Forrest Leonard: Care Packaging

January 30, 2022 - February 10, 2022
Mānoa Campus, Art Building, Commons Gallery

The Department of Art and Art History, UHM, is proud to highlight Forrest Leonard, one of its six MFA candidates in 2022. Leonard presents his MFA thesis exhibition, "Care Packaging."

"Care Packaging" highlights a ceramic artist’s perspective on waste streams as a resource, rather than a source of pollution. Leonard focuses on Styrofoam, which despite being recyclable occupies 30% of landfills worldwide. In Hawai‘i, Styrofoam packaging waste increased with online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic, a sign that the climate crisis continues in spite of lockdowns. Rather than dwell on these negative associations, Leonard reuses the Styrofoam packaging as readymade molds for casting ceramic forms. Utilizing recycled clay and found colorants, he recasts the products the Styrofoam once carried, and adapts them as functional and sculptural ceramics.

Forrest Leonard (b. 1994) is a ceramic artist raised in Kailua, O‘ahu, who utilizes found forms for making functional and sculptural ceramics. He completed his BFA in ceramics and sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 2015. Since 2010, Leonard has received numerous awards during various exhibitions in Hawaii, Chicago and Portland. He was also awarded John Young scholarships upon enrolling at SAIC (2012) and for his MFA in ceramics at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) (2022). Leonard has worked and volunteered extensively within the O‘ahu art community, primarily as an installation technician and as the treasurer for the Clay Club at UHM. Recent exhibitions include Post Package, GRRIC Contemporary (2021) and Hawai‘i Craftsmen Annual Juried Exhibition, Downtown Arts Center (2020).

Image:

"Styro Casts" (detail), 2022

Courtesy of the artist.

Information, dates, time are subject to change.


Ticket Information
Following current covid-19 protocols. Gallery hours: Sun.–Thur. 12:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.; Closed Fri., Sat. Viewable through gallery windows.

Event Sponsor
Art & Art History, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Sharon Tasaka, 808-956-8364, gallery@hawaii.edu, https://hawaii.edu/art/2022-leonard-everett-noordhoff-naeem-davis-talamantez/

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