AUGUST 6 â OCTOBER 30, 2022
Ferrin Contemporary
1015 Mass MoCA Way
North Adams, MA
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
OUR AMERICA/WHOSE AMERICA?
AUGUST 6 – OCTOBER 30, 2022
Our America, Whose America presents a dialogue between contemporary artists and a collection of commercially produced ceramics. This collection of historical objects, collected across the span of several years by Founding Director Leslie Ferrin, is in the form of plates, souvenirs, and figurines from the early 19th through mid-20th centuries. The items were produced in England, Occupied Japan, and various factories in the USA. The exhibition title was chosen from a series of plates produced by Vernon Kiln that features illustrations of American scenes by the painter Rockwell Kent.
In response to this historical collection, contemporary works by nearly 30 participating artists will provide new context and interpretation of these profoundly powerful objects. Seen now, decades and in some cases centuries later, the narratives they deliver through image, characterization, and stereotype, whether overt and bombastic or subtle and cunning, form a collective memory that continues to impact the way people see themselves and others today.
EXHIBITING ARTISTS
Throughout our forty-year history, we have used multi-artist survey exhibitions as a platform to explore social issues. Weâve focused on gender and feminist perspectives, broached relationship taboos, and challenged historical notions of ceramics and art.
The contemporary artists weâve invited use their work to assert their autonomy and subjectivity by presenting intertwined cultural critiques through lenses of their own choosing, starting with race, gender, and class. Each of these categories is tentacular and touches upon myriad other ideas including nature, warfare, food and water inequity, and more.
2022 | OUR AMERICA/WHOSE AMERICA? EXHIBITION CATALOG
Exhibition and catalog production by Ferrin Contemporary staff, catalog layout by Rory Coyne with installation and artwork photography by John Polak Photography, 2022.
- 58 Page Catalog
- Â Introduction by the Gallery
- Featuring 23 Artists
- Installation & Artwork Photos by John Polak Photography
Published by Ferrin Contemporary
2022 | PRESS & PROGRAMMING
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ILLUSTRATION AND RACE, Exhibition & Symposium at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ILLUSTRATION AND RACE
Zoom Webinar (online)
Welcome and Opening Program:
Friday, September 23, 2022
7 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.
Symposium Presentations and Panels:
Saturday, September 24, 2022
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT: ILLUSTRATED CERAMICS AND AMERICAN IDENTITY
Panelists: Leslie Ferrin, Elizabeth Alexander, Jacqueline Bishop, Judy Chartrand, Niki Johnson, and Paul Scott.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ILLUSTRATION AND RACE
A series of compelling talks by Heather Campbell Coyle, Ph.D; Karen Fang, Ph.D; Michele Bogart, Ph.D.; Theresa Leininger-Miller, Ph.D.; and Leonard Davis, followed by conversation with the commentators.
SYMPOSIUM FEATURES
Hidden in Plain Sight: Illustrated Ceramics and American Identity
TIMESTAMPS
Hidden in plain sight, illustrations on porcelain and ceramic ware have, throughout history, transformed functional objects into message-bearers for a wide range of political and propagandistic causes, whether exchanged by heads of state or acquired for use or display in domestic settings. Leslie Ferrin of Ferrin Contemporary will discuss the imagery, drawn from popular nineteenth-century prints, that was reproduced on widely distributed ceramics portraying historical events, indigenous people, and notable explorers, inventors, and politicians through a white European lens. The panel will explore how these seemingly ordinary objects, including Rockwell collector plates, have helped to establish firmly held beliefs about American identity. Artists Elizabeth Alexander, Jacqueline Bishop, Judy Chartrand, Niki Johnson, and Paul Scott, will discuss contemporary ceramics, which reject systems of racial oppression and invite reconsideration of the sanitized version of history that was presented for generations.
Historical Perspectives on Illustration and Race
View the Entire Symposium Playlist from the Norman Rockwell Museum
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 START
00:13 Welcome
04:49 Opening Remarks
22:50 Panel: Hidden in Plain Sight – Illustrated Ceramics and American Identity
These concise presentations by Imprinted: Illustrating Race catalogue authors and exhibition lenders will focus on widely-circulated historical representations of race in the press and in popular culture that established a sense of American nationalism for white audiences through the subjugation of Indigenous, Black, and Asian people and cultures.
Leonard Davis, designer and collector
PAST PRESS
Ferrin Contemporary | Exhibition | 2022
PAST PROGRAMMING
Ferrin Contemporary | Exhibition | 2022
OPENING RECEPTION
Thursday, August. 11, 2022 | 5-7 pm
during Building 13 Art Walk
CLOSING RECEPTION
Special Guest Artist Paul Scott (UK)
Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022 |Â 5-7 pm
Closing reception of the ‘OAWA’ exhibition at Ferrin Gallery, with special guest artist Paul Scott (UK) in attendance, as well as select additional artists and the curators in the exhibition.
at Ferrin Contemporary, North Adams, MA
Historical Perspectives on Illustration and Race
Zoom Webinar (online)
Welcome and Opening Program:
Friday, September 23, 2022
7 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.
Symposium Presentations and Panels:
Saturday, September 24, 2022
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.