Artists

NEIL TETKOWSKI

Tetkowski creates art that communicates beyond cultural barriers. It is with this global perspective that his art is embraced throughout the world. Tetkowski has led many public art perfo rmances with community participation. These events and installations reflect his conviction that art can be a vital community process accessible to a broad audience.

bio [+]

close bio [x]

Neil Tetkowski is the founder and director of the Common Ground World Project, an international non-governmental organization that uses the arts and education to focus attention on global environmental concerns. In 1997, Tetkowski presented this concept to several offices at the United Nations. Within a few months, the Common Ground World Project was officially endorsed by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. A tremendous effort was required to recruit, motivate and coordinate people around the world, to extract earth from their country and send it to New York. The project culminated during the spring of 2000 when Tetkowski built a sculpture on location at the United Nations using these unique earth materials and physically involved people from every country of the world. The completed World Mandala Monument was exhibited at the United Nations in 2002. The Ford Foundation made a generous grant to support the final fabrication and installation of the World Mandala Monument in the main visitor's lobby at the UN in New York.

Tetkowski has given numerous lectures and workshops throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, South America, Cuba, Korea, and Japan, including the Museum of Modern Art in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Museum of Arts and Desgn in New York City, the Honolulu Academy of Arts in Hawaii and the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York. He is an elected lifetime member of the International Academy of Ceramics in Zurich and an Honorary Citizen of Kanazawa, Japan. Tetkowski has received numerous grants and fellowships. His work is widely published and placed in permanent collections of more than 35 museums including the Victoria and Albert in London, the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American Art, in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo.

Tetkowski was born in 1955 in Buffalo, New York. He had an early fascination with different cultures. As a child Tetkowski had the opportunity to travel extensively with his family. At five he went to school in Siena, Italy for several years. By the time he was eight he had crossed the Atlantic three times by ocean liner and had visited more than 20 countries. Tetkowski earned his BFA in 1977 at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. In 1980 he received his MFA from Illinois State University. He taught at Denison University in Ohio until 1983. During the following four years Tetkowski was an assistant professor of art at the State University College at Buffalo and from 1993 through 1999 he taught at Parsons School of Design.

Tetkowski lives in Manhattan and is the Gallery Director at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. His artwork is well represented in private collections, and permanent collections of 35 museums including the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, the Smithsonian Institution and the Victoria and Albert in London. He has received many awards including a grant from the Ford Foundation. During the past year, Neil Tetkowski’s work has been exhibited in Korea at the World Ceramic Biennale and in China at the Beijing Art Biennale 2005.

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario
Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh
Castellani Art Gallery, Niagara Falls, New York
Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, Missouri
Everson Museum, Syracuse, New York
Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada
Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, Georgia
Hetjens Museum, Dusseldorf
Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu
Huntington Museum, Huntington, West Virginia
Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois
Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois
International Museum of Ceramics, Faenza, Italy
Keramion, Frechen, Germany
Long Beach Art Museum, Long Beach, California
MacNider Museum, Mason City, Iowa
Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York
Musee Ariana, Geneve, Switzerland
Museum of Applied Arts, Helsinki
Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, Georgia
Museum of Contemporary Arts and Design, New York City
Museum of Modern Art, Buenos Aires
Museum of Modern Art, Kogeikan, Tokyo
Museum of Western New York Art, Burchfield-Penny Art Center, Buffalo, New York
Museum Prinsessehof, Leeuwarden, Netherlands
Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey
Ohi Museum, Kanazawa, Japan
The Palace of Culture, Warsaw
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, Texas
Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred, New York
Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American Art, Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.
misc1 Museum, Tokyo
Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England

Tetkowski - Common Ground 2010 , Julu 15 - August 21, 20010 [-]

Neil Tetkowski
Common Ground 2010

July 15 – August 21
Opening Reception: July 15, 6:00 – 8:00 PM

Thursday, July 15th a one-person exhibition titled Common Ground 2010, by Neil Tetkowski will be featured at the new hpgrp gallery New York at 529 West 20th St. 2nd floor in Chelsea. The reception will be from 6:00 – 8:00 PM.

The concept of the Common Ground World Project is as relevant today as it was in the 1990’s when the idea was first conceived by Neil Tetkowski. At the heart of this creative undertaking is a simple yet fascinating idea: collect clay and sand from all United Nations countries, formulate a single “world clay” and create a sculpture celebrating the interconnection of all human beings. Metaphors and symbolism abound as people from every nation participated in this environmental project. At the United Nations, the Commission on Sustainable Development originally endorsed the project to illustrate the interdependence of our planetary ecosystem. In 1998 and 1999 clay samples were collected from every country. The following year the installation of 188 earth samples was on display while the artist constructed the clay mandala sculpture at the United Nations Visitor’s Lobby. For three weeks, participants from every nation were involved in this creation event. In 2002, in its completed form, the World Mandala sculpture was exhibited at the United Nations Visitor’s Lobby.

Today with increasing assaults on our natural environment, it is appropriate to reflect on this artist’s provoking work. For the first time Installation188 and the World Mandala will be on view together. Additionally, Neil Tetkowski has created a new installation titled Oil & Water especially for this solo exhibition at the new hpgrp gallery New York.

Born in 1955, Neil Tetkowski’s early years were spent in Siena, Italy where he went to grammar school for several years. Both parents were in the arts providing an early foundation for what would become a lifetime passion for creativity, education and a fascination with diverse cultures of the world. Before his tenth birthday he had visited museums and cultural landmarks in more than twenty countries.

