Leana Quade and Tara Thacker Artist Talks
July 1, 5:30pm
Artist talks are free and open to all ages. Coffees, smoothies, beer, wine, snacks and sandwiches are available in the STARworks Café and Taproom.
Leana Quade
Leana Quade has been manipulating glass for 19 years. She received her BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2003. Leana has worked in many organizations including Pilchuck, Penland, Corning, Chrysler, Haystack, and the Pratt Fine Art Center. Her work has been shown internationally, countries include Belgium, China, Italy, Norway, and throughout the United States.
Quade’s approach to working with glass is investigational, often modifying traditional techniques to create work that reflects her individual style. Her artwork exploits glass and other materials inviting viewers to question the material and what they are seeing. “My goal in developing work is to inspire curiosity by revealing mystical properties of glass and mixed-media by shedding light on surprising characteristics/capabilities they have.”
Quade received her MFA in Sculpture in 2017 at Alfred University in upstate New York. She currently resides in Norfolk, Virginia where she continues her passion for teaching and sharing her love of glass while pursuing her studio practice.
Tara Thacker
Tara Thacker is a visual artist working primarily in porcelain to create sculptures and large-scale wall pieces made of thousands of individually made components combined to create an effect of fluidity and soft appearance that challenges the normal assumptions of the material. She was born in Lynchburg, VA and pursued her studies in ceramic sculpture at Virginia Commonwealth University where she received a BFA. She moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington and received an MFA in Ceramics under the mentorship of Patti Warashina. After graduate school, Tara pursued teaching and held several adjunct and visiting artist positions throughout the Southeast. She was a fellowship recipient at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT in 1999 and the following year joined the staff, holding various positions, the last being Visual Arts Director from 2012-2019. She lives in Eden Mills, Vermont and is an Assistant Professor of Sculpture at Northern Vermont University in Johnson.