CONVERSATION STARTERS:
Ellie Richards + Everett Hoffman
Throughout the year, we will be introducing you to a variety of artworks for their ability to spark conversation with the viewer and with each other. First up we bring you ELLIE RICHARDS and EVERETT HOFFMAN, two artists who are currently completing a three year residency at Penland School of Craft.
As a furniture designer and sculptor, ELLIE RICHARDS is interested in the role the furniture and domestic objects play in creating opportunities for a deeper connection between people and their sense of place.
EVERETT HOFFMAN’s current body of work examines contemporary forms of protection and iconographic communication, illuminated through lights and sculptural forms. In this piece, stone settings are hand-cut out of bronze sheet for hundreds of vintage rhinestones and meticulously set in place—allowing light to highlight each stone.
ELLIE RICHARDS, Tufted Time Keeper, 2022, recycled wool, quartz clock movement, 24 x 14 inches. Email info@hodgestaylor.com for inquiries.
EVERETT HOFFMAN, tenderly i will use you, 2021, bronze, vintage rhinestones, light fittings, 12 x 12 x 6 inches (cord: 12 ft). Available via Penland Gallery.
As a furniture designer and sculptor, Ellie Richards is interested in the role the furniture and domestic objects play in creating opportunities for a deeper connection between people and their sense of place. Ellie looks to the tradition of both woodworking and the readymade to create eclectic assemblage, installation, and objects exploring intersections of labor, leisure, community, and culture. She has traveled extensively to investigate the role play and improvisation have on the artistic process. Her work, both furniture and sculpture, has been included in exhibitions at the Mint Museum; Center for Craft, Creativity, and Design; SOFA Chicago; and the Society of Contemporary Craft. Most recently Richards was awarded Windgate residencies at the Center for Art in Wood, and in the wood/furniture design programs at San Diego State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Additionally, she maintains an active teaching schedule sharing the fundamentals of woodworking and artistic practice with a breadth of audience including appointments at Yestermorrow Design/Build School, Appalachian Center for Craft, and Haystack Mountain School of Craft. This year her and Annie Evelyn are co fellows for the Furniture Society: Craft for a Greater Good Initiative partnering with UNCA Steam Studio and BeLoved. She is resident artist at Penland School of Craft 2020-2023 .
Everett Hoffman is a cross disciplinary artist, curator, and writer currently completing a three-year residency at Penland School of Craft where he lives with his partner and their dog Clementine. He received his MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University (2018), and BFA from Boise State University (2013). He has completed residencies at Arrowmont School of Art and Craft (2018-19), and the Baltimore Jewelry Center (2019). Everett has written for the publications Metalsmith, and Art Jewelry Forum, and his work has been published in BmoreArt, Metalsmith, and Jewelry and Metalsmithing Survey. His work has been exhibited at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Contemporary Craft Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, Soil Gallery, Seattle, WA, and the Benaki Museum in Athens Greece.