Feature image: Same Difference, Partial Installation View, 2024. Photo: Robert Chase Heishman.
By Frank Juárez
Connecting with artists, galleries, art museums, and institutions is one of the best ways to navigate the contemporary art landscape. Nowadays, making those connections is as simple as following an artist on social media, subscribing to a gallery’s newsletter, attending receptions and events, participating in artist-in-residencies, and engaging in other types of programming. We do this to stay engaged, inspired, and informed. I met Allison Wade in 2011 when I was a participant in the Teacher Institute in Contemporary Art (TICA) Program in Chicago. She was the teaching assistant. Since then, we have remained in contact.
Wade’s creative practice actively responds to the world around her. Through inquiry, exploration, and experimentation, she searches for visual cues that can stimulate conversation. For example, objects such as a bike rack or lamp post share a language that bridges art, design, and functionality, which transfers into sculptural ideas and elements. Using those observations provides the opportunity to create a new context in how we interact with sculptural forms in our daily lives.
Wade’s sense of play is evident in how she constructs her work using line, color, form, and materials such as wood, textiles, ceramics, and found objects. Lately, she has been working with metal. This medium presents a pathway in which she intuitively moves pieces around to see how they may fit. Each configuration is an attempt to solve a new formal question or challenge, giving her the satisfaction of completing her investigation.
There is a presence of graphic design aesthetics and physics that exists within her work. Her understanding of composition and balance is present. As Wade puts it, she aims to make “a place for awkward elegance.” Sculpture can be challenging to understand. Wade finds a way for the viewer to create a connection.
Allison Wade (b. 1973, Dallas, TX) is a visual artist and educator whose practice is material-based, intuitive, and formally focused. She combines ceramics, textiles, wood, and metal into unexpected arrangements that explore the intersection of flatness and form. Wade’s process, which she likens to syntax, is closely aligned with writing. Deploying an idiosyncratic visual language, she explores the structural and formal contingencies of her materials and sculptures.
Photo: Amy Wu
Allison Wade (b. 1973, Dallas, TX) is a visual artist and educator whose practice is material-based, intuitive, and formally focused. She combines ceramics, textiles, wood, and metal into unexpected arrangements that explore the intersection of flatness and form. Wade’s process, which she likens to syntax, is closely aligned with writing. Deploying an idiosyncratic visual language, she explores the structural and formal contingencies of her materials and sculptures.
Wade received an MFA from the Fiber and Material Studies Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and holds a BA in English literature from Stanford University. She has been a visiting artist/lecturer at Cranbrook Academy of Art’s Ceramics Department, Kansas City Art Institute, Nebraska Wesleyan University, and Miami University, among others. Residencies include Ragdale, Loghaven, Watershed Ceramics Residency, Ox-Bow, ACRE, and the Vermont Studio Center, where she was supported by a John Mitchell Foundation Fellowship. Wade’s work has been shown internationally and nationally, notably at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, and she is represented by Devening Projects. She currently resides in Chicago, where she is Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Art Theory & Practice at Northwestern University.
Visit allisonwade.com to learn more and connect on Instagram at IG: @allisonlwade1.
Allison Wade is published in Vol 39. Purchase a copy here.
Frank Juárez is an award-winning art educator, curator, arts writer, and arts advocate based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Known for his commitment to elevating contemporary art and supporting Wisconsin artists, Juárez has spearheaded numerous initiatives, including the Midwest Artist Studios Project and the 365 Artists 365 Days Project. In addition to his roles as publisher of Artdose magazine and editor-in-chief of SchoolArts magazine, Juárez has curated exhibitions and juried art shows throughout the Midwest. His dedication to art education and advocacy has earned him numerous accolades, making him a pivotal figure in Wisconsin’s art community.