Project Tag: Ceramics

30
Mar
2023
SERGEI ISUPOV

SERGEI ISUPOV

ARTWORK

NEW FIGURAL WORKS

Sergei Isupov’s newest series of 2025 will be debuted at District Clay Center this Spring. 

MOMENTS FROM ETERNITY: Series of Statuettes 

INSTALLATIONS & SERIES

SERGEI ISUPOV: ANCESTOR

2024 – 2025 | Solo Exhibition at Anderson Gallery, Bridgewater State University

Isupov’s ANCESTOR unites the collection of figurative works that show the evolution of ideas in his work. As expressed in the characters he portrays, the sculptures’ eyes and gestures activate relationships that are universal and timeless. Isupov explores narratives from the past as well as the present in multiple pieces, bridging memory and place into displays of his work. Born into a family of Russian artists during the USSR, he spent his childhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, educated in Tallinn, Estonia and now lives and works in Western Massachusetts. 

“Regardless of our backgrounds or wherever in the world we came to be, our shared experiences as humans are interwoven and passed on from generation to generation. The exhibition Ancestor allowed me to reflect on these works and my sources of inspiration and motivation … When I think of myself and my works, I’m not sure I create them, perhaps they create me.” – Sergei Isupov

Traditional Family

We Are All from The Sky

Modern Family

Family Chess

FIGURAL SCULPTURE

“Art is a life style for me.  Everything that surrounds and excites me is automatically processed and transformed into the final result: an artwork.  It is fascinating to watch the transitions from life to art. The essence of my work is not in the medium or the creative process, but the in human beings and their incredible diversity.  When I think of myself and my works, I’m not sure I create them, perhaps they create me.

I find ceramic to be the most versatile material and it is well suited to the expression of my ideas.   I consider sculpture to be a canvas for my paintings. All plastic, graphic and painting elements of the piece function as complementary parts of the work.

In this series of two-legged figures, Statuettes, the form is classical but the characters are comical.  I like the contrast of serious to humorous – the front is cartoon like but the back of each figure features an intimate painting of the being’s spirit.  

While each one expresses an individual personality or character, as a group, they become a population, inhabitants of my imaginary world or visitors from my imagination.”

Hidden Messages

Game Changer

Sergei Isupov, "Game Changer", 2023, porcelain, underglaze, glaze, 17.5 x 8 x 6.5".
Sergei Isupov, "Game Changer", 2023, back, porcelain, underglaze, glaze, 17.5 x 8 x 6.5".

Puppeteer

Sergei Isupov, "Pupeteer", 2023, porcelain, underglaze, glaze, 18.5 x 8 x 7".
Sergei Isupov, "Pupeteer", 2023, back, porcelain, underglaze, glaze, 18.5 x 8 x 7".

Silver Anniversary

Sergei Isupov, "Silver Anniversary", 2019, porcleain, slip, glaze, 15.5 x 9.5 x 7".
Sergei Isupov, "Silver Anniversary", 2019, detail, porcleain, slip, glaze, 15.5 x 9.5 x 7".

ANDROGYNY

HEADS & BUSTS

The Androgyny series of heads and busts, often with surrealistic features and complex facial expressions, was first presented by Ferrin Gallery in 2008 (Pittsfield, MA Location). The works were exhibited in his groundbreaking solo show at Mesa Contemporary Arts Center (Mesa, AZ) and traveled to the Daum Museum of Art (Sedalia, MO) in 2009. Isupov returns to this scale and series with the most recent work Heritage featured in Alliances (Keene, NH) in 2023, and Ancestor (Bridgewater, MA) in 2024. Select pieces remain in the artist’s archive available for exhibition, public and private collections. 

Soul of the Planet

Sergei Isupov, "Soul of the Planet", 2008-2010, stoneware, stain, glaze, 28 x 28 x 22". Photo by John Polak Photography

Heritage

Sergei Isupov, "Heritage", 2023, stoneware, stain, glaze, 32 x 29 x 16". Photo by John Polak Photography.
Sergei Isupov, "Heritage", 2023, stoneware, stain, glaze, 32 x 29 x 16". Photo by John Polak Photography.

2009 | “Androgyny: New Work by Sergei Isupov”, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO, October 3 – December 6, 2009

2009 | “Androgyny”, Mesa Contemporary Arts Center, Mesa, AZ, April 10 – August 2, 2009

2008 | “Androgyny, The Preview, Solo Exhibition: Sculpture, Painting, Drawing”; Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA

“My work is about contrasts and relationships. I explore contrasts of human condition with my story lines such as male-female and human-animal relationships, and accompanying emotions of warmth and aggression, love and rejection, and nurture and abandonment. Dynamic and interactive narratives are developed using two and three dimensions at the same time with the sculpted form and painted surface. I use a visual vocabulary and classic tools of design, proportion, perspective and silhouette to both sculpt and paint. Eyes show emotional relationships. Facial and figural gestures develop personalities. Illusionary objects and perspectives suggest motion. As a viewer moves around the work, they see each angle and focus point leading to new chapters and story lines. Combined, these clues tell an overall story.”

