56 art ltd - March / April 2016Katherine Ross(Professor/Chair, Ceramics,
School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
The boundaries of ceramics in the 21st century are permeable and
fluid, equal to, influencing, and influenced by all other forms of art.
Many young ceramic artists are letting go of the traditions (rules) of
Craft and taste: perhaps out of boredom, but often irreverently and
boldly embracing humor, materiality, or color, and taking cues from
everything around them. These new artists no longer hesitate at
challenging the boundaries of content, discipline or media.
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago has never required study
majors. Ceramics students have always and often combined disci-
plines. Recently, many painters, sculptors, performance artists, and
film/video/new media artists have heavily involved ceramics in their
practice. New interests in ceramics examine the failures of poorly
functioning vessels as content. Social practice and site-specific work
address the histories of place and allow others to find a voice through
the use of clay. Ceramic artists are using color conceptually as
developed in the painting traditions.
Artists commonly question taste, the art market, skill, and even how
we see and accept objects in our world. For example, Sterling Ruby
has introduced a level of rudeness in ceramics that challenges craft
tradition. Ben DeMott’s work questions both taste and permanence,
while Nicole Seisler and Charlie Schneider embrace the social and cul-
tural implications of memory and place. My own work incorporates
a comparison of the psychological and behavioral function of objects
within our social construct to the survival behaviors of animals, such
as a mule, when confronting ceramic objects. The traditional ceramic
process, its form and function, appears to be less important to many
current ceramic artists than the materiality of the earth-borne mate-
rial, and its poetic, subconscious, or overt psychological relevance.
David Armstrong(Founder, American
Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA)
Recognition of ceramics in the field of fine art in the United States
has changed dramatically over the past 10 years. A major influence to
this change took place in the latter half of the 20th century, when the
medium of ceramics was chosen by a few artists as a vehicle for fine
art expression. Peter Voulkos and Robert Arneson were two of the
American artists that pioneered the field, and carried ceramics beyond
Craft, into the realm of fine art. Today, artists who express them-
selves using ceramics as their chosen art medium can work in a field
that is more broadly entwined with other fine art fields than ever
before. At the same time, more and more museums throughout the
United States are now recognizing that ceramics can be used as a
legitimate art medium. Most of these museums have very nice collec-
tions of ceramics, but unfortunately many of these collections are
stored away and, in the past, were very seldom put on view. Now
that lack of recognition is changing and many of our country’s muse-
ums are bringing out their collections of ceramics for the public to
enjoy, embracing them both for their own traditions and as part of
a broader cultural discourse.
The American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, California, is dedi-
cated to the exhibition, preservation and creation of ceramic art. Since
its opening 11 years ago, the museum has used its programming to
examine the range of practices that make up this ever-evolving fine
art medium. In exhibitions of artists such as Paul Soldner, Don Reitz,
Robert Sperry and Patti Warashina, AMOCA has highlighted the artis-
tic talents of some of the many artists who are pushing the field
forward, contributing to the medium’s diversity. Truly, ceramics has
become a significant fine art medium for artists of the 21st century,
pushing it to new inspiring and unexpected directions.
Peter Held (Former Curator of Ceramics,
Arizona State University Art Museum)As artists strive to make sense of an increasingly complex world, con-
temporary ceramists have increasingly engaged with the wider world.
Globalization, coupled with economic and political upheavals, cannot
help but influence today’s cultural landscape. These factors force the
artist to redefine the role of the studio ceramic artist in the 21st cen-
tury. Younger generations of clay artists are tech savvy; they control
their markets by promoting their art through websites, social media,
and crowdsourcing. They erect their own structures of communica-
tion and distribution, with horizontal rather than vertical hierarchies.
Many seek connectedness through working with collectives, DIY
communities, and alternative sales outlets.During the last decade, the world of ceramics has expanded at warp
speed. Increasingly it escapes the rigid boundaries of Craft. The field
is being redefined and engaged with the wider worlds of visual arts
and design. The medium of clay has witnessed dramatic swings in
studio practice, the marketplace, academia, collecting, and presenting
since the advent of the postwar craft movement. We have valued
our histories and embraced our successes. But with each successive
generation of artists, new ideas and technologies rewrite our future.
Amidst innumerable challenges and opportunities, artists awaken
paths towards new discoveries, foreshadowing increased individual
and collective stability.Artists’ sensitivity towards clay, infused with intellectual substance,
allows them to become effective communicators who shed light on
our past, present and future. The trajectory of their forward path is
inextricably woven into their lives outside the studio. Although in a
state of flux, often thrown off-center, the ceramics field resides in
a fertile moment. What is it about this material that bonds us all
today, with all its historical and cultural connotations and closeness
to our everyday lives? It is bewitching, revealing itself in many guises.
The medium, with its manifest historical and cultural connotations is
transformative. Unencumbered by language, reaching across civiliza-
tions, clay reveals to me the possibility of a more linked humanity.Previous page, clockwise top left:Installation view, “MUCK: Accumulations, Accretions and Aggrega-
tions,” ASU Art Museum, curated by Peter Held. The 2014 exhibition
featured ceramic sculpture by Susan Beiner, Nathan Craven, Michael
Fujita, David Hicks, Annabeth Rosen, Meghan Smythe and Matt Wedel
Photo: Craig Smith“Some Guests are Better Than Others,” 2014, Nathan Lynch
Ceramic, glaze, charcoal, 20" x 18" x 14"
Photo: John Janca courtesy Rena Bransten Projects“The Subjective Meadow,” 2014, Katherine Ross
Video still“Radiance & Abundance series,” 2012, Tony Marsh
Earthenware, 23" across“Untitled Platters,” 1980, Robert Sperry
Ceramic
Collection of David Armstrong and Randall Welty
as seen in the current show at AMOCA, “Lineage: Mentorship & Learning”
Photo: courtesy AMOCA