Work

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Bitten 8 | 2022 | ceramic, fiber, zip ties, beads, locks | 23 x 27 x 22 inches

Installation View: A Chorus of Twisted Threads, March – April 2023

Installation View: A Chorus of Twisted Threads, March – April 2023

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Bitten 8 | 2022 | ceramic, fiber, zip ties, beads, locks | 23 x 27 x 22 inches

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Bitten 8 | 2022 | ceramic, fiber, zip ties, beads, locks | 23 x 27 x 22 inches

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Bitten 8 | 2022 | ceramic, fiber, zip ties, beads, locks | 23 x 27 x 22 inches

Installation View: A Chorus of Twisted Threads, March – April 2023

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Bitten 3 | 2022 | ceramic, fiber, leather, zip ties, beads, locks | 30 x 13 x 12 inches

Private Collection

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Bitten 3 | 2022 | ceramic, fiber, leather, zip ties, beads, locks | 30 x 13 x 12 inches

Private Collection

Installation View: A Chorus of Twisted Threads, March – April 2023

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Bitten 4 | 2022 | ceramic, fiber, zip ties, beads, locks | 19.5 x 18.5 x 14 inches

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Bitten 4 | 2022 | ceramic, fiber, zip ties, beads, locks | 19.5 x 18.5 x 14 inches

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Bitten 4 | 2022 | ceramic, fiber, zip ties, beads, locks | 19.5 x 18.5 x 14 inches

Installation View: A Chorus of Twisted Threads, March – April 2023

Installation View: A Chorus of Twisted Threads, March – April 2023

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Bitten 1 | 2022 | ceramic, fiber, zip ties, beads, clamps, locks | 26.5 x 19 x 13 inches

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Bitten 1 | 2022 | ceramic, fiber, zip ties, beads, clamps, locks | 26.5 x 19 x 13 inches

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Bitten 1 | 2022 | ceramic, fiber, zip ties, beads, clamps, locks | 26.5 x 19 x 13 inches

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Flowered Thorns #2 | 2020/21 | fabric, ceramics from CSULB | 24 x 15 x 16 inches |RO 67

On view at AMOCA, Pomona, CA

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Flowered Thorns #2 | 2020/21 | fabric, ceramics from CSULB | 24 x 15 x 16 inches |RO 67

On view at AMOCA, Pomona, CA

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Flowered Thorns #3 | 2020/21 | fabric, ceramics from CSULB | 16 x 21 x 16 inches |RO 60

Collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Flowered Thorns #3 | 2020/21 | fabric, ceramics from CSULB | 16 x 21 x 16 inches |RO 60

Collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Flowered Thorns #5 | 2020/21 | fabric, ceramics from CSULB | 22 x 17 x 13 inches |RO 65

On view at AMOCA, Pomona, CA

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Flowered Thorns #5 | 2020/21 | fabric, ceramics from CSULB | 22 x 17 x 13 inches |RO 65

On view at AMOCA, Pomona, CA

Installation View: Untitled Art Fair 2021

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Flowered Thorns #6 | 2020/21 | fabric, ceramics from CSULB | 24 x 18 x 15 inches |RO 63

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Flowered Thorns #6 | 2020/21 | fabric, ceramics from CSULB | 24 x 18 x 15 inches |RO 63

On view at AMOCA, Pomona, CA

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Flowered Thorns #8 | 2020/21 | fabric, ceramics from CSULB | 20 x 189 x 14 inches |RO 61

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Flowered Thorns #8 | 2020/21 | fabric, ceramics from CSULB | 20 x 189 x 14 inches |RO 61

Ramekon O’Arwisters | Flowered Thorns #6 | 2020/21 | fabric, ceramics from CSULB | 24 x 18 x 15 inches |RO 63

RAMEKON O’ARWISTERS | Flowered Thorns #4 | 2020/21 | fabric, ceramics from CSULB ceramic program, beads, pins | 24 x 18 x 17 inches

On view at MoAD, San Franciso

RAMEKON O’ARWISTERS | Flowered Thorns #4 | 2020/21 | fabric, ceramics from CSULB ceramic program, beads, pins | 24 x 18 x 17 inches

Ramekon O’Arwisters / Cheesecake #1 / 2019 / textiles, ceramics from CSULB ceramic program / 14 x 14 x 17 inches

Ramekon O’Arwisters / Cheesecake #8 / 2019 / textiles, ceramics from CSULB ceramic program / 15 x 17 x 15 inches

On veiw at MoAD, San Francisco

Ramekon O’Arwisters / Cheesecake #6 / 2019 / textiles, ceramics from CSULB ceramic program / 19 x 18 x 12 inches

Videos

Thursday, September 23rd, 2021 at 4:30 pm PDT/ 7:30 EST

In Conversation with Curator Glenn Adamson & Artist Ramekon O’Arwisters on occasion of his exhibition “Flowered Thorns” at Patricia Sweetow Gallery.

