Biographical Sketch
Addie Langford earned an MFA in ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA in architecture from The Rhode Island School of Design. As a Fulbright Fellow she explored the relationship between Renaissance tapestry and contemporary collage in Madrid, Spain, where she produced and exhibited a body of large-scale drawings. Addie pursues drawing in tandem with her sculptural work in porcelain and mixed-media. A fascination with weaving and line is found throughout her work.
Ceramic sculpture, textiles, and drawing are the baseline of her work. The Soft Compression series utilizes the density of porcelain, sand-packed textiles and the cold weight of steel and stone to explore relationships between vulnerability and relent, and the thin space between cloister and bunker. Temperature and weight accentuate polarity - a shift felt first by the skin. These contrasts embody torsion, the predicament of twisted initiation and incident; the drawings suggest entrapment, a blurring, burial or drifting into invisibility.
Her art making and art administrative practices are intricately linked through her background in architectural theory and notions of civic engagement, mentorship, learning and cultural progress/preservation/innovation. Langford’s teaching since 1999 has ranged from large-scale interactive projects with children to undergraduates at the School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Between 2007-2011, Langford was the Assistant Director of the Art School at Flint Institute of Arts, and President & CEO of the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center in Birmingham, Michigan. She continues her studio practice and serves as the Director of Development at ArtServe Michigan, an arts and cultural and arts education advocacy nonprofit in Wixom, Michigan www.artservemichigan.org.
Photos by Tim Thayer, Detroit, MI
Two white pedestal pieces top right by Rebecca Tufts-Bhowmick
Addie Langford earned an MFA in ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA in architecture from The Rhode Island School of Design. As a Fulbright Fellow she explored the relationship between Renaissance tapestry and contemporary collage in Madrid, Spain, where she produced and exhibited a body of large-scale drawings. Addie pursues drawing in tandem with her sculptural work in porcelain and mixed-media. A fascination with weaving and line is found throughout her work.
Ceramic sculpture, textiles, and drawing are the baseline of her work. The Soft Compression series utilizes the density of porcelain, sand-packed textiles and the cold weight of steel and stone to explore relationships between vulnerability and relent, and the thin space between cloister and bunker. Temperature and weight accentuate polarity - a shift felt first by the skin. These contrasts embody torsion, the predicament of twisted initiation and incident; the drawings suggest entrapment, a blurring, burial or drifting into invisibility.
Her art making and art administrative practices are intricately linked through her background in architectural theory and notions of civic engagement, mentorship, learning and cultural progress/preservation/innovation. Langford’s teaching since 1999 has ranged from large-scale interactive projects with children to undergraduates at the School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Between 2007-2011, Langford was the Assistant Director of the Art School at Flint Institute of Arts, and President & CEO of the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center in Birmingham, Michigan. She continues her studio practice and serves as the Director of Development at ArtServe Michigan, an arts and cultural and arts education advocacy nonprofit in Wixom, Michigan www.artservemichigan.org.
Photos by Tim Thayer, Detroit, MI
Two white pedestal pieces top right by Rebecca Tufts-Bhowmick
