March 1st The Hilliard Gallery will have our first show of the 2019 season. Road to Perdition and Recent Works will feature the artwork of Inge Balch, Gale Carter and Don Gauthier.
Working mainly in Ceramics, Inge Balch,  Professor of Art, Baker University, Baldwin City, Ks., explores the lives of the Saints, their accomplishments and often gruesome death's, combined with her own interpretation and sense of humor.   Inge's Platters and Secret spaces refer to the Danish natural environment in combination with the viking culture such as burial places, viking ships and rune stones, which has always sparked her curiosity.  Born and raised in Denmark, Inge Balch's childhood summers were spent playing around the huge boulders and hills containing hiding places, viking burials and artifacts. She has a B.A., B.F.A. Kansas State University; M.F.A. University of Kansas. Her expertise is Ceramics, design, sculpture and was the curator of the International Orton Conebox Show, recipient of the 1992 Distinguished Scholarship Award and 2002 Kopke Excellence in Teaching Award.
Gail Carter and Don Gauthier both have MFA’s from Wichita State University with majors in the ceramic arts. Moving to northeast Kansas in the mid 1980’s, both Don and Gale explored a wide range of styles in clay.  While pursuing separate rewarding careers, They have continued to produce and exhibit clay work through art fairs, gallery exhibitions, and wholesale shows. The year 2000 prompted changes to their craft. Deciding to take a break from clay, Don started to work with wood, producing custom designed furniture.  Gale started turning wood, translating clay forms into wood.  This redirection helped to refocus and reinvigorate their approach to their craft.
While continuing with the woodworking / furniture studio, Gale has returned to working in clay with fresh ideas to explore.  Don has pursued works on paper using collage as a medium. This show presents some of these ideas.  For Gale Carter this body of work is an exploration of textures, motion, and color.  These compositions bring to mind geological, geographical and natural references. For Don Gauthier, this body of work allows him to use a two dimensional medium to formulate ideas differently from the way he has worked in the past.
All three artist have grouped together to put forth the work for this show, and they sincerely hope that all that come view it will enjoy it as much as they have enjoyed making the work for the show