Margaret McAdams

Artist’s Statement

Cinerary Urn: Dyad #24 is a high-fired reduction stoneware storage jar with a humanistic side and an animalistic side—thus titled “dyad.” An underlying interest in the expressive animal forms and techniques for bas-relief architectural sculpture in early pagan, medieval and non-Western art informed this work. This form examines the suggestion of the possibility of the convergence of human character and animal identity. This conjoining of forms alludes to the physical, psychological, and spiritual reunion of humans with nature.

As the title suggests, this storage container can be used as an urn for cremation ashes, whether human or an endeared animal. Symbolically, the jar may be used as a repository to contain the intangible embodiment of past experience, remembrance, or commemoration. In essence, literally or metaphorically, the urn becomes a “tenement of clay.”

Methods used to make the urn include a combination of wheel-throwing and hand-building techniques. The lid/head is hand-built. The jar/body is thrown and altered using additive and subtractive techniques. The opposing sides are unified through the application of transitional patterning and textural motif. All surfaces are patterned or textured through incising, stippling, or burnishing. Color and surface variations are produced through combination of colored clays, slips, engobes, stains, and glaze. Reduction firing creates the warm brown coloration in the raw stoneware body.

Bio

Margaret McAdams received a BCA from UNCC in 1977 and an MFA in Multi-Media and Painting from Washington University in St. Louis in 1979. She worked the NC Community College system for two years. From 1982-85 she was Exhibitions Director at Western Michigan University. After working for several years as a self-employed artist, in 1987 she was hired to teach at UNCC. To be closer to her husband, Dennis Deane, she left UNCC to teach art at Ohio University-Chillicothe where she has been teaching since 1990. Moving through the professorial ranks, she was promoted to Professor in 2001. In 2006, she received the Regional Campus Outstanding Professor Award.

Her artworks have been shown in over two hundred juried and invitational shows internationally, nationally, and regionally. Recent venues include the Atkinson Gallery, Southport, England; Ohio Craft Museum; the Columbus Museum of Art; the Southern Illinois University Art Museum; Mount Vernon Nazarene University; and the Council for the Arts in Jacksonville, NC. In 2005, she was awarded an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship in Photography. Since beginning the Dyad series in 2002, her ceramic urns have received awards in seven juried exhibitions. In 2000, she was awarded a two-month artist’s residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

She says that staying active in her creative work brings energy, enthusiasm, and credibility to her teaching. The challenges and confirmation she received while she was a student in the BCA program at UNCC from Martha Strawn, Eric Anderson, Edwina Bringle and Rod MacKillop helped form her vision for her life’s work.


C.V.

Margaret McAdams, MFA
Professor of Art
Ohio University-Chillicothe


Education

Master of Fine Arts, Multi-Media/Painting, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Bachelor of Creative Arts, Painting/Photography, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
Post-Graduate Studies and Workshops
Wood-Fired Workshop with Chuck Hindes, Ron Meyers, Rand Heazlitt, Stephen Driver, Corydon, IN
Painted Earthenware with Ron Meyers, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
Encaustic Painting with Mariam Karp, Craftsummer, Miami University, Oxford, OH
Mosaic/Ceramic Tile Production with Adam Zayas, Craftsummer, Miami University, Oxford, OH
Welded Steel Sculpture with Mara Adamitz Scrupe, Craftsummer, Miami University, Oxford, OH
Awards, Grants, Fellowships, and Residency (2000-2006)
Regional Campus Outstanding Professor Award, 2006
Ohio Magazine “Excellence in Education” memorable educator recognition, 2006
Summer Research Grant for Tutelary Urns: A Ceramics Project, Ohio University-Chillicothe, 2006
Faculty Fellowship, Ohio University-Chillicothe, three-term leave for mixed media works on paper, photographic, and ceramic work,

