The McClure Gallery is honoured to present 10 Years, an exhibition of works by ceramic artist Eva Lapka. Renowned for her mastery of the clay medium, Lapka refashions the human form in a poetically resonant way, addressing issues of loss, memory, identity and the cycles of life and death. The exhibition regroups nearly thirty pieces created over the past decade and is accompanied by a catalogue featuring over forty images as well as a text by Victoria LeBlanc, director of the Visual Arts Centre and curator of this exhibition.
Eva Lapka’s fragmented clay bodies marry form and content towards an evocation of things just below the surface in a way that opens the personal towards a deeply felt investigation of our common humanity. Moreover, the work completed over the last decade bears a distinctive feminist sensibility, a sensual lyricism and intimacy, moving away from the more geometric and classical forms of the past. Continuing to use the stoneware for which she is known, Lapka’s experimentations with multiple glazes and refirings results in rich molten surfaces; the appearance is often of an unearthed artefact. The abstracted human forms resist narration, however, and the resultant layered ambiguity of meaning is important to the artist. “I try to avoid any narratives and allow for breathing room and open dialoque with the viewer.” Be it wall relief or standing sculpture, this exhibition presents work of honed craftsmanship and a singular vision.
Eva Lapka 10 Years also serves to recognize the artist’s contribution to the Visual Arts Centre. Eva has been teaching at the Centre since 1991 and, in 1999, she assumed directorship of the Ceramics Department. After fourteen years, in September 2013, she resigned as Director.
