David Long says being an artist in academia enables him to branch out and explore in his work.
Long, professor and chair of visual arts and design at Bethel College, now has an exhibition of his ceramics in the Regier Gallery in Luyken Fine Arts Center at the college.
“Untethered” will be in the gallery through March 14. The artist reception is March 6 from 6-8 p.m. at the gallery.
Regular hours are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, 2-4 p.m. There is no admission charge.
Long says in his artist statement that “one of the joys of teaching has been the ability to experiment and play while in the studio.”
He adds that he has artist friends and colleagues who depend solely on studio production for their income, with sales largely based on “creating a recognizable style that has remained consistent throughout their careers.”
“In contrast, my work has been shaped by the tactile nature of clay and my love of surface textures. As an academic, I have found inspiration in historical artifacts like Meso-American pottery, Etruscan and Roman burial urns, and Egyptian hieroglyphs.
“My students also serve as a source of inspiration. In their work, they are in many ways just doing things without [worrying about] the consequences. Sometimes that leads to disaster. Other times, it works out well and I learn something new along the way.”
Things like forms or glaze combinations that students come up with have led Long to try something similar later.
“It should come as no surprise that I have not created a cohesive style of work that defines my legacy,” he says.
“Untethered” includes a form that is new for Long in the past several years: the tray. This resulted after he bought a tray at an art fair in North Carolina six years ago, and then “decided I needed to come up with a well-designed example of this form for myself.
“After many trials and countless modifications, these [trays in ‘Untethered’] are something I am excited to exhibit.”
All of Long’s work is made from porcelain clay and is wood fired in a kiln at his Wichita home.
“I hope you enjoy looking at my work as much as I have had making it,” he says.
Long has been faculty in Bethel’s Department of Visual Arts and Design since 2001. Prior to that, he taught classes at Butler Community College, Newman University and Wichita State University.
He has B.A. degrees in from Conception (Mo.) Seminary College and the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, in philosophy and fine arts, respectively; M.A. degrees from UNC and Arizona State University, in fine arts (ceramics) and art history; and an MFA in ceramics from Wichita State University.
He has exhibited widely, particularly in south-central Kansas. Most recently, his work was at the Carriage Factory Gallery in Newton in summer 2024 as part of “Delicate Vitality” with three other artists.
Long has been represented by Gallery XII in Wichita since 1997.
Bethel is a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1887 and is the oldest Mennonite college in North America. Bethel was the first Kansas college or university to be named a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center, in 2021. For more information, see http://www.bethelks.edu
