The State of Ceramics Today…
The ceramics field today is exploding with possibilities, as new directions supplant the focus on the ceramic vessel that dominated the late 20th century. Trends that stand out include a resurgence of figurative ceramics, both drawn and sculpted, an expansion of functional objects, and—maybe most surprising—the adoption of the clay material by artists with no training in ceramics.
Exhibits on view for the 50th annual conference of NCECA offer gallery goers the opportunity to look both deeply and broadly at these new possibilities, and to reflect on where ceramics has been.
Figuration returns
Figurative work goes back to the beginning of time, it seems, with prehistoric fertility figures pressed in clay, and its continuation over the ages has given us the familiar figurine. But in modern times its popularity has come and gone.
In the 1930s ceramic figures were important artistic expressions in sizes ranging from miniature to life scale. In the postwar period, however, abstraction was favored. Still, a few of the major ceramists of the ‘60s and ‘70s explored figuration, and their names and works are still prominent today, including Robert Arneson, Viola Frey and Stephen DeStaebler. All three were based in the San Francisco Bay area.
The current blossoming of figuration seems to follow at least three threads: emotional expression, identity, and storytelling, particularly sociopolitical. A few examples are Elise Siegel with her plaintive fragments of grouped children, Kukuli Velarde with fierce personal and often feminist interpretations of a pre-Columbian figure, Beth Cavener with slyly anthropomorphic animals, and Akio Takamori with figural sculptures acknowledging his Japanese homeland and sometimes blending it with European art history, but more notable for their combination of intimacy, emotional reserve and painterly surfaces.
Inventions in function
Functional pottery is everywhere—in every local craft fair—and might seem in danger of falling into tired conventions. Not so! Although today’s potters, notably from the sizeable contingent of Midwestern potters and another cluster in North Carolina, have not abandoned those earth colors that potters have historically loved, one of the big changes now is the interest in white or colorful tableware. Some makers, such as Linda Arbuckle, work in the maiolica tradition from medieval Europe, but just as many apply coloring materials to a white-clay base that sets off the bright hues.
Another newly popular practice is slip casting, which makes possible shapes and layers not achievable on the potter’s wheel. Casting used to be considered an industrial method only, and certainly some of the new work is slicker and cooler than the thrown works, which often strive to be tactile. But again, this opens up a new range of options for utility today.
Particularly interesting are the works of young potters who are making table installations of shapes not traditional to American dining but surprisingly adaptable. Heather Mae Erickson is an engaging example. Nick Bivins makes compositions of elegantly reductive coffee services and the like. Some potters working in new forms have banded together for marketing under the name Objective Clay, including Bryan Hopkins, who makes perforated or translucent white porcelain, and Deb Schwartzkopf with novel shapes.
Other functional pottery bears narrative drawing of various sorts, such as Emily Free Wilson’s euphoric balloon-like motifs, Kip O’Krongly’s environmental messages, Kevin Snipes’s contemporary yet slightly mysterious scenes implying relationships, and Ayumi Horie’s symbolic world of animals (with ingenious product videos on her website).
A major evolution is the embrace of beauty, detail, sensuality, even sweetness, which has led some observers to speak of the “feminization” of ceramics. It’s true in comparison to the massive and rough macho sculptures of decades past.
Outsiders expand the field
And then there are the artists trained in other genres who have newly discovered clay and fallen in love with the material. Making functional pottery requires practice and skill, so some of the newcomers to the medium who want to make vessels have utilized one of the workshops that encourage people to give clay a try, and others have collaborated with someone who has the skills to execute their vision. But a fair amount of this work is sculptural and simply takes advantage of the receptive malleability of clay. It’s the kind of shaping sculptors might have started with if they were making a clay maquette for a sculpture that would end up being bronze, but now the touched surface stays in its original material—more honestly, perhaps?
A decisive example of this is British sculptor Rebecca Warren, who makes very vaguely figural forms (breasts more clearly than anything else) and goes further by leaving the clay unfired. She also paints it here and there. Arlene Shechet is breaking new ground with imposing pedestals topped with kiln brick and/or shaped clay that alludes to philosophy and Eastern religions. A number of these artists investing in clay will be included in the Kemper Museum’s “A Whisper of Where It Came From” show opening March 11.
This rediscovery of clay began roughly a decade ago: Ceramics was featured in special exhibitions at prominent New York galleries such as Barbara Gladstone and St. Louis native Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn’s Salon 94, where it was treated as a novelty, but one of great interest. Ceramic works began showing up in nearly every group show, and today it’s impossible to make the rounds of New York galleries without seeing multiple examples.
Many galleries now have artists committed to ceramics on their rosters, and this includes both those trained in clay and those newly exploring it.
There are other directions too numerous to accommodate in this short article, but a good place to discover some of them is the conference’s flagship show, “Unconventional Clay: Engaged in Change,” at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, where the offerings will include projections, performance, installation works, and yes, objects.