Busker

Chosen One

Sergei Isupov, "Chosen One", 2009, stoneware, stain, glaze, 29 x 22 x 23". Photo by John Polak Photography

Guardian

Sergei Isupov, "Guardian", 2009, stoneware, slip, glaze, 25.5 x 20 x 17.5". Photo by John Polak Photography

Horsepower

Sergei Isupov, "Horsepower", 2009, stoneware, slip, glaze, 32 x 19 x 17". Photo by John Polak Photography

Man

Sergei Isupov, "Man", 2009, stoneware, stain, glaze, 27.5 x 23 x 13". Photo by John Polak Photography

Midnight Son

HUMANIMALS

Humanimals, transform anthropomorphic sculptures that explore human relationships by blending the expression and gesture of the combined species.

A sculptural surrealist, Isupov first created works in the Humanimal Series around 2011, with a set of “standing figures” (animal/human hybrids) and “riders” (animal figures on animal/human hybrids)

In 2015 Isupov returned to his iconic form of the Humanimal, a series of standing oversized figurines. New groups and works emerge as the artist delves into the right form for each of his concepts. Close Your Eyes Open Your Eyes, Burden II, Butterfly Catcher, Life’s Work, and Strong hail from multiple eras in the artist’s exploration of the series.

“The animal faces and features represent the beast or natural animal instincts that are often in conflict with reason and intellect.

The hand represents the hand of a human or god – both a comforting support for humanity and a force of opposition or challenge to animal instincts.

The two sculptures explore these ideas of opposing forces of nature and humanity, man and beast, integral and constant throughout life.  There is nothing literal intended in the choice of imagery or narrative.  The images and expressions are of male/female/animal – symbolic, metaphoric, and intended to provide for individual interpretation. ”

Close Your Eyes, Open Your Eyes

Butterfly Catcher

Burden II

Sergei Isupov, "Burden II", 2021, stoneware, slip, glaze, 15.5 x 15 x 6.5". Ceramic sculpture with human and animal forms.
Sergei Isupov, "Burden II", 2021, stoneware, slip, glaze, 15.5 x 15 x 6.5". Ceramic sculpture with human and animal forms.

Life’s Work

Sergei Isupov, "Life's Work" 2011, porcelain, slip, glaze, 16.875 x 14.75 x 5.5"
Sergei Isupov, "Life's Work" 2011, porcelain, slip, glaze, 16.875 x 14.75 x 5.5"

Strong

Sergei Isupov, "Strong" 2011, porcelain, slip, glaze, 14.5 x 7.5 x 7.5".
Sergei Isupov, "Strong" 2011, reverse, porcelain, slip, glaze, 14.5 x 7.5 x 7.5".

Amaco

SERGEI ISUPOV: PAST & PRESENT

2022 | Solo Exhibition at Ferrin Contemporary

Ceramic sculptures are presented with both a multi-dimensional, mixed-media wall installation and independent pedestal-based works. Isupov and Ferrin Contemporary have had exhibitions internationally since 1996. This was the artist’s third solo show in our North Adams gallery location.

Both of Isupov’s 2022 exhibitions include works in porcelain and mixed-media drawings produced at Project Art in Cummington, MA. 

Past & Present

Full Moon Addiction

Like An Eternity

Marriage for the Ages

LARGE WORKS, INSTALLATIONS, & TABLEAUS

Challenged by opportunities to expand his scale, Isupov’s recent exhibition Alliances featured a wall relief sculpture using the carved plywood printing plate (left) and the resulting print (right) bringing together ceramic sculpture, assemblage, and printmaking practices to show the full scope of creative versatility and process. Towering larger than life figures and animated life size tableaus anchor his solo exhibitions in galleries and museums. 

Lips Eyes Ear Eyebrow

Woodblock & Print | Installation

Installation of "Lips, Eyes, Ear, Eyebrows" & "Ancestor", (2023), with "Busker" (2009) and "Heritage" (2023) sculptures. Photo by John Polak Photography. "SERGEI ISUPOV: Alliances", Exhibition Installation at Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery, Keene State College, Keene, NH, October 25-December 6, 2023.

Directions

Coffee & Milk

On the Way

PUBLIC ARTWORK

MAIN STREET | CUMMINGTON, MA

Fire sculptures, public art, engage the public in community based projects. 

Visible from Main Street, Isupov currently has 3 public works on view along Main Street in Cummington, MA and more around the world. Works are visible by car or foot, neighboring other temporary and permanent public works on Main Street as part of the Cummington Cultural District Art Walk.

To learn more about the Cummington Cultural District and other public art sculptures along Main Street: @cummmingtonculturaldistrict

Earth & Fire | Fire Sculptures

MORE ABOUT THE FIRE SCULPTURES

Everything is Upside Down

Miss Comet

Sergei Isupov, "Miss Comet", 2022 Installation, Project Art, Cummington, MA Photo by John Polak Photography.

Branch Dragon

WORKS ON PAPER | PRINTS

Sergei worked on a series of prints at Littleton Studios in 2000 and produced the limited edition prints shown in the galleries below.

Each Littleton Print is a Vitreograph, Siligraphy print from glass plate, using Digital Transfer techniques.

The printing process varies from edition to edition.  The labor involved in the process, the quality of the paper, and the edition size all affect the price of the print.

