CCA News
Ann Weber’s World at the de Young Museum: Power, Mystery, and Cardboard
Posted on Wednesday, February 17, 2010, by Chris Bliss
Alumna Ann Weber (MFA Ceramics 1987) finds inspiration in all kinds of places and things: geometric shapes such as the cone, sphere, and cylinder; the work of architect Frank Gehry; and the botanical world of pods, seeds, and gourds.
Yet one place you might be surprised to find her looking for inspiration is at the local dumpster.
When you create monumental shapes and structures out of cardboard, the dumpster just may be the best source for good raw material. “The resourcefulness of making beauty from a common and mundane material intrigues me,” says Weber. A few years ago, the KQED program Spark captured the process Weber uses to transform discarded cardboard into voluminous, towering sculptures characterized by their bulging, organic shapes.
Cardboard wasn’t always her medium of choice. Weber was a ceramicist who spent 15 years making functional pottery before coming to CCA to study with legends Viola Frey and Art Nelson. In 1991 she started working with cardboard because she wanted to make large forms without the cumbersome process and weight of clay.
As for the scale of her work, she explains, “The sculptures read as metaphors for life experiences such as the balancing acts that define our lives or how far you can go with something before it collapses.”
Weber’s work has been included in solo and group exhibitions across the country including at the Oakland Museum of California, the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, the Boise Art Museum, and the William Havu Gallery in Denver. She has received commissions to create work in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Washington State. And she was one of 24 California artists chosen to contribute art to a five-building government complex within the California State Capitol that opened in 2003.
Now through February 28 you can find Weber in the Kimball Education Gallery at the de Young Museum, where she is this month’s artist in residence. Wednesdays through Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. and Fridays from 6 to 8:45 p.m. museum visitors can observe her in action creating sculptures or join in creating cardboard sculptures relating to the artwork in the Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art.
Other museum events include an artist talk at 3 p.m. on February 18 and a closing reception from 6 to 8:45 p.m. on February 26. For more information, visit the de Young Museum website.