Artist Statement
Gabe Virgen is a Mexican ceramicist based in Seattle, WA. Through superimposed forms and traditional processes Virgens work expresses his interest in the functional vessel. Informed by modernist potters of the mid 20th century Virgen creates non functioning objects with all the attributes of a functional vessel. By leaving the form unglazed he exposes the clay body, confronting the viewer with the medium and inspiring the viewer to ignore the utility of ceramics as a material. Virgen strives to distill the essence of the medium —evoking sentiment through abstraction and facilitate the process of observation and contemplation through the viewer.
Artist CV
2021 August, Featured Artist, Living Artist Collective Members Show
2019, December– BA in Studio Art, Ceramics concentration. Minor in Art History, Minor in Spanish, WESTERN WASHINGTON . . UNIVERSITY, Bellingham, WA
2019 November, Featured Artist, B-Gallery, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA
2019 October, Curating Artist, Bellingham City Hall, Bellingham, WA
2019 June – August 2019, Featured Artist, Juried Summer Exhibit, Jansen Art Center, Lynden, WA
2019 June - August 2019, Senior Teaching Assistant, Department of Ceramics, Western Washington University
2019 May, Founding Ceramic Designer, RAIN Ceramic Studio, Bellingham, WA
2018 October, Featured Artist, Realism vs. Impressionism, Boomerang Fine Art Gallery, Vancouver, WA