Current Artist Statement
As a sculptor, I have always loved ceramics and enjoyed working with clay for its sculptural properties. Clay work was a passion my late mother and I shared. For the last 15 years of her life, we spent time together at the clay studio. She was a wheel thrower, while I preferred free-form sculpting, so we approached the medium with different perspectives and visions.
After my mom passed, I began learning wheel throwing to better connect with and honor her memory. The themes of death and transformation have always been part of my sculptural artwork, often using bones and other earth elements to show the circle of life. In my ceramic work, I incorporate earth, fire, and bone ash to create pieces that illustrate transformation and rebirth.
My ceramic bowls are sculpted from earth and then undergo a process called pit firing. The heat and chemicals used in this process sometimes cause the pieces to crack or break. I then restore the piece using non-traditional mending methods. Pit firing makes the outcome unpredictable, and the cracks and imperfections become an integral part of the beauty and uniqueness of each piece. Death, transformation, rebirth, and imperfection are all part of the natural world and the human experience. In this way, these elemental pieces become a metaphor for life itself.
BIOGRAPHY
Aaron Kent was born in Springfield Ohio in June of 1972. He studied commercial art in high school, and studied fine art and sculpture at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. He left the Art Academy after two years and began working at Casting Arts and Technology, a fine art bronze foundry in Cincinnati, where he studied bronze casting, metal fabrication and bronze restoration. He also worked at Suders Art Store learning the skills of framing, matting, and art restoration. He returned to the Art Academy of Cincinnati in 2008 to finish his degree, and graduated in 2009. He then started a artist based silkscreen co-op called DIY Printing. This is where Aaron currently works as a screen printer printing for artists and other arts organizations, as well as running the fine art based co-op.
Education
2009 Art Academy of Cincinnati, Ohio
BFA in Fine Art Sculpture
Exhibitions
2023 Ebb & Flow February 4 -April 1 Kennedy Hights Arts Center Relics #1 #2 #3
2022 Fuse Group print show Cut Fire Fuse at the Fitton Center
2021 Eisele Gallery of Fine Art “Exploring Loss and Creating New” Ceramic Art by Aaron Kent
2019-2020 Miami University “Bones” Screen Prints
2018 DIY Printing Solo show “Bones” Screen Prints
2016 21c Cincinnati “Bones” Sculpture and Prints
2013 Huntington Museum of Art - Frankendeer & Fred installation
2013 Prairie Gallery – “Aaron Kent & Jeremy Johnson" Bone Sculpture
2012 AAC Gallery – Bone Installation – The new beginning, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Ohio
2011 Index - C.A.S.T.II, New Jersey
2010 Prairie Gallery – “Chocolate” sculpture “addiction” Group show Cincinnati Oh.
2010 Prairie Gallery – “Arthole’s Realhot Toy Show” War games Performance
2010 Whatmore Art Museum - Solo show “Bones”
2010 Thomas More College – “And White Was the Night” Helsinki/United States Traveling Print
Exhibition Prints “In God We Trust” & Harsh Reality
2009 Andrews Art Museum – Group Show: Bones Sculpture #12 Andrews, NC.
2009 Enjoy the Arts - Solo Show. Recording Drawings by Aaron Kent, OH.
2009 Pearlman Gallery - Horror Vaccui, Group Show, Bones Art Academy of Cincinnati, OH.
2008 Red Saw Art – Harsh Reality mixed media drawing, Group Show New Jersey
2008 Indianapolis Museum of Art - On Procession: In the Galleries Indianapolis, IN.
2008 Weston,Key to the Arts - Group Show, OH
2007 Enjoy the Arts Solo Show. Drawings by Aaron Kent, OH.
2006 Semantics Solo Show. America the Beautiful, Cincinnati, OH.
2006 Red Saw Art - C.A.S.T., New Jersey
Links
Ebb & Flow
kennedyarts.org/exhibition/ebb-and-flow/
Aaron Kent: Exploring Loss & Creating New
http://aeqai.com/main/2021/11/aaron-kent-exploring-loss-creating-new/
Aaron Kent: Bone Machine
artgage.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/aaron-kent-bone-machine-a-preview/
Evolution, Jeremy Johnson and Aaron Kent
aeqai.com/main/2013/10/evolution-jeremy-johnson-and-aaron-kent/
Current Representation for Ceramic Sculptures
Eisele Gallery
ADC Fine Art Ft. Thomas Gallery
As a sculptor, I have always loved ceramics and enjoyed working with clay for its sculptural properties. Clay work was a passion my late mother and I shared. For the last 15 years of her life, we spent time together at the clay studio. She was a wheel thrower, while I preferred free-form sculpting, so we approached the medium with different perspectives and visions.