2005-06
Ohio Arts Council Individual Artists Fellowship for photographic work: Bright Leaf, Dark Skies, 2005
Ohio Arts Council Artists Project Grant for photographic work: Bright Leaf, Dark Skies, 2003 (co-recipient with Dennis Deane)
Summer Research Grant for ceramic work: Cinerary Urn: Dyad Series, Ohio University-Chillicothe, 2003
Regional Higher Education Professional Development Grant, for photographic work: Prehistoric Megaliths in England and Old Trees,

2002
Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France, May-June 2000 for Pinhole Project, awarded by the School of Art, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Baker Research Grant for photographic work: Bright Leaf, Dark Skies, Ohio University, 2000 (co-recipient with Dennis Deane)
International Travel Fund for travel to France, Ohio University, summer 2000, summer 1997
Art Awards (2000-2006)
Award of Excellence, Earth in Balance, A Regional Clay Competition, Rosewood Gallery, Kettering, OH, 2006.
Traditional Fine Arts—Sculpture, Ceramics and Glass winner, 6th Annual Appalachian Art and Craft Juried Exhibit, Zanesville, OH,

2005.
Juror’s Award, 59th Annual May Art Show and Craft Exhibition, Zanesville Art Center, Zanesville, OH, 2005
Theodore & Bevlyn Simson Award, Ohio Art League, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH, 2004
Craft Award, Appalachian Corridors, Avampato Discovery Museum, Charleston, WV, 2003
Juror’s Award, Art on View, Dairy Barn Cultural Arts Center, Athens, OH, 2003
First Place Sculpture Award, 3rd Annual Appalachian Art and Craft Juried Exhibit, Zanesville, OH, 2002
Second Place Sculpture Award, 2nd Annual Appalachian Art and Craft Juried Exhibit, Zanesville, OH, 2001
First Place Photography Award, 1st Annual Appalachian Art and Craft Juried Exhibit, Zanesville, OH, 2000

Selected Exhibitions (2000-2007)

One and Two-Person Invitationals
2007 Spiritual Visions with a Twist, French Art Colony, Gallipolis, OH (with Mairyann Wrentmore)
2007 Megaliths, Virginia Intermont College, Bristol, VA
2004 Bright Leaf, Dark Skies, Scott Memorial Gallery, Ohio University-Chillicothe, Chillicothe, OH (with Dennis Deane)
2003 Bright Leaf, Dark Skies, Council for the Arts, Jacksonville, NC (with Dennis Deane)
2000 Megalithic Brittany, Kent Student Center, Kent State University, Kent, OH

International Group Invitationals
2006 Post it, Atkinson Gallery, Southport, England, UK
2001 Snapshot, Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD
2000 Rear Window, Cité International des Arts and Swiss Cultural Center, Paris, France
1999 International Touring Art Exhibition, Tour sites:
Owens Corning Corporate World Headquarters, Toledo, OH
Mora Ferenc Museum, Szeged and Csongrad, Town Hall, Csongrad, Hungary
Novosibirsk Museum of Art, Novosibirsk, Siberia and Tomsk Museum of Art, Tomsk, Russia
National and Regional Group Invitationals (2000-2007)
2008 All in the Family, Sandusky Cultural Center, Sandusky, OH
2007 Thumb Box Show, Ohio Art League Gallery, Columbus, OH
2006 Time Arts BCA/BFA Alumni and Faculty, College of Architecture Gallery, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
2004 Brian Bäby, Margaret McAdams, and Jeffery Cortland Jones, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Mount Vernon, OH
2004 Best of 2004, Ohio Designer Craftsmen, Wayne Center for the Arts, Wooster, OH
2003 Out of the Box, Sandusky Cultural Center, Sandusky, OH
2002 Space Contained, Sandusky Cultural Center, Sandusky, OH
2000 Ohio Art League Mail Art Show, Columbus, OH

