1878 Gallery
June 3 - August 20, 2023
ArtWalk Reception
Saturday, June 3, 2023
6 – 9 PM
Artist talk at 6:30 PM
These exhibitions are supported in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
June Woest
Those Prepared for the Weather are Those that Get to Go
June Woest’s exhibition, Those Prepared for the Weather are Those that Get to Go, features hand-held weather contraptions that empower their beholders to become master manipulators of the weather. Constructed of mass-produced found objects attached to ceramic forms, the works are conceptually designed to fix the weather when facing forecasts of high winds, floods, heat, cold, and haze. Her self-study on weather manipulation and familiarity with blustery weather events during her youth in Kansas informs her interest in human climate resilience. Tiring of doomsday predictions, Woest’s work offers an optimistic view on the changing climate and instigates continued conversation about the future of the weather and the possibility and hope that humans can change it.
June Woest is an artist, educator, curator, traveler, and weather enthusiast based in Houston, TX. She has served as faculty member for Houston Community College (HCC) for the past three decades, where she was as a founding member of the Instructional Technology Committee and led artist projects through the college’s Artist in Residency program and Wedge Space gallery. Her work has been exhibited throughout Texas, including exhibitions in Houston at DiverseWorks, Lawndale Art Center, Lone Star College, Project Row Houses, Skydive, and the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. She has presented outdoor installations at Russ Pitman Park, Bellaire, TX; the Mast Arboretum at Stephen F. Austin University; the Wortham Center reflection pool, Houston, TX. Woest curated the rotating billboard project RoadsignUSA, located in the parking lot of a neighborhood pub in Bellaire, TX from 2009 to 2014. She has participated in residencies at Wassard Elea in Campania, Italy; the Sanbao Ceramic Art Institute in Jingdezhen, China; and served as a Creative Capital Artist Associate for DiverseWorks. Woest co-founded Municipal Dirt, a Houston group of visual artists intent on working site-specifically outdoors, and is currently a member of ArtAxis, an evolving group of online ceramic artists.
junewoest.com