VIEW MORE WORKS ON PAPER

ABOUT

SERGEI ISUPOV

Sergei Isupov Artist Portrait, 2021, Photo Credit: John Polak

ARCHIVE OF WORKS

SERGEIISUPOV.COM

WORKSHOPS
CV
BIO

ABOUT

Estonian-American, b. 1963 Stavropole, USSR,
lives and works between Cummington, MA, USA and Tallinn, Estonia

Sergei Isupov is an Estonian-American sculptor internationally known for his highly detailed, narrative works. Isupov explores painterly figure-ground relationships, creating surreal sculptures with a complex artistic vocabulary that combines two- and three-dimensional narratives and animal/human hybrids. He works in ceramics using traditional hand-building and sculpting techniques to combine surface and form with narrative painting using colored stains highlighted with clear glaze.

Isupov has a long international resume with work included in numerous collections and exhibitions, including the National Gallery of Australia, Museum Angewandte in Kunst, Germany, and in the US at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Crocker Art Museum, Everson Museum of Art, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Museum of Arts and Design, Museum of Fine Arts–Boston, Museum of Fine Arts–Houston, Mint Museum of Art, and Racine Art Museum. In 2017, his solo exhibition at The Erie Art Museum presented selected works in a 20-year career survey titled Hidden Messages, followed by Surreal Promenade e, another survey solo in 2019 at the Russian Museum of Art in Minnesota.

ON HIS WORK

Often called an erotic Surrealist for his daring representations of sexuality, relationships, and human encounter, Isupov takes narrative subject matter and merges it with ceramic sculptural form. Drawing on personal experience, and human observation, he creates works that integrate autobiography with universal narrative.

He states, “Everything that surrounds and excites me is automatically processed and transformed into…an artwork. […] The essence of my work is not in the medium or the creative process, but in the human beings and their incredible diversity. When I think of myself and my works, I’m not sure I create them, perhaps they create me.”

While the robust, and racially distinct facial traits make each sculpture unique, they also make the body of work capable of representing universal experiences. The bold color palette, heavily tattooed faces, and textured surfaces relate these works to the aesthetics of traditional Russian art, as well as to contemporary styles of illustration.

“My work portrays characters placed in situations that are drawn from my imagination but based on my life experiences.  My art works capture a composite of fleeting moments, hand gestures, eye movements that follow and reveal the sentiments expressed.  These details are all derived from actual observations but are gathered or collected over my lifetime.  Through the drawn images and sculpted forms, I capture faces, body types and use symbolic elements to compose, in the same way as you might create a collage.  These ideas drift and migrate throughout my work without direct regard to specific individuals, chronology or geography.  Universalism is implied and personal interpretation expected.   Through my work I get to report about and explore human encounters, comment on the relationships between man and woman, and eventually their sexual union that leads to the final outcome – the passing on of DNA which is the ultimate collection – a combined set of genes and a new life, represented in the child.”

ANDROGYNY SERIES

HEADS & BUSTS

The Androgyny series of heads and busts, often with surrealistic features and complex facial expressions, was first presented by Ferrin Gallery in 2008 (Pittsfield, MA Location). The works and show traveled to Mesa Contemporary Arts Center (Mesa, AZ) and the Daum Museum of Art (Sedalia, MO) in 2009, and select pieces remain in the artist’s archive for use in contemporary installations as well as available for collections and client acquisitions. 

2009 | “Androgyny: New Work by Sergei Isupov”, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO, October 3 – December 6, 2009

2009 | “Androgyny”, Mesa Contemporary Arts Center, Mesa, AZ, April 10 – August 2, 2009

2008 | “Androgyny, The Preview, Solo Exhibition: Sculpture, Painting, Drawing”; Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA

FIGURATIVE WORKS

“Art is a life style for me.  Everything that surrounds and excites me is automatically processed and transformed into the final result: an artwork.  It is fascinating to watch the transitions from life to art. The essence of my work is not in the medium or the creative process, but the in human beings and their incredible diversity.  When I think of myself and my works, I’m not sure I create them, perhaps they create me.

I find ceramic to be the most versatile material and it is well suited to the expression of my ideas.   I consider sculpture to be a canvas for my paintings. All plastic, graphic and painting elements of the piece function as complementary parts of the work.

In this series of two-legged figures, Statuettes, the form is classical but the characters are comical.  I like the contrast of serious to humorous – the front is cartoon like but the back of each figure features an intimate painting of the being’s spirit.  

While each one expresses an individual personality or character, as a group, they become a population, inhabitants of my imaginary world or visitors from my imagination.”

HUMANIMAL SERIES

Humanimals, transform anthropomorphic sculptures that explore human relationships by blending the expression and gesture of the combined species.

A sculptural surrealist, Isupov first created works in the Humanimal Series around 2011, with a set of “standing figures” (animal/human hybrids) and “riders” (animal figures on animal/human hybrids)

In 2015 Isupov returned to his iconic form of the Humanimal, a series of standing oversized figurines. New groups and works emerge as the artist delves into the right form for each of his concepts. Close Your Eyes Open Your Eyes, Burden II, Butterfly Catcher, Life’s Work, and Strong hail from multiple eras in the artist’s exploration of the series.

“The animal faces and features represent the beast or natural animal instincts that are often in conflict with reason and intellect.

The hand represents the hand of a human or god – both a comforting support for humanity and a force of opposition or challenge to animal instincts.