International, National and Regional Juried Competitions (2000-2007)
2008 Best of 2008, Ohio Designer Craftsmen, Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus, OH and tour
2007 Riverboxes commission, Dublin Arts Council, Scioto Park, Dublin, OH
2006 Earth in Balance, A Regional Clay Competition, Rosewood Gallery, Kettering, OH
2006 Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, Columbus, OH
2006 Cream of the Crop, Southern Ohio Museum, Portsmouth, OH
2006 Crafts National 40, Zoller Gallery Penn State University, University Park, PA
2006 Best of 2006, Ohio Designer Craftsmen, Lima Art Space, Lima; Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus, OH, Mansfield Art Center, Mansfield, OH.
2006 Starbrick Clay National, Nelsonville, OH
2006 Ohio +5, Dairy Barn Southeastern Ohio Arts Center, Athens, OH
2006 Wings, Tails, Hooves, & Scales, Ohio Veterinary Medical Association, Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, OH
2005 Earth In Balance, A Regional Clay Competition, Rosewood Gallery, Kettering, OH
2005 Annual Appalachian Art and Craft Juried Exhibit, Zanesville, OH. (also 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000)
2005 Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Show, Columbus, OH
2005 59th Annual May Art Show & Craft Exhibition, Zanesville Art Center, Zanesville, OH
2005 94th Annual Spring Juried Exhibition, Columbus Cultural Arts Center, Columbus, OH
2005 Best of 2005, Ohio Designer Craftsmen, Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus, OH; Southern Ohio Museum, Portsmouth, OH; Dairy Barn, Athens, OH
2005 Wings, Tails, Hooves & Scales, Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, OH
2004 Ninth Biennial Arts Competition and Exhibition, University Museum, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
2004 Ohio Art League Annual Fall Juried Show, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
2004 Cream of the Crop, Southern Ohio Museum, Portsmouth, OH. (also 2002, 1998, 1996, 1992, 1990)
2004 Best of 2004, Ohio Designer Craftsmen, Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus, OH
2003 Appalachian Corridors, Avampato Discovery Museum, Charleston, WV
2003 Ohio Art League’s Spring Juried Exhibition, Arena District, Columbus, OH
2003 Art on View, Dairy Barn Art Center, Athens, OH (also 2001, 2000, 1998, 1992)
2002 Ohio Art League’s Fall Juried Exhibition, Fort Hayes, Columbus, OH. (also 2001, 1998, 1995, 1991)
2002 National Juried Exhibition, Toledo Friends of Photography, University of Toledo Center for the Visual Arts, Toledo, OH
2001 3 x 3, Ashland Area Art Gallery, Ashland, KY
2000 SECAC/MACAA Juried Exhibition, Hite Art Institute, Louisville, KY
Selected Artist’s Lectures and Presentations (2000-2007)
2007 Cinerary Urn: Dyad series, French Art Colony, Gallipolis, OH
2007 Megaliths, Spring 2007 Photography Lecture Series, Virginia Intermont College, Bristol, VA.
2004 Cinerary Urns: Dyad Series, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Mt. Vernon, OH
2004 Bright Leaf, Dark Skies, Scott Memorial Gallery, Ohio University-Chillicothe, Chillicothe, OH
2003 The Timelessness of the Self-Portrait, Foundations in Art, Theory, and Education (FATE) National Conference, Sarasota, FL

