Kimberly Chapman: Through the Looking Glass

MassMusings

Through the Looking Glass is an exhibition of porcelain sculpture by Ohio-based artist Kimberly Chapman.

Chapman works through a female lens, exploring the lives of fiercely independent women who lived on the fringes of respectable society. Tiger trainer Mabel Stark and sideshow performers Myrtle Corbin and Kittie Smith are among the women portrayed in the Studio M exhibition.

Chapman focuses on what women endure, shedding light on dark subjects, including insane asylums, silencing women, the worldwide refugee crisis, and domestic violence. Her creamy white objects force the viewer to contemplate universal cruelty and injustice through the female lens.

“It’s in my DNA to heavily research past and present offenses and find creative ways to make something solid that says, 'This really happened and is still happening today,’” Chapman explains. “I like to think that I’ve joined the ranks of feminist artists that stepped beyond their comfort zone and used art to amplify women’s issues.”

She employs hand-building, slip-casting, and press-molding techniques. She stretches the clay to create an “otherworldly” appearance, using clear glaze and luster to avoid obscuring the essence of the clay’s natural beauty.

Since her 2017 graduation from the Cleveland Institute of Arts, where she won the school’s most prestigious award, Chapman's work has been featured in more than 50 solo and group exhibitions in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Before that, she used her marketing degrees from Cleveland State University and Ashland University during three decades of marketing corporations and colleges.

The artist’s article “Out of the White Cube” was published in Ceramic Monthly in October 2022. Other feature stories include: The Cleveland Arts Network Journal, March 2021, Cleveland Magazine’s Community Leader, February 2020, Northeast Ohio’s Canvas, Spring 2019, and Ceramics Monthly, December 2018.

A member of numerous arts organizations, Chapman serves as co-chair of the Cleveland Institute of Art Advisory Council and is a member of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Women’s Council.