Artists' Reception: "Cornucopia" by Shoji Satake

2024’s Earth & Fire exhibition juror, Shoji Satake, is featuring three-dimensional ceramic sculptures reminiscent of Asian ink-wash landscape paintings in his exhibit Cornucopia on display at the Gallery at Towngate.

An artists’ reception takes place from 6-8pm Friday, March 1. The event is free and open to the public.

Register online or call 304-242-7700. RSVPs are appreciated, but not required.

The exhibit is part of “Ceramics Take Over Wheeling” and is on display March 1–May 19. The Gallery at Towngate is open 11am-1pm Monday through Friday and during all events.

About the Artist

Shoji Satake is the J. Bernard Schultz Endowed Professor of Art and area head of ceramics at West Virginia University School of Art & Design and Coordinator of the School’s Ceramics in China program. He has taught at Indiana University, Hope College, and Central Michigan University. Shoji has served as one of the Directors-at-Large for the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Board, he was a co/on-site coordinator (NCECA Pittsburgh 2018), and he currently serves in the NCECA Presidential Cycle from 2023-2027. Shoji has conducted workshops, given lectures, and exhibited nationally and internationally.

His most recent activities have been included in the 2017 Whitney Biennial, a group exhibition at Red Lodge Clay Center, a solo exhibition at the Eutectic Gallery, and the Taiwan International Ceramics Biennale. He is a member of the Inter-national Academy of Ceramics, and his residencies have included numerous locales in China, Japan, Canada, and the United States. Shoji in addition to teaching, maintains an active studio practice with studios in West Virginia and Jingdezhen, China.

Exhibit Description
An inexhaustible store and abundance of ideas from the mind of Shoji Satake. The artist renders three-dimensional ceramic sculptures reminiscent of Asian ink-wash landscape paintings. The ink wash painting is often referred to “as literati painting in which the artists used the literal shapes of the objects only as channels through which they can express their emotions, feelings, and thoughts.” The artist places great value on spontaneity thus creating a soul. For Shoji Satake, the soul represents a cornucopia of creative ideas.

The Gallery at Towngate

Towngate Theatre is well known in Wheeling and its surrounding communities for community theater productions, children’s theater, concerts, ballet, film screenings, spoken word and other performing arts events. But did you know that Towngate is also an art gallery?

The Gallery at Towngate is a small space gallery that features the work of local and/or emerging artists and focuses on community engagement, inclusion and the mingling of visual and performing arts.

2024 Gallery at Towngate Exhibition Schedule:

January 20–February 25, 2024: West Liberty University Creative Arts Therapy Student Exhibition
March 1–May 19, 2024: Shoji Satake’s “Cornucopia” in conjunction with Ceramics Take Over Wheeling
May 31–August 5, 2024: Ariane Sarno