Selected Articles and Reviews about My Artwork
"A Bird by Any Other Name..." Tryon Daily News [Tryon, NC] 16 Sept. 1988: 5.
"At the Gallery." The Kentucky Post [Covington, KY] 31 Oct. 1997: 4K. (reproduction)
Ariail, Kate Dobbs. "Three for the Show." Rev. of "Margaret McAdams, Terry Schupbach-Gordon, Daniel Millspaugh at Artspace." Audience [Raleigh, NC] 3 July 1991.
"Birds of a Feather Flock Together at The Upstairs." Tryon Daily News [Tryon, NC] 18 Nov. 1988: 2.
Burton, Brynn. “Trunk of Memories.” Perspectives: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity at Ohio University VIII.I (2004): 5. (article with reproductions)
Cooper, Andrea. "Creativity and the Brain." Spirit Square Magazine 3 Mar. 1989: 13-16.
Constable, Lesley. "Playfulness Buoys Art League Show." Rev. of "Exhibition I: 1993," Columbus Art League. The Columbus Dispatch [Columbus, OH] 10 Jan. 1993: 9D. (reproduction)
Dillon, Pamela. “Mud Rises to the occasion, The Rosewood’s annual clay show has fewer works this year.” Dayton Daily News, 12 Nov. 2006: D10.
Hall, Jacqueline. “In a State of Flux.” Rev. of the "Columbus Art League 2004 Fall Juried Exhibition." Columbus Dispatch 7 Nov. 2004: F8. (review with reproduction)
---. "Oktoberfest Inspires Thematic Exhibit." Rev. of "Preservation: An Artists's Vision," German Village Meeting Haus. The Columbus Dispatch [Columbus, OH] 1 Sept, 1991: 4B.
Halperen, Max. "Margaret McAdams, Terry Schupbach-Gordon, Daniel Millspaugh." Artvu, 38 (1991). (review with reproduction)
Hirsch, Frank D. “Mayday at the art center.” Times Recorder [Zanesville, OH] 28 Apr. 2005. (review)
"Healing Art Exhibit Continues." Rev. of "Art That Heals," Sandusky Cultural Center. Sandusky Register [Sandusky, OH] 6 Oct. 1993: 3.
Hesler, Eva, "Works, environment merge in Art League exhibit." Rev. of the "Columbus Art League 1995 Fall Juried Exhibition." The Columbus Dispatch [Columbus, OH] 8 Oct. 1995: 8F.
Kokot, Sharon. "Art League show takes advantage of the outdoors." Rev. of "Ohio Art League Fall Juried Exhibition." The Columbus Dispatch [Columbus, OH] 15 Nov. 1998: 8F. (article with reproduction)
Mayr, Bill. "Art that delivers." Rev. of "Mail Art Show." Ohio Art League. The Columbus Dispatch [Columbus, OH] 17 April 2000: 1B
McCaskill, Dave. "Artist is "Making Myths." The Western Carolinian [Cullowhee, NC] 14 Nov. 1991: 4. (interview with reproduction)
Dillon, Pamela. “Mud rises to the occasion.” Dayton Daily News 12 Nov. 2006: D10.
Regional Higher Education Ohio University Annual Report 2002: 2-3.
Romero, Rubel. "Closing Arguments." Rev. of "Thirty-Fourth Annual Juried Art Show, Durham Art Guild." Spectator [Durham, NC] 16 Feb. 1989: 19. (review)
---. "Lady of the Light." Rev. of "Margaret McAdams, Terry Schupbach-Gordon, Daniel Millspaugh at ArtSpace." Spectator [Durham, NC] 13 June 1991. (review)
Ross, Gail. "New Two-person Exhibit Opens at the Jailhouse Gallery." The Entertainer. [Morganton, NC] 11 July 1991. (article)
Sabo, Stephanie, "Coburn exhibition surpasses the boundaries of traditional drawing." The Collegian Student Newspaper [Ashland University, Ashland, OH] 5 Feb. 1998: 2. (article)
Simmons, Carol. "Unreal Birds Link Man, Environment." Rev. of Margaret McAdams, Kettering Government Center Gallery. Dayton Daily News [Dayton, OH] 10 May, 1993: 8B.
Starker, Melissa. “Ohio Artists and the Blustery Days.” Columbus Alive [Columbus, OH] 25 Oct. 2001. (review)
Vallongo, Sally. "Spirituality and Emotion Inspire Reformation in Art." Rev. of "Art That Heals," Sandusky Cultural Center. The Blade [Toledo, OH] 17 Oct. 1993: 1.
Yalkut, Jud. “Return to Earth: Ecological concerns dominate Rosewood exhibition.” Dayton City Paper [Dayton, OH] 23-29 Nov. 2005: 28. (review)
Zegeer, Jill. "Colorful Experience, Deep Thoughts Integral Part of McAdams' Art." Chillicothe Gazette [Chillicothe, OH] 7 May, 1991: 1B. (interview and reproductions.)

Collections
French Art Colony
Mount Vernon Nazarene University
North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching
Acme Steel Company
Lincoln National Life Insurance Company
Western Michigan University Permanent Art Collection
Private collections