Ceramic artist Heather Mae Erickson presents an exhibit titled "The Perfect Imperfection Collection," opening on Monday, Feb. 26, running through Thursday, March 29, with a reception on Thursday, March 1, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The exhibit and reception will take place in Coastal Carolina University's Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery in the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts; both are free and open to the public.

Erickson's ceramic works represent a merging of industry and design in exploring how we treat the vital ritual of dining. Her functional tableware directs the eye, hand and mouth to treat food differently.

"Heather's work explores the intersections between the handmade and the industrial," said Jim Arendt, assistant professor of visual art at CCU and gallery director. "She asks us to contemplate the concept of consumption and what we mean when we say 'beautiful,' as well as to explore our relationship to the republic. Clay's ability to do all these things in an accomplished artist's hands is why it continues to be an important medium."

Erickson holds a Master of Fine Arts in ceramic art from Cranbrook Academic of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. She has shown her work internationally and earned numerous awards, including the Horizon Award presented by the Museum of Art and Design in New York and honorable mentions at the Korea Biennale International 2007 and 2009. Erickson was the 2009-12 Robert Chapman Turner Teaching Fellow in Ceramic Art at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and a 2016-17 visiting teaching artist at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Visit heathermaeerickson.com.

"My pieces are influenced by the objects that surround me or that I surround myself with," Erickson writes in her artist statement. "I find inspiration in architecture, nature, shapes and nonceramic design. I see myself rediscovering function through the process of design."

The Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery is in Room 129 in the Edwards College at 133 Chanticleer Drive W. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The gallery is dedicated to advancing the education of visual arts and cultivating the production, interpretation, and enjoyment of objects and images in society.

Upcoming exhibits include Senior Exhibition, Portfolios I: Studio Art, from Monday, April 9, to Thursday, April 19; and Senior Exhibition, Portfolios II: Graphic Design, from Tuesday, April 24, to Friday, May 4. Both exhibits feature the work of graduating seniors from CCU's Department of Visual Arts.

For additional information on the event or the Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery, contact Arendt at 843-349-6409 or jarendt@coastal.edu. Visit coastal.edu/gallery.

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