
Sally Michener
Born in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, Sally Michener’s first interest was Social Work. She received her MSW from Columbia University in New York City and worked in the field for several years in Saint Paul. At night, she studied ceramics with Warren MacKenzie at the University of Minnesota, and later pursued her MFA at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. She immigrated to Canada in 1973 and taught at the Vancouver School of Art/Emily Carr University for 25 years, where she influenced generations of ceramic artists. Throughout her career, she concentrated on ceramic sculpture and installation, exhibiting across Canada as well as in Japan, China, the USA, Mexico and Europe.

About Face #3, 2014. Hand-built, ceramic shards, ceramic and glass tiles. 78 x 48 x 34 cm). Photo Ken Mayer.
Michener’s talk takes place concurrently with The Space In Between: Contemporary Works by Sally Michener and Tam Irving, on view at the West Vancouver Museum from September 14 to November 5. While that exhibition presents new and recent works, Michener’s talk will trace the projection of her career, focusing on her interest in the human body. Many of her early sculptures included naturalistic portraits press molded from life masks of friends, colleagues and her own face. Drawing connections between the figure and architecture, the faces were fixed to columns that recall the architecture of ancient Greece. Later work incorporated casts of internal organs taken from scientific models, exploring the body as a both a functional container of organs and origin of personhood and spirit.

Male Point of View, detail, 2016. Hand-built, ceramic shards, ceramic and glass tiles. 169 x 28 x 28 cm. Photo Ken Mayer
Michener’s lecture “Staying in Touch” will be presented Thursday, October 20, 2016, at 7:30 pm, in Room 245, North Building of Emily Carr University of Art + Design at 1399 Johnston Street, Granville Island, Vancouver. All are welcome, and we look forward to seeing you there.
For more information on The Space In Between, please see http://westvancouvermuseum.ca/exhibitions