Glenn Adamson is a curator, writer and historian based in New York. Co-host of the online interview series Design in Dialogue, he has previously been Director of the Museum of Arts and Design; Head of Research at the V&A; and Curator at the Chipstone Foundation in Milwaukee. Adamson’s publications include Thinking Through Craft (2007); The Craft Reader (2010); Postmodernism: Style and Subversion (2011, co-edited with Jane Pavitt); The Invention of Craft (2013); Art in the Making (2016, co-authored with Julia Bryan-Wilson; and Fewer Better Things: The Hidden Wisdom of Objects (2018). His newest book is Craft: An American History, published by Bloomsbury.

Join us for a conversation to celebrate our current Emerging Artist Program exhibition Ramekon O’Arwisters: Freeform and Razor-Sharp. O’Arwisters will be joined in conversation by artist and designer George McCalman. About the Exhibition Ramekon O’Arwisters is a multimedia artist primarily known for his captivating freeform sculptures which experiment with vibrant color, repurposed ceramics, and rich traditions of quilting and weaving. By entangling shards of broken clay, shredded fabric, and discarded materials, the artist contemplates the tangible nature of emotional trauma. Experiencing constant vulnerability as a Black and queer man from the American South, O’Arwisters explores dualities of protection and danger through building what he refers to as “cultural totems” in his work. Receiving his Master of Divinity from Duke University Divinity School, O’Arwisters carries a unique lens on spiritual traditions, and incorporates these healing methods within his artistic practice. In this exhibition, Freeform and Razor-Sharp, we have selected key sculptures from O’Arwisters’ studio that span several years of his formal experimentations and place them in conversation with his additional practice of black-and-white photography. As an extension of his conceptual process, these self-portraits employ a transference of materials from O’Arwisters’ sculptures to create a sharp and intimate dialogue with his own body. O’Arwisters draws the viewer into his ethereal world, while withholding evident displays of his sorrow or joy. Instead, he insists on abstraction, and encourages the viewer to grapple with their own internal fears and wounds. Through a deeply meditative process, O’Arwisters pieces together what once was abandoned and neglected to reimagine the possibilities of collective liberation.

George McCalman is an artist and creative director based in San Francisco and Grenada. His design studio McCalman Co collaborates with a wide range of cultural clients. McCalman’s background in the editorial world has been a foundation of his storytelling, and his decision to cultivate his fine art practice alongside brand work reframed his perspective and synthesized the importance of design. His first book ‘Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and Unseen’ was published in Sept 2022 to profound accolades by The New Yorker’s Hilton Als, NPR, The New York Times, and The San Francisco Chronicle. His book won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work by a Debut Author in Feb 2023.

 

This program is in support of the exhibition Patrick Kelly: Runway of Love, honoring the life and legacy of fashion designer Patrick Kelly.

About the Speakers

Delila Hailechristos is the founder of ReLove, a sustainable fashion resale boutique which opened in 2014. Since its inception, ReLove is a space that celebrates art, community, diversity, and inclusion in fashion. Delila, an immigrant raised in Ethiopia, founded the business to share her passion of curated resale as an alternative to the destructive industry of mass fashion. Sustainability is at the heart of her work at ReLove. Delila is a leading voice in the sustainability conversation and has led talks and panels on the topic. As one of only a handful of Black-owned fashion businesses in San Francisco, ReLove has emerged as a poignant advocate that champions visibility for black creatives. Under Delila’s direction ReLove has worked and collaborated with countless Black artists, photographers, stylists, models, musicians and business owners from across the US.

Mattie Loyce is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and community advocate originally from and currently based in San Francisco, CA. Critically engaging socio-political content, and encouraging empowerment through decolonial transformative justice are key to her community work and socially engaged artist practice. Throughout her career she has made a commitment to amplifying the voices and supporting the lives of people with marginalized identities, specifically people and artists of the African diaspora, queer people and people of color.

Ramekon O’Arwisters is the founder of Crochet Jam, a community arts project infused with folk art traditions that foster a creative culture in cooperative relationships. He was born in Kernersville, North Carolina and earned a MDiv from Duke University Divinity School in 1986. He was an artist-in-residence at the de Young museum, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, and the Vermont Studio Center. He received the 2014 Eureka Fellowship, awarded by the Fleishhacker Foundation in San Francisco, and a Pollock-Krasner foundation grant in 2021. His work has been featured in the Los Angeles TimesSan Francisco Chronicle7×7 Magazine, Artnet, San Francisco Examiner, and Brian Boucher’s Daily Dispatch.

George McCalman was raised in Brooklyn and received his BFA in philosophy at St. John’s in Queens, NY, which inform his design principles to this day. He credits his Caribbean background for his unique ability to both embrace and rebel against traditional modes of design, enabling a brand to simultaneously integrate and stand out in its industry. After fourteen years as a leading art director in the magazine industry, George McCalman opened the doors to MCCALMAN.CO in 2011. Working at highly respected national magazines like ReadyMadeMother Jones, and Entertainment Weekly, McCalman amassed numerous design awards throughout his career. His editorial background gives him a unique perspective on commercial branding.

