This is the third program in the Fragile Beauty: Art of the Ocean exhibition lecture series. 

Hillwood has partnered with the James Renwick Alliance for Craft and their Distinguished Artists Series to present artist Courtney Mattison, as part of a public program at Hillwood. A contemporary ceramic artist featured in the Fragile Beauty: Art of the Ocean exhibition, Courtney will give a presentation detailing her artistic process and vision. After the lecture, participants can enjoy this special Hillwood exhibition with the artist and Wilfried Zeisler, Hillwood’s chief curator and deputy director.

Four times a year, the James Renwick Alliance brings notable American craft artists from around the country to Washington, D.C. for the Distinguished Artist Series. 

There will be time for a Q&A session at the end of the lecture.

Image credit: ©Courtney Mattison

Please note that when tickets are available, registration and ticketing for this event will be done through the James Renwick Alliance for Craft website. Hillwood members should select the "member" option when purchasing tickets.

PROGRAM TIMELINE 

10:00-11:00 a.m. | Lecture by Courtney Mattison in Ellen MacNeille Charles Visitor Center Theater.

11:00-12:00 p.m. | Visit the exhibition with Wilfried Zeisler and Courtney Mattison.

12:00 p.m. | Explore Hillwood 

• Enjoy Hillwood’s mansion, gardens, and greenhouse, and exhibition, Fragile Beauty: Art of the Ocean, on view in the Adirondack building
• Find the perfect memento from your visit at the museum shop 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Internationally recognized artist and ocean advocate Courtney Mattison hand-crafts intricate and large-scale ceramic sculptural works that visualize climate change through the fragile beauty of marine life. Her background in ocean conservation science and policy informs her art practice. Mattison’s site-specific work has been commissioned for permanent installation in hospitality, institutional, workplace, retail and residential settings across the U.S., Europe and Asia, including the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia and The Seabird Resort in Oceanside, California. Her exhibition history includes solo shows at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, the New Bedford Whaling Museum, and ICA San Diego/North, where she was Artist in Residence. Curated group exhibitions include “Iris Van Herpen. Sculpting the Senses” at Musée des Arts Décoratifs Paris, “Fragile Earth” at the Brandywine Museum of Art and “Beijing 2022” at the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence in China. In 2020, the United Nations Postal Administration published Mattison’s work on a stamp to commemorate Earth Day. Born in 1985, Mattison received an interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts degree in marine ecology and ceramic sculpture from Skidmore College in 2008 and a Master of Arts degree in environmental studies from Brown University with thesis coursework at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2011. Her work has been featured on the covers of American Craft, Nature, Beaux Arts and Brown Alumni magazines, and by Smithsonian Magazine, Good Morning America, Oprah Magazine and BBC World Service. She lives and works in San Francisco.

Image credit: ©Jeff Minton