My introduction to ceramics came from a master, who was also a colleague of mine at the Chicago-based New Art Examiner.
In the late 1980s, Japanese-trained American potter Rob Barnard signed on as ceramics editor of the publication, which he used as a platform for articulating his passionate belief in the importance of functional pottery and its capacity to, in his words, “comment on the complexities of modern life.”
Perhaps the best argument for Barnard’s position was his own pots—beautiful wood-fired, sometimes white-glazed, vessels that seemed to have absorbed the breath and life of their maker.
Barnard, who continues to produce extraordinary work at his studio in Timberville, Virginia, went on to author and contribute to several influential books on the subject of ceramics, including the 2007 volume, Breaking the Mold: New Approaches to Ceramics. Among the featured artists: Clare Twomey, whose popular one-person show at the Nelson-Atkins in 2010 culminated in a giveaway of more than 1,300 of her ceramic cups, and Ole Lislerud, who will be showing his internationally exhibited ceramic plaques in a one-person show at Todd Weiner Gallery in March.
Which brings us to this issue’s focus: the 50th anniversary conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, March 16-19, and the issues, objects, artists and ideas defining contemporary ceramics.
As reflected in our lead story, “Pot or Not,” by leading ceramics writer Janet Koplos, the ceramics field today has moved past many of the challenges that Barnard worked to surmount, an effort Koplos assisted through her many reviews and articles about the ceramic works of Barnard and others.
It is fitting that NCECA’s historic 50th conference occurs in Kansas City. As Koplos has noted, “Ceramics has a strong history here. The KCAI ceramics program under Ken Ferguson, while only offering an undergraduate education, was nationally famous for its eminent graduates, and it has lost none of that status under its current leaders. In addition, the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center in its very name pays homage to two leading mid-20th-century ceramic sculptors, and it continues to present strong ceramic work within its program.”
The current issue’s “Gallery of Kansas City Ceramics” speaks volumes about our city’s ceramics talent pool; so does our profile of Cary Esser, who has done much to develop that talent in her role as head of the ceramics department at the Kansas City Art Institute. A piece from her breathtaking “Bray Parfleche” series appears on this issue’s cover.
With this issue, KC Studio is pleased to welcome Julius Karash, a respected and established voice in the world of business reporting, as our new “business and the arts” columnist. See page 20 for his account of the local economic impact of the NCECA conference.
Discovery at the Nelson-Atkins
As if the NCECA conference was not enough excitement: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art learned recently that a panel attributed to the workshop of Hieronymus Bosch that has been in the collection since the 1930s, was actually painted by the master himself.
The discovery came about when a team of Dutch experts visited the Nelson last September and performed a series of technical examinations on the painting, which led them to conclude that the work is by Bosch’s hand.
The experts also concluded that the painting, titled The Temptation of St. Anthony (ca. 1500-1510), was part of a larger work, forming one of the wings, or side panels, of a dismantled triptych.
The discovery is major. According to Rima Girnius, the Nelson’s associate curator of European painting, “There are 25 paintings attributed to Bosch in the entire world, with only four in the U.S. Now there are five, and one of them happens to be at the Nelson-Atkins.”
The artwork, last exhibited at the Nelson in 2003, is presently in the Netherlands, as part of an exhibit at the Het Noordbrabents Museum in Den Bosch celebrating the 500th anniversary of Bosch’s death.
The Nelson plans to share the details of the experts’ research in a major celebration of the painting upon its return.
