White Bread: The Second Slice
A Show of Collaborative Work and Themes by Angela Gallia and Linda Gossett

By Angela Gallia


A year ago Catherine Basharka approached Linda Gossett and me about having a show at Gallery 2520 in Dallas. At the same time Susan Warnell, owner of Gecko Gallery at the Chicken Farm Art Center in San Angelo, asked Linda and me to do a show to coincide with The San Angelo National Ceramic Competition and Ceramic Week at the Chicken Farm. There were only a couple of months to come up with a cohesive plan and to get the work done. We held an emergency research and development meeting over sushi and beer and developed a plan. What transpired was an interesting series of collaborative works and themes that are still evolving long after the shows are over.

Linda and I are potters and very good friends with similar backgrounds. Linda’s is in package design and classical dance, while mine is as a painter and a musician. We work differently but with similar materials. Over the past couple of years we’ve been teaching a series of workshops together focusing on hand building and surface treatments. Collaboration was something we’d both been thinking about for a long time; however, had the opportunity not presented itself, it probably never would have happened. It has been a great experience and has stretched us both in surprising ways. Our theme is “White Bread”. In it we explore our collective lack of specific cultural heritage as well as the trials and tribulations of growing up that way.

Pat Johnson, artist and director of the Live Oak Art Center, saw the show in San Angelo and requested an encore. This brings us to White Bread: The Second Slice at the Live Oak Art Center in Columbus, Texas, scheduled to run from March 19 through May 15, 2005. The White Bread Family Side Show, featuring freaks and carnival oddities, will run concurrently with the show. As well as works by Linda and Me, the side show will feature works by Pat Johnson, Barbara Buell, Beverly and Bill Ray Mangham, Cindy Kelley, and Andrea Power.