After my mom passed, I began learning wheel throwing to better connect with and honor her memory. The themes of death and transformation have always been part of my sculptural artwork, often using bones and other earth elements to show the circle of life. In my ceramic work, I incorporate earth, fire, and bone ash to create pieces that illustrate transformation and rebirth.
My ceramic bowls are sculpted from earth and then undergo a process called pit firing. The heat and chemicals used in this process sometimes cause the pieces to crack or break. I then restore the piece using non-traditional mending methods. Pit firing makes the outcome unpredictable, and the cracks and imperfections become an integral part of the beauty and uniqueness of each piece. Death, transformation, rebirth, and imperfection are all part of the natural world and the human experience. In this way, these elemental pieces become a metaphor for life itself.
BIOGRAPHY
Aaron Kent was born in Springfield Ohio in June of 1972. He studied commercial art in high school, and studied fine art and sculpture at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. He left the Art Academy after two years and began working at Casting Arts and Technology, a fine art bronze foundry in Cincinnati, where he studied bronze casting, metal fabrication and bronze restoration. He also worked at Suders Art Store learning the skills of framing, matting, and art restoration. He returned to the Art Academy of Cincinnati in 2008 to finish his degree, and graduated in 2009. He then started a artist based silkscreen co-op called DIY Printing. This is where Aaron currently works as a screen printer printing for artists and other arts organizations, as well as running the fine art based co-op.
Education
2009 Art Academy of Cincinnati, Ohio
BFA in Fine Art Sculpture
Exhibitions
2023 Ebb & Flow February 4 -April 1 Kennedy Hights Arts Center Relics #1 #2 #3
2022 Fuse Group print show Cut Fire Fuse at the Fitton Center
2021 Eisele Gallery of Fine Art “Exploring Loss and Creating New” Ceramic Art by Aaron Kent
2019-2020 Miami University “Bones” Screen Prints
2018 DIY Printing Solo show “Bones” Screen Prints
2016 21c Cincinnati “Bones” Sculpture and Prints
2013 Huntington Museum of Art - Frankendeer & Fred installation
2013 Prairie Gallery – “Aaron Kent & Jeremy Johnson" Bone Sculpture
2012 AAC Gallery – Bone Installation – The new beginning, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Ohio
2011 Index - C.A.S.T.II, New Jersey
2010 Prairie Gallery – “Chocolate” sculpture “addiction” Group show Cincinnati Oh.
2010 Prairie Gallery – “Arthole’s Realhot Toy Show” War games Performance
2010 Whatmore Art Museum - Solo show “Bones”
2010 Thomas More College – “And White Was the Night” Helsinki/United States Traveling Print
Exhibition Prints “In God We Trust” & Harsh Reality
2009 Andrews Art Museum – Group Show: Bones Sculpture #12 Andrews, NC.
2009 Enjoy the Arts - Solo Show. Recording Drawings by Aaron Kent, OH.
2009 Pearlman Gallery - Horror Vaccui, Group Show, Bones Art Academy of Cincinnati, OH.
2008 Red Saw Art – Harsh Reality mixed media drawing, Group Show New Jersey
2008 Indianapolis Museum of Art - On Procession: In the Galleries Indianapolis, IN.
2008 Weston,Key to the Arts - Group Show, OH
2007 Enjoy the Arts Solo Show. Drawings by Aaron Kent, OH.
2006 Semantics Solo Show. America the Beautiful, Cincinnati, OH.
2006 Red Saw Art - C.A.S.T., New Jersey
Links
Ebb & Flow
kennedyarts.org/exhibition/ebb-and-flow/
Aaron Kent: Exploring Loss & Creating New
http://aeqai.com/main/2021/11/aaron-kent-exploring-loss-creating-new/
Aaron Kent: Bone Machine
artgage.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/aaron-kent-bone-machine-a-preview/
Evolution, Jeremy Johnson and Aaron Kent
aeqai.com/main/2013/10/evolution-jeremy-johnson-and-aaron-kent/
Current Representation for Ceramic Sculptures
Eisele Gallery
ADC Fine Art Ft. Thomas Gallery