About the Exhibition

This exhibition celebrates the career and legacy of Black fashion designer Patrick Kelly (1954–1990). First presented by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2014, the exhibition presents seventy-nine fully accessorized ensembles, dating from 1984 to 1990, from the Philadelphia Museum’s archive of Kelly’s work, to new acquisitions from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s costume collection. Kelly drew upon his childhood in the United States South, his African American heritage, his experiences in the club and gay cultural scenes in New York and Paris, and muses from fashion, art, and Black history to create light-hearted yet sophisticated designs that pushed racial and cultural boundaries. The exhibition situates Kelly and his work in the broader context of art and fashion history by exploring the inspirations behind his designs, his significant collection of racist memorabilia (whose images he wrested to tell his own story), and footage from his exuberant and groundbreaking fashion shows.

In the Artist’s Studio: Ramekon O’Arwisters

Interview conducted by Demetri Broxton, Director of Education

 

Saturday, February 3rd at 3pm: In Conversation: Demetri Broxton & Ramekon O’Arwisters.

 

BIO

Ramekon O’Arwisters abstract sculpture dives into the abyss and the beautiful. With large sharp ceramic shards knotted together using shredded fabric and black zip ties, the sculptures stand as cultural totems, embodying the couture of drag, Black culture, African American quilting and religion.  Growing up in Jim Crow South during the Civil Rights Movement, O’Arwisters had a safe haven, quilting with his Grandmother where he was “embraced, important and special.” These early memories prompted his nascent series of unique crocheted/ceramic sculptures titled, Mending. Employing ordinary household, or decorative pottery, broken and discarded, O’Arwisters combined traditional crafts into a dimensional woven tapestry, stripping both cloth and ceramic of their intended function.

In his 2019 series titled Cheesecake,O’Arwisters transformed the sculpture from something broken, needing mending, to fully determined and self-aware. Being Black and Queer, the full complexity of the moniker Cheesecake, used to objectify an attractive, sexualized man or woman is not lost to O’Arwisters. Instead he embraces it, subverting the demeaning implication in describing his said, “objects”. Combining lacy, embellished fabrics with ceramics contributed by students and faculty from California State University at Long Beach, O’Arwisters sculptural hybrids embody both danger and seduction in his bold ‘coming of age’ works.

Bitten, his new series of sculpture, takes off and embellishes upon Flowered Thorns, 2020-21. With Flowered Thorns, O’Arwisters exaggerates sharp ceramic shards to align with the biblical reference of Adam and Eve, the symbol of original sin derived from sexual pleasure. Bitten continues with soft and sharp elements as he laces implements of punishment and threat throughout the sculpture: black zip ties, rope and clamps. O’Arwisters recontextualizes the danger as an erotic entanglement of sexual fantasy and play, placing the sculpture on a new metaphoric plane.


RAMEKON O’ARWISTERS 2023 ONLINE EXHIBITION CATALOG (A Chorus of Twisted Threads) (Click for full screen, Press Escape to return to page)

Ramekon O’Arwisters is the 2021 recipient of the McLaughlin Foundation Award for The Project Space at Headlands Center for the Arts, Artist-in-Residence program and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant for 2020/21. Past artist-in-residence programs include the de Young Museum Artist in Residence; The Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA; the Djerassi Resident Artists Program; Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence Program and the Vermont Studio Center. Grants and Awards include Artadia: The Fund for Art and Dialogue, NY; the San Francisco Foundation; the San Francisco Arts Commission Cultural Equity Initiatives Program; Black Artists Fund, Sacramento; and the Eureka Fellowship awarded by the Fleishhacker Foundation in San Francisco.  Museum exhibitions include the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design, FIGHT AND FLIGHT: CRAFTING A BAY AREA LIFE; American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA), Making in Between: Gender Identities in Clay (MIB:GIC); and San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, Queer Threads. O’Arwisters is the founder of Crochet Jam, a community arts project infused with folk-art traditions that foster a creative culture in cooperative relationships. Born in Kernersville, North Carolina, O’Arwisters earned a M.Div. from Duke University Divinity School in 1986.

Press

January 11, 2024
PATRICIA SWEETOW GALLERY
July 27, 2023
de Young fine arts museums of san francisco
June 15, 2023
deYoung\Legion of Honor fine arts museums of san francisco
May 13, 2023
Squarecylinder
March 18, 2023
San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design
February 4, 2022
The Jewish News of Northern California
October 25, 2021
September 10, 2020
San Francisco Art Commission
June 2, 2019
Squarecylinder
February 28, 2019
San Franciso Chronicle
October 2, 2018
Wall Street International
October 2, 2018
SF/Arts
August 10, 2018
WUSA 9
June 22, 2018
Full Service Radio
February 3, 2018
San Francisco Chronicle: Pink Section
February 1, 2018
KALW Local Public Radio 91.7FM in San Francisco
January 27, 2018
Squarecylinder
January 25, 2018
Wall Street International
January 13, 2018
San Francisco Chronicle: Datebook
November 7, 2017
Surface Design Association
November 7, 2017
OtherPeoplesPixels Blog
April 18, 2017
Virginia Commonwealth University
March 31, 2017
Peninsula Press
January 21, 2017
SF Station
January 5, 2017
Open Space / SFMOMA
Press Continued