for Contemporary Ceramics conference, From The Ground Up, as a part of the largest Best of Show prize competition in the Western Hemisphere, and was an exhibitor at the 70th Annual Ohio Annual Exhibition.
The porcelain ceramic art work McCollum creates tends to communicate the importance of image to American society. His pieces often narrate a different story using several repetitive symbols and the title of each piece is often incorporated into the design. Although humorous in appearance initially, the serious nature of the subject is discovered through close inspection.
At his presentation at the conference, participants at both sessions were invited to join him in practicing his techniques, with an emphasis on stencils, sgraffito, underglazes and engobes .During the presentation, he also showed 10 pieces of his ceramic work.
McCollum was also an exhibitor at the 70th Ohio Annual Exhibition, held at the Zanesville Museum of Art.
The juried competition was open to all Ohio artists, and was formerly the museum’s May Show. The competition was renamed and expanded to include all Ohio artists in all media to better represent the broad array of high-quality work being created by artists across the state. The juror for the competition was Edward Pauley, director of the Kennedy Museum of Art at Ohio University in Athens.
McCollum’s entry into the Ohio Annual competition was a ceramic jardinere titled Good Morning Vietnam. The two-part theme of the piece encompassed the complex questions that surrounded the country’s involvement in Vietnam and marked the role of the U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry Division in the war. Known as “The Big Red One,” the 1st Infantry is the Army’s oldest continuously-serving division and saw heavy combat in Vietnam in 1966 and 1967.
McCollum joined the Muskingum University faculty in 2000. He earned his bachelor’s degree in ceramics from Phillips University, a master’s degree in sculpture from West Texas State University and master of fine arts degree with a concentration in ceramic arts from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