Neil Tetkowski’s material of choice comes directly from the Earth. Most often he uses clay, which he believes is the perfect medium to express his relationship to the natural environment. Since 1980, Tetkowski has exhibited his artwork in galleries and museums. He has a special interest in Japanese culture and has had three solo exhibitions in Tokyo. Tetkowski’s work has been exhibited at the International Art Biennale, in Beijing, China. Additionally, the artist has received numerous grants and fellowships including a Ford Foundation grant. His artwork is widely published and placed in permanent collections of 40 museums including the Victoria and Albert in London, the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American Art, in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo.

Neil Tetkowski holds degrees from Alfred University and from Illinois State University. He has been a professor at Denison University in Ohio, the State University College at Buffalo and at Parsons School of Design in New York City. Neil Tetkowski lives in Manhattan and is the Director of University Galleries at Kean University in Union, New Jersey.

www.tetkowski.com

Tetkowski - Cuba :: May 11 - June 18, 2006 [+]

Tetkowski - Cuba :: May 11 - June 18, 2006 [-]

Tetkowski-Cuba
NEIL TETKOWSKI

MAY 11 - JUNE 18. 2006.
OPENING RECEPTION: APRIL 11. 6 - 8PM

TETKOWSKI - CUBA…a solo exhibition of photographs, collage and sculpture by Neil Tetkowski at HPGRP Gallery. Opening Thursday, May 11th, 6:00 - 8:00 PM, showing through June 18, 2006, located at 32-36 Little West 12th Street in the Meat Packing District.

Gallery hours: Tues.-Sat. 11:00 AM to 6:00PM. Sun. 12:00 to 6:00PM.

TETKOWSKI - CUBA

Tetkowski-Cuba is an exhibition of all new works inspired by the artist’s recent trip to Cuba. Tetkowski stayed in Santiago de Cuba, located in the eastern most part of the island nation, and Havana, the capital city. There he photographed and collected objects that make up the source material for these new works; four sculptures, twelve photographs and six collages which are in part made of his photographs. Tetkowski-Cuba confirms the artist’s continued interest in artworks reflecting cultural, ecological and geo-political exploration.

“Cuba is a country of paradoxes,” says Tetkowski. “Everything you’ve ever heard is probably true and not true at the same time.” Each collage includes a front page headline from the national newspaper called Granma, named after the boat that Fidel used during his heroic 1956 invasion from Mexico into Oriente province marking the start of the Revolution. (Now housed in a shrine-like museum in Havana, the boat was purchased by Fidel from an American who had named the leisure yacht after his own grandmother.) One such Granma headline reads “Millions of Cubans Exercise their Democracy”. Like layers of irony the layered paper making up the collage transform contradictory elements of life into art. Titles such as “Ration Book”, “Pink Truck” and “The Battle of Ideas” make reference to the photos, newspaper clippings and found objects included in the collage work. A shiny yellow scrap of paper is actually an M & M candy wrapper - the Cuban UPC sticker from the national store reads “ la victoria” a common slogan of the Revolution - up close you can read “Made in USA”. “So much for the embargo” says Tetkowski. Portraits of school children make up a series of photographs included in the show. An image of each child holding a drawing is contrasted with an image of the same child’s worn out shoes.

There are four 3D works in the show. “222” sits elegantly on a pedestal and is made of three glass bottles with numbers sand-blasted, clearly marking the nation of origin of the dirt contained. Number 179 is the United States, and 43 is Cuba, following the official United Nations list of Member States. Add up 179 and 43 and voil‡, you have a potent hybrid titled “222”. “Rice Producer” is a mixed media work comprised of an empty sack that had contained 50 kg of rice recently imported from Vietnam. The sack hangs from the wall and is supported at the bottom with a horizontal shelf holding two bottles numbered 43 and 184, containing the earth of Cuba and Vietnam. “Breadbasket” is a silver basket containing a single slice of marbleized bread. A closer look reveals that it is not bread but fired clay from two nations that cannot get along peacefully, i.e. Cuba and the United States. “Hour Glass” is an entirely ceramic wall sculpture and clearly more typical of Tetkowski’s work. This relief contains the artist’s trade mark image i.e. the handprint of a small child and the handprint of an adult.

All of the sculptures directly relate to The Common Ground World Project which kept the artist busy for the better part of five years. In 1998 he set out to connect with people in every country of the world. Each person was asked to dig raw earth material from their country and send it to the artist in New York. Clay and sand from 188 countries was combined at the United Nations in New York to create the “World Mandala Monument”. The hand print of a 100 year-old woman graces the center of this 10’ work. Also from the Common Ground World Project, “Installation 188” is a 24’ work that has traveled to 10 museums. It is made of 188 bottles with raw earth from each UN country.

Neil Tetkowski’s artwork is well represented in private collections, and permanent collections of 35 museums including the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, the Smithsonian Institution and the Victoria and Albert in London. He has received many awards including a grant from the Ford Foundation. During the past year, Neil Tetkowski’s work has been exhibited in Korea at the World Ceramic Biennale and in China at the Beijing Art Biennale 2005.

http://www.tetkowski.com/

NEIL TETKOWSKI

Tetkowski-Cuba NEIL TETKOWSKI

Tetkowski-Cuba
NEIL TETKOWSKI