Daylight Cravings Exhibit Featured On-Campus

The Governor’s Academy is excited to exhibit Daylight Cravings: Sculptures and Photograms Exploring Light, Memory, and Atmosphere by Justin Kedl in the Peter R. Remis Lobby of the Wilkie Center for the Performing Arts from April 3 through May 5.

In this body of work, Kedl reflects on his experience of light and seasonal change after moving to New England in 2019. Having grown up in the Midwest and Southwest, he became acutely aware of the differences in sunlight and atmosphere, particularly during the darker winter months in Massachusetts. While he longs for sunlight in winter, he is equally captivated by the shifting qualities of light along the coastal landscape; glowing through windows, reflecting off the ocean, and diffusing through fog.

Inspired by these experiences, Kedl creates minimal ceramic vessels and photograms that mimic and meditate on our perception of light. The smooth gradations of color in his works evoke atmospheric environments we may have seen or remembered. At the same time, the polished surfaces of the ceramic forms subtly reflect and distort the light and shadows around them. Through the interplay between object, image, and environment, Daylight Cravings invites viewers to consider how light shapes memory and perception, what we observe directly, what we recall, and what we imagine.

Kedl is an artist and art historian born in Minnesota and raised in Colorado. He holds a BA in Sculpture and Graphic Design from Gordon College and an MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History, Theory, and Criticism from Azusa Pacific University. His interest in twentieth-century modernism informs both his scholarship and his studio practice. Kedl was one of over thirty artists who contributed to Natura Obscura, an immersive installation at the Museum of Outdoor Arts in Colorado, and he was a Young Artist-in-Residence at the Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center in Denmark. His scholarly work has appeared in journals, publications, and museum projects throughout New England. Kedl’s artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally. He currently works in the Curatorial Department at the Currier Museum of Art in New Hampshire and lives in Massachusetts with his wife and daughter.

Daylight Cravings will be displayed in the Peter R. Remis Lobby in the Wilkie Center for the Performing Arts on The Governor’s Academy campus from April 3 until May 5. Please take some time to experience this moving exhibit and join us for a reception on Friday, April 17, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. The gallery is open to the public from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and by appointment on Saturday and Sunday. Please contact Shanna Fliegel to make an appointment.