Julie Malen

Urban Still Life: An Evolving Field Guide to Kansas City, completed its metamorphosis for the third Friday event in February -Cumulus Part II: an Urban Culture Project Studio Residency Focus Exhibition. This collaborative project by Calder Kamin and I sought to document the relationship between humans and nature in an effort to show that nature is not something separate from the human experience. We did this by sculpting animals that we found dead in the urban environment of Kansas City throughout the course of a two month exhibition (both Cumulus I & II). Our installation at the Paragraph Gallery went through weekly updates as we documented these experiences from our daily lives.   You can view images of the urban still life in all of its stages and details by clicking on the page titled “Cumulus I&II”.

Cumulus I & II is an Urban Culture Studio Resident Focus Exhibition at the Paragraph Gallery in Kansas City, MO. Calder Kamin and I created a collaborative piece for this exhibition titled Urban Still Life: An Evoloving Field Giude to Kansas City. The peice will evolve/ expand over two months, so for those of you who attended Cumulus I, there will be much more to see at the February 19th opening of Cumulus II.

Check out slides of my work from Denmark and images of the Project Network Exhibition on my new page called Denmark. This includes slides of the final piece and images of the work in progress. Enjoy!

I arrived Monday afternoon after nearly 20 hours of traveling to Guldagergaard (Pronounced goo-la-gohr) in Skaelskor, Denmark. As the jet leg subsides, I am beginning to feel right at home in the International Ceramic Research Center Studios. All I need now are some ears on the pig sculpture I’m working on and I’ll be cruisin’ right along!

In November I’m packing my bags for Denmark to participate in the Project Network Symposium at the International Ceramic Research Center in Skaelskor. The symposium gathers together 12 recently graduated undergraduates from all over the world to make connections and ceramic work for six weeks! I will be representing not only the Kansas City Art Institute, but also undergraduate ceramics from the United States. Many thanks to Cary Esser and the faculty at Guldagergaard for selecting me for this amazing opportunity! Below is a link to their website:

http://www.ceramic.dk/ENGLISH/sites/produkter.asp?id=29&myActive=29&sitemod=gruppe

I am very excited to announce that I was awarded a Charlotte Street Foundation Urban Culture Project Studio Residency @ the Bonfils location near 12th and Grand. The space will provide me with the resources to continue my studio practice in Kansas City for the next year! And thanks to a recently established partnership between the Charlotte Street Foundation and Red Star Studios, I will be able to continue to fire my work at an affordable cost in a convenient location. Below is an image of my studio space. It’s finally starting to feel like home…

I am excited to announce that my senior thesis piece, Bull in a China Shop, will be published in the September 2009 issue of Ceramics Monthly as a part of the Undergraduate Showcase Article! Fellow classmate Timo Fahler, and I were both selected to appear in this article along with eight other undergraduates across the country. Here is the link to the article at Ceramics Monthly online:

http://ceramicartsdaily.org/ceramic-art-and-artists/ceramic-artists/julie-malen-kansas-city-art-institute-cm-2009-undergraduate-showcase/

This summer as well as last summer I was was commissioned to design and fabricate the People’s Choice Award for the Art of the Car Concours at KCAI. It is a vintage car exhibit that celebrates antique cars as works of art. Below is an image of one of the People’s Choice Awards in action. Congratulations to all five winners!

I have just posted new work from my Thesis exhibitions at the Kansas City Art Institute. Check it out by looking at my KCAI portfolio.

Unusual Portal is a piece I made during my junior year in Ceramics at KCAI, It is a replica in clay of an actual door in Kansas City located near 25th and Troost. I just recently found a home in St. Louis for it, and I couldn’t imagine a more perfect spot.