The two sculptures explore these ideas of opposing forces of nature and humanity, man and beast, integral and constant throughout life.  There is nothing literal intended in the choice of imagery or narrative.  The images and expressions are of male/female/animal – symbolic, metaphoric, and intended to provide for individual interpretation. ”

EXHIBITIONS

FEATURED & PAST EXHIBITIONS

Sergei Isupov, Moments from Eternity Banner

Sergei Isupov: MOMENTS FROM ETERNITY

2025 | Solo Exhibition at District Clay Center | Washington, DC

April 25 – May 25, 2025

View the exhibition page HERE

“Sergei Isupov: Ancestor”, Exhibition in the Anderson Gallery at Bridgewater State University, November 1 through February 18, 2025

SERGEI ISUPOV: Ancestor

2024 | Solo Exhibition at Anderson Gallery at Bridgewater State University | Bridgewater, MA

November 1 – February 18, 2025

View the exhibition page HERE

50 Years in the Making: Alumni Exhibition at The Clay Studio, June 13th – September 1st, 2024, featuring Sergei Isupov, Paul Scott, and Lauren Mabry

50 Years in the Making – Alumni Exhibition

2024 | Group Exhibition at The Clay Studio | Philadelphia, PA

featuring work by Paul Scott, Sergei Isupov, and Lauren Mabry

June 13th through Sep 1st, 2024

This Alumni Exhibition showcases artwork to reflect the current practice of the This Alumni Exhibition showcases artwork to reflect the current practice of the over 150 artist who have participated in The Clay Studio’s Resident Artist Program, Guest Artist Program, and Associate Artist Program over the 50 years since its founding.

View the exhibition page HERE

Kadri Pärnamets, "Fragments of Waves", 2024, porcelain, slip, glaze

Kadri Pärnamets, “Fragments of Waves”, 2024, porcelain, slip, glaze

Sergei Isupov & Kadri Pärnamets in CLAYTOPIA Summer Festival | Guldagergaard, SkÌlskør, Denmark

2024 | Group Exhibition at Claytopia at Guldagergaard | SkÌlskør, Denmark

featuring work by Sergei Isupov & Kadri Pärnamets

July 10th through August 10th, 2024

Claytopia is Guldagergaard’s initiative geared towards engaging the public, offering a unique space within the beautiful park surrounding Guldagergaard.

Among Claytopia’s activities are outdoor art exhibitions, concerts, discussion salons, and a design boutique.

View the exhibition page HERE

Ferrin Contemporary presents Paul Scott in "Our America/Whose America?". Installation for NCECA Richmond, 2024 at the Wickham House at The Valentine Museum, Richmond, VA. Image courtesy of The Valentine Museum.

Ferrin Contemporary presents Paul Scott in “Our America/Whose America?”. Installation for NCECA Richmond, 2024 at the Wickham House at The Valentine Museum, Richmond, VA. Image courtesy of The Valentine Museum.

OUR AMERICA/WHOSE AMERICA?

2024 | Group Exhibition in the Wickham House at the Valentine Museum | Richmond, VA

February 20, 2024 – April 21, 2024

Our America/Whose America? Is a “call and response” exhibition between contemporary artists and historic ceramic objects.

View the exhibition page HERE

Ferrin Contemporary “Our America/Whose America?” Dining Room Installation at the Wickham House, Richmond, VA, 2024

Sergei Isupov, "Ancestor", 2023, oil ink print on paper, 98 x 98". Photo by John Polak Photography.

Sergei Isupov, “Ancestor”, 2023, oil ink print on paper, 98 x 98″. Photo by John Polak Photography.

ALLIANCES

2024 | Solo Exhibition at Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery, Keene State College | Keene, NH

October 25, 2023 – December 9, 2023

Sergei Isupov’s 22nd Solo Exhibition, Featuring artworks from the artist’s archive and new productions from his studio.

View the exhibition page HERE

Installation Title Wall, featuring the artist's tools and drawings from Sergei Isupov's "Lips, Eyes, Ears, Eyebrows" and works in progress drawing series. Photo by John Polak Photography. "SERGEI ISUPOV: Alliances", Exhibition Installation at Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery, Keene State College, Keene, NH, October 25-December 6, 2023.

Installation Title Wall, featuring the artist’s tools and drawings from Sergei Isupov’s “Lips, Eyes, Ears, Eyebrows” and works in progress drawing series. Sculptures include “Crazy”, “Duel” (2006), and “Midnight Son” (2009). Photo by John Polak Photography. “SERGEI ISUPOV: Alliances”, Exhibition Installation at Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery, Keene State College, Keene, NH, October 25-December 6, 2023.

Ferrin Contemporary | July 15 – September 2, 2023

ARE WE THERE YET?

2023 | Group Exhibition at Ferrin Contemporary | North Adams, MA

October 25, 2023 – December 9, 2023

Isupov and Ferrin Contemporary have had exhibitions internationally since 1996, including key exhibitions and monumental installations that display various themes and series, which Isupov builds upon and pulls from to compose new environments and show content.

Isupov’s exhibitions include works in porcelain and mixed-media drawings produced at Project Art in Cummington, MA. 

