Curatorial Statement
Exhibition Posted Online: Monday, May 10, 2027 at 10 am MT
The Advanced Student Project Network (ASPN) is a unique residency specifically designed to provide undergraduate artists in a BA or BFA ceramics program with an opportunity to explore new ideas or directions in their work within a group of like-minded, motivated peers and alongside an established artist mentor. Universities and Colleges from across the US are invited to nominate one advanced (Junior or Senior) student from their program. The student nominees are then juried by a committee comprised of RLCC staff and one invited juror, who will also attend the residency as a Visiting Artist and mentor. Of these nominees, only five students are chosen to attend the residency in May/June annually.
Our 2027 Mentor is Rick Parsons, an educator and studio artist. He is Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Art and the Director of the Holman Arts and Media Center at the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe. Before teaching at UNR-LT, Rick worked as the Sculpture Program Coordinator at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, has taught at both the University of Dallas, and Colorado Mountain College, and has been a visiting artist at San Jose State University, Colorado College, University of Miami, and Arizona State University. Rick received his BFA from Stephen F. Austin State University and an MFA in Sculptural Ceramics from the University of Dallas.
Rick’s artwork focuses on the effects of environmental pollutants on the body. He uses materials as metaphor to address the looming impact of a culture dependent on diminishing resources. His current work has ben exploring these concepts through automatic writing, jazz thinking and three-dimensional form.
Rick’s sculpture has been exhibited throughout the country and was featured in a solo show Santa Clara University. His artwork was the focus of a May 2007 article in Sculpture magazine, included in the book “Confrontational Ceramics: The Artist as Social Critic” by Judith S. Schwartz, and was featured in the documentary film “Questions of Art,” by Zach Jankovic.
Participating ASPN residents TBD