Patrick Coughlin

Contact Information

ptcoughlin@gmail.com

http://www.patrickcoughlin.com

Philadelphia, PA 19125

Artist's Biography

Patrick Coughlin (born 1981, New York) is an American artist. He has exhibited work in China, Italy, Japan, and throughout the United States. Originally from rural, western New York, Patrick’s research practice is heavily influenced by that community’s relationship to material culture, and labor. Patrick’s studio practice currently resides in Philadelphia Pennsylvania where he is a professor at Saint Josephs University, and The University of the Arts. Prior to moving to Philadelphia Patrick lived and worked in Jingdezhen, the ceramic center of China. As an assistant in the design studio he worked with local craftsmen in the production of ceramic design goods for a global market while also assisting in the management of the Education Center, facilitating international exchange and instruction. He has attended residencies in Tokoname Japan, Rome Italy, and across the United Sates, and has been a visiting lecturer at Ewha Womans University in Seoul South Korea, The University of Montana, and Buffalo State University in the United States.

Artist's Statement

Patrick Coughlin’s work examines the ubiquitous, mundane, and inconspicuous aspects of our material culture and the domestic spaces that house it. Our Homes and shared spaces along with the objects that fill them exist in the realm of magical science. Their origins are opaque and byzantine, our most essential tools are incomprehensible in their making, while automation makes the labor we do increasingly unnecessary. Our buildings and tools no longer need human skill. The empty glamour and effortlessness of this modernity has disconnected our psyche from the physical, sensual world. By abstracting structural joinery, furniture, and the body we are asked to see the hidden complexities and humanity in the ubiquitous. Through this contextualization of architecture, domestic objects, and craft sensibilities, Patrick’s work explores the precarious relationships with the natural world and our own self agency.

Selected Exhibitions

Solo
2018
Parsing Structures, Gallery 224, Philadelphia, PA

2017
Residency Exhibition, C.R.E.T.A. Gallery, Rome, Italy

Patrick Coughlin, Kitchen Table Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2016
Resident Artist Exhibition, Gallery Kyoeigama, Tokoname, Japan

2015
Tools of Trade, Napoleon Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Group
2017
CAMD Faculty Exhibition, Kimmel Center for the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2016
A Good Ex-Cuse, Gandee Gallery, Fabius, NY

Other Selections, Center for Art and Wood, Philadelphia, PA

2015
Salad Days, New Bedford Art Museum, New Bedford, MA

Graphic Clay, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD

Earth Elements, P.A.C., Providence, RI

2014
Here & There, Gallery 817, Philadelphia, PA

2013
Mimesis, Taplin Gallery of Art, Princeton, NJ

Professional Experience

2015-Present
Studio Art MFA Mentor, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

Senior Lecturer in Art, Media, & Design, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

Juror, Arkansas Arts Council, Department of Arkansas Heritage

2018
Foreign Expert Visa, TAFA, Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, Tianjin, China Summer 2018

2017
Resident Artist, C.R.E.T.A Rome, Rome, Italy

Visiting Artist, Buffalo State University, Buffalo, NY

Visiting Lecturer, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea

2016
Resident Artist, Kyoeigama Studio, Tokoname, Japan

Interim Ceramics Area Coordinator, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2015
Juror, AMOCA – American Museum of Ceramic Art – Pomona, CA

2014-present
Board Member, Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts, Edgecombe, ME

2014-2016
President’s Office Gallery Coordinator, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2013-present
Adjunct Faculty, Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, PA

2012-2015
Lecturer in Art, Media, & Design, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2011-present
Instructor, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA

2011
Education Center Assistant Manager, The Pottery Workshop, Jingdezhen, China

2010
Design Studio Assistant, The Pottery Workshop, Jingdezhen, China

Education

2010
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
MFA

2000
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
BFA

Recent Artist Member Mentions on InLiquid