View the exhibition page HERE

Are We There Yet? 2023, Chris Antemann, Sergei Isupov, Lauren Mabry

Are We There Yet? 2023, Chris Antemann, Sergei Isupov, Lauren Mabry

Sergei Isupov: Past & Present, 2022, Installation View

PAST & PRESENT

2022 Solo Exhibition | Ferrin Contemporary | North Adams, MA

Sergei Isupov: Past & Present, 2022, Installation View
Sergei Isupov: Past & Present, 2022, Installation View
Sergei Isupov: Past & Present, 2022, Installation View
Sergei Isupov: Past & Present, 2022, Installation View
Sergei Isupov: Past & Present, 2022, Installation View

CURRENT + RECENT EXHIBITIONS

NEWS

NEWS & FEATURES

PUBLICATIONS

PUBLICATIONS

Shop Available Catalogs

View Select on ISSUU

Sergei Isupov: Ancestor, 2024 Catalog Cover Page

SERGEI ISUPOV: ANCESTOR Exhibition Catalog

DESCRIPTION

  • Catalog release: November 7, 2024.
  • 27-page, full-color PDF catalog
  • Installation Images & Artwork Highlights, Images by Sergei Isupov, John Polak Photography, and Ferrin Contemporary staff.
  • CopyrightŠ 2024 and published by Ferrin Contemporary, Cummington, MA
  • Designed by Isabel Twanmo.

Special thanks to Jay Block,  associate director of collections and exhibitions at Bridgewater State University.

Sergei Isupov: ALLIANCES Exhibition Catalog

Sergei Isupov: ALLIANCES Exhibition Catalog

Buy now

 

SERGEI ISUPOV: ALLIANCES Exhibition Catalog

$5.00

DESCRIPTION

  • Catalog release: December 1, 2023.
  • 15-page, full-color catalog
  • Installation Images & Artwork Highlights, All images by John Polak Photography
  • Exhibition Essay by Leslie Ferrin, Show Statements & Editorial by Ferrin Contemporary
  • CopyrightŠ 2023 and published by Thorne-Sagendorph Gallery, Keene State College, Keene, NH
  • Design by Erica Pritchett.

Special thanks to co-curators, Paul McMullan, professor at Keene State College and Leslie Ferrin, director, Ferrin Contemporary and for editorial support by Alexandra Jelleberg, associate director, Ferrin Contemporary.

Isupov’s artworks form alliances with one another as they move between media, explore scale, and are presented in curated exhibitions. Recent opportunities to create public works like his fire sculpture production and performances, along with solo exhibitions that show the full scope of Isupov’s creative versatility and process, have led to new works on paper, prints and wall installations combining ceramics with other materials.

FREE ON ISSUU

DESCRIPTION:

    • Catalog release: November 1, 2022.
    • 26-page, full-color catalog
    • Installation Images & Artwork Highlights
    • Exhibition Release, Show Statements, & Artist Bio-CV

VIEW CATALOG ON ISSUU

VIEW THE EXHIBITION

Sergei Isupov: PAST & PRESENT Exhibition Catalog

Ferrin Contemporary is proud to present new works from internationally renowned sculptor Sergei Isupov. Sergei Isupov: PAST & PRESENT features new ceramic sculptures presented with both a multi-dimensional, mixed-media wall installation and independent pedestal-based works. Isupov and Ferrin Contemporary have been working together and presenting exhibitions internationally since 1996 and this will be the artist’s third solo show in our North Adams gallery location.

Collection Focus: Sergei Isupov at RAM

Collection Focus: Sergei Isupov at RAM

Buy now

 

Collection Focus: Sergei Isupov at RAM

$5.00

DESCRIPTION:

  • Published in 2014 by Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
  • Essays and images explore the artist and his place at RAM and in the larger universe of art.
  • Captured Imagination: The Enigma of Sergei Isupov by Anthony Stellaccio
  • Collection Focus: Sergei Isupov at RAM by Lena Vigna
  • A Conversation between Leslie Ferrin and Bruce W. Pepich about Sergei Isupov

28-page, full-color exhibition catalog

SERGEI ISUPOV ALLIANCES, 2023 Exhibition Catalog, cover. Design by Erica Pritchett. CopyrightŠ 2023 and published by Thorne-Sagendorph Gallery, Keene State College, Keene, NH

SERGEI ISUPOV: ALLIANCES Exhibition Catalog

PURCHASE THE CATALOG HERE SERGEI ISUPOV: ALLIANCES Exhibition Catalog Thorne/Sagendorph Art Gallery Ferrin Contemporary is proud to present new works from internationally renowned sculptor Sergei Isupov. SERGEI ISUPOV: ALLIANCES Isupov's artworks form alliances with one another as they move between media, explore scale, and are presented in curated exhibitions. Recent opportunities to create public worksContinue reading →

Read more
The Clay Studio: Figuring Space Exhibition Catalog

The Clay Studio: Figuring Space Exhibition Catalog

Figuring Space Exhibition Catalog The Clay Studio: Figuring Space Publication Date: January 2023. This catalog features highlights on the artists in the exhibition and includes commentary by Jennifer Zwilling, Curator & Director of Artistic Programs at TCS, and Dr. Kelli Morgan, who are working together to make Figuring Space relevant to our audiences and the art historicalContinue reading →

Read more
Mastering Sculpture: The Figure in Clay

Mastering Sculpture: The Figure in Clay

Mastering Sculpture: The Figure in Clay Explore the human form in-depth, from concept sketches and armatures to detailed instructions for constructing legs, torso, arms, hands, and head from clay. In Mastering Sculpture: The Figure in Clay, renowned sculptor and instructor Cristina CĂłrdova teaches everything you need to know to replicate the full human figure usingContinue reading →

Read more
Sergei Isupov: PAST & PRESENT Exhibition Catalog

Sergei Isupov: PAST & PRESENT Exhibition Catalog

Sergei Isupov: PAST & PRESENT Exhibition Catalog Ferrin Contemporary is proud to present new works from internationally renowned sculptor Sergei Isupov. Sergei Isupov: PAST & PRESENT features new ceramic sculptures presented with both a multi-dimensional, mixed-media wall installation and independent pedestal-based works. Isupov and Ferrin Contemporary have been working together and presenting exhibitions internationally sinceContinue reading →

Read more
About Face: Contemporary Ceramic Scultpure Catalog

About Face: Contemporary Ceramic Scultpure Catalog

About Face: Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture About Face: Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture   This catalog features a foreword by Director Angie Dodson and two essays: one by Glenn Adamson, an expert in craft, ceramic, and contemporary art, and one by MMFA Curator of Art Jennifer Jankauskas, Ph.D. The exhibition catalog also includes color photography of select works inContinue reading →

Read more
RAM COLLECTION FOCUS: Sergei Isupov

RAM COLLECTION FOCUS: Sergei Isupov

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION February 23 - June 8, 2014 Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI A mid-career retrospective for an innovative artist who has pushed the possibilities of clay by combining two-dimensional narrative with three-dimensional ceramic form. Isupov explores the human condition. His vocabulary includes human beings and animals, gender, identity, and relationship issues, autobiography, artContinue reading →

Read more
EXPOSED: Heads, Busts, and Nudes figural ceramic sculpture from 1970 to the present

EXPOSED: Heads, Busts, and Nudes figural ceramic sculpture from 1970 to the present

EXPOSED: Heads, Busts, and Nudes figural ceramic sculpture from 1970 to the present Work by 25 contemporary artists “working in clay and for whom the figure has been a rich and enduring motif.” Catalog includes work from the exhibit at Ferrin Contemporary as well as pieces available from private collections and artist studios. Introduction byContinue reading →

Read more
Sergei Isupov: 1996-2006

Sergei Isupov: 1996-2006

Sergei Isupov, "Ring of Fire", 2004, porcelain, 20 x 10 x 8". Sergei Isupov: 1996-2006 Published in 2006 by Ferrin Gallery, Lenox, MA This visual survey marks the tenth anniversary of the working relationship between the artist and Ferrin Gallery. Features works from 1996–2006 with short biographical essay and curriculum vitae. Sergei Isupov Catalog 1996-2006Continue reading →

Read more
Sergei Isupov: Androgyny

Sergei Isupov: Androgyny

Sergei Isupov, "Say Nothing", 2008, stoneware, stain, glaze, 33 x 16 x 11". Sergei Isupov: Androgyny Published in 2009 by Mesa Contemporary Arts Center, Mesa AZ • Essay by Sonya Bekkerman, Senior Vice President, Russian Art, Sotheby’s • Introduction by Patty Haberman, Curator, Mesa Contemporary Arts • Project Summary by Leslie Ferrin, Director, Ferrin GalleryContinue reading →

Read more

INQUIRE

INQUIRE

Additional works may be available to acquire, but not listed here.

If interested in lists of all works and series: Send us a message

28
Feb
2023
Linda Sikora: DARKENING GROUND

Linda Sikora: DARKENING GROUND

April 22 – June 11, 2023

FERRIN CONTEMPORARY
1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams MA

ENTER THE SHOP

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

North Adams, MA —

Ferrin Contemporary is pleased to present artist Linda Sikora and her new exhibition DARKENING GROUND, a poetic and conceptual look at forms, vessels, and other ceramic gestures. Sikora uses three distinct visual categories—woodgrain, blackware, and redware—which sometimes participate in narrative frameworks such as in the pieces:  ground II; ground III; repose—works at the core of the Darkening Ground exhibition.  In this, Sikora is thinking about the dark as a generative space and time; a landscape for internal, interpersonal, and cultural constraints and realities to shift and realign. 

“Blackware and Redware depart from the glazed polychrome WoodGrain (a lyrical, rich and luxurious ‘faux’ surface on crock like pottery forms) by using systems reduceable to the most basic material processes,” says Sikora. “If the glazed work is alchemical, Redware and Blackware are of an opposing bearing: elemental turned forms surfaced informally with basic tools – ‘finished’ only by the heat and atmosphere of the kiln drawing color from the clay– as fire has drawn these same colors forth from earthen clay through all time.” 

ground I, or what the artist calls “a compost of drawn lines” is a wall drawing that brings up ideas around the density of darkness and what gets lost or found in the fecund and fertile heaps. ground II is referred to as “a fairy tale.” 

In fairy tales, darkness is a necessary rite of passage to obtain wisdom and move into a new stage of life. The deep forest under a starless dark sky is the transformative darkness of fairy tales. ground III or “a broken box” is a resolution of sorts, necessary and transitory objects that are found after searching grounds I & II.

The audience actions surrounding these grounds are also part of the conceptual thinking about transition from one ground to another, which can be viewed as moving from one stage of initiation or understanding to another or one landscape to another. “The water pot, storage jar, broken box, cut sticks are both synchronous and asynchronous with their embedded actions: holding, pouring, opening, collecting, hiding. Forms in situ and in relation to the body are the genesis of actions: bowing the head, bending down, looking into, reaching, taking hold of, bearing, or passing by entirely,” said Sikora. 

Linda Sikora: DARKENING GROUND

AT FERRIN CONTEMPORARY | April 22 – June 11, 2023

Linda Sikora: DARKENING GROUND, installation view, 2023. Photo by John Polak.
Linda Sikora: DARKENING GROUND, installation view, 2023. Photo by John Polak.
Linda Sikora: DARKENING GROUND, installation view, 2023. Photo by John Polak.
Linda Sikora: DARKENING GROUND, installation view, 2023. Photo by John Polak.
Linda Sikora: DARKENING GROUND, installation view, 2023. Photo by John Polak.

PAST PROGRAMMING

Exhibition Opening | Saturday, April 22, 12pm ET

Online Conversation w/ Linda Sikora & Mark Shapiro | Wednesday, May 24, 12pm ET

Closing Reception w/ Linda Sikora | Thursday, June 8, 5pm-7pm

Lunch with Linda Sikora during the Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour | Saturday, July 29, 1-2pm ET

MORE ON THE ARTWORK

Conceptual Works

Ground I, or what Sikora calls “a compost of drawn lines” is a wall drawing that brings up ideas around the density of darkness and what gets lost or found in the fecund and fertile heaps. Ground II is referred to as “a fairy tale.” In fairy tales, darkness is a necessary rite of passage to obtain wisdom and move into a new stage of life. The deep forest under a starless dark sky is the transformative darkness of fairy tales. Ground III or “a broken box” is a resolution of sorts, necessary and transitory objects that are found after searching Grounds I & II.

The audience actions surrounding these Grounds are also part of the conceptual thinking about transition from one ground to another, which can be viewed as moving from one stage of initiation or understanding to another or one landscape to another.

“The water pot, storage jar, broken box, cut sticks are both synchronous and asynchronous with their embedded actions: holding, pouring, opening, collecting, hiding. Forms in situ and in relation to the body are the genesis of actions: bowing the head, bending down, looking into, reaching, taking hold of, bearing, or passing by entirely.” – Linda Sikora

READ MORE
CLOSE

Linda Sikora, "ground II", 2022, water pot; storage jar; pressed tile; cut sticks; concrete platform, 20 x 84 x 56". Ferrin Contemporary gallery installation, 2023. Photo by John Polak.
Linda Sikora: DARKENING GROUND, installation view, 2023. Photo by John Polak.
Linda Sikora, "ground III", 2022, broken box; small tea pot; white tile, 8.5 x 11 x 11"; Installation with wall shelf: 12 x 12"

Wood Grain Series

“In the home-space, service, storage, and display are obvious realms for ceramic pottery form to operate. This trio has become a framework for recent inquiries into specific subjects (teapot, kettle, crock, box) and the groupings they generate. I have been using these realms to think more specifically, about what ceramic work in this genre is trying to do. To serve (provide, assist), to store (hold, contain, preserve), to display (present, offer, remind) –are gestures in the world.

To serve, to store, to display are gestures that occur on a small scale: individual, household level. And, they also occur on a large scale: societal, global level. Things and gestures occur in private spaces or highly-visible places. Service, storage and display impact the way use becomes leveraged against (an object’s) appearance and subject to influence how it is valued, it’s relevance or, whether it remains meaningful. Inquiry into these realms also connects to ideas about the household as a space of freedom. Such associations might influence the way we embody or make meaning of complex conditions …like existence or time for example: consider a teapot that is ‘performative’ over a short, finite duration (until the tea is drained), and the storage jar – in which stillness and silence can actively hold for durations longer than a life.” —Linda Sikora, 2020

READ MORE
CLOSE
Linda Sikora, "Kettle", 2022, stoneware, polychrome glaze, wood and salt fire, 8.5 x 12.5 x 8". Ceramic teapot with wood grain glazing pattern.
Linda Sikora, "Covered Jar", 2022, stoneware, polychrome glaze, wood and salt fire, 11.75 x 9 x 9". Ceramic vessel with wood grain glazing pattern.
Linda Sikora, "Water Pot & Basin", 2022, stoneware, polychrome glaze, wood and salt fire, 14 x 17 x 17". Ceramic water pot and basin with wood grain glazing pattern.
Linda Sikora, "Vase & Box", 2022, stoneware, polychrome glaze, salt fire, 10 x 6.25 x 6.25"

Blackware & Redware Series

“Blackware and Redware depart from the glazed polychrome work by using systems reduceable to the most basic material processes. If the glazed work is alchemical, Redware and Blackware are of an opposing bearing: elemental turned forms surfaced informally with basic tools – ‘finished’ only by the heat and atmosphere of the kiln drawing color from the clay– as fire has drawn these same colors forth from earthen clay through all time. This series of darkening ware made over the last few years began as a lament – the labor of fabrication, cathartic – the forms still and grounded and basic, literally and figuratively, with surfaces that are rudimentary, obsessive, laborious but casual – behavioral.

The subjects are primary: basin, kettle, jar – wash, drink, hold. As the series unfolded it conjured the mechanized technique of engine turning Western industrial wares (rosso antico and black basaltes.)  It came to be that Blackware and Redware stood in relation and opposition to these. It is most productive to consider them as differing beside each other in ‘spacious antagonism’. (Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick) 

Blackware and Redware basins and hut shaped jars with wide girth and full volumes are grounded in place; kettles with handles or smaller forms remain easy to engage or put into service. Service, storage, and display are platforms for culture and behavior I have identified and associated, with all my work, over several years. To serve (engage, offer), to store (hold, remember) and to display (make visible) are gestures that are scalable. These gestures occur in close proximity at individual, private, household levels and, they occur on large scale societal levels – engaging, offering, remembering is the processes of seeing – and at their foundation.  Far from neutral, meaningfully made objects we live with and evolve with, influence how we pay attention to everything; they influence how we reflect ourselves back to ourselves, and ultimately, how we stretch to know a broader world of conditions that are large and abstract – such as time for example: consider a jar where stillness and silence can actively hold for durations longer than a life.” – Linda Sikora, 2023

READ MORE
CLOSE
Linda Sikora, "Flat Top Box", 2022, stoneware, polychrome glaze, wood and salt fire, 9.5 x 9.5 x 9.5" - blackware cylindrical ceramic form with flat lid, weaving and diagonal cross hatching pattern on surface
Linda Sikora, "Kettle", 2022, stoneware, polychrome glaze, wood and salt fire, 12 x 10.5 x 8.5" - black stoneware teapot with handle over top, small spout, lid with small handle, grid pattern and cross hatching on surface
Linda Sikora, "Frustum Bowl", 2022, stoneware, polychrome glaze, wood and salt fire, 7.7 x 13.5 x 13.5" - blackware ceramic bowl with designs etched around outside exterior and inside interior, weaving design lines cross grid
Linda Sikora, "Hexagon Tea Pot", 2022, stoneware, polychrome glaze, wood and salt fire, 7.3 x 6 x 5"
Linda Sikora, Blackware Group, 2022, photo by Brian Oglesbee
Linda Sikora, "Hut Jar", 2022, stoneware, red terra sigillata, wood and salt fire, 11 x 12 x 12"
Linda Sikora, "Covered Jar", 2022, stoneware, red terra sigillata, wood and salt fire, 12 x 10.5 x 10.5" - red stone ware ceramic jar with lid, weaving and diagonal cross hatching pattern on surface
Linda Sikora, Redware Group, 2022, photo by Brian Olesbee

MORE ON LINDA SIKORA

View More •  HERE  •

Linda Sikora’s studio is anchored in the genre of functional ceramics. Service, storage, and display are platforms for culture and behavior that Sikora explores with her work. She commonly refers to her ceramic forms as gestures due to their nature: to serve is to engage or offer; to store is to hold and remember; to display is to share and invite. 

Sikora is the recipient of a United States Artists Fellowship and has been recognized for excellence in teaching. Her work was acquired by the Smithsonian in 2022 and featured at the Renwick in their 50th-anniversary exhibition “This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World”. She is a renowned ceramics professor at Alfred University where she maintains an active studio practice and lives with her husband and daughter. 

To learn more about the artist, watch the PBS Craft in America documentary featuring her work. 

PRESS

Linda Sikora: DARKENING GROUND | Press Release | 3.25.23

Linda Sikora: DARKENING GROUND | CeramicsNow | 5.22.23

PREVIOUSLY ON VIEW

Division of Ceramic Art at Alfred
October 20 — December 1, 2022

Fosdick Nelson Gallery
Alfred University
Alfred, NY

View More •  HERE  •

Linda Sikora, Division of Ceramic Art at Alfred, 2022, installation view, Fosdick Nelson Gallery, Alfred, NY

Linda Sikora, Division of Ceramic Art at Alfred, 2022, installation view, Fosdick Nelson Gallery, Alfred, NY

INQUIRE

Send us a note to request:

  • a list of available artworks
  • copy of the press release
  • additional information about Linda Sikora
  • details on upcoming events

We would love to hear from you!

Please fill out the form below to inquire or
contact us for more details + lists of available artworks.

12
Jan
2023
The Clay Studio: Figuring Space Exhibition Catalog

The Clay Studio: Figuring Space Exhibition Catalog

Figuring Space Exhibition Catalog

The Clay Studio: Figuring Space Publication Date: January 2023. This catalog features highlights on the artists in the exhibition and includes commentary by Jennifer Zwilling, Curator & Director of Artistic Programs at TCS, and Dr. Kelli Morgan, who are working together to make Figuring Space relevant to our audiences and the art historical record. Dr. Morgan is a curator, educator, and social justice activist who specializes in American art and visual culture has worked with TCS in the past. Her scholarly and activist work combine to make her incredibly qualified to examine the issues of racial politics and the artistic use of the figure in this exhibition. Morgan has developed and championed new curatorial methodologies that privilege the voices of museum audiences, breaking the misconception that museums should hold all the authority dictating how to experience art. Collaboration with colleagues of varied experiences produce expansive curatorial perspective. Together, we are endeavoring to create an exhibition that can offer truly meaningful experiences for every person who walks into the gallery at The Clay Studio.

  • 2023 Catalog
  • The exhibition catalog also includes color photography of select works in the exhibition.
  • 8 x 10 x .5
  • Available for purchase for $15.00
  • Item:TCS-2252
30
Dec
2022
Raymon Elozua: STRUCTURE & DISSONANCE Exhibition Catalog

Raymon Elozua: STRUCTURE & DISSONANCE Exhibition Catalog

View Catalog on ISSUU

Structure/Dissonance celebrates nearly five decades of work by New York-based artist Raymon Elozua, who first came to prominence in the 1970s with detailed trompe l’oeil ceramic sculptures of decaying industrial landscapes. Elozua’s first major museum exhibition since his 2003 retrospective at the Mint Museum, Structure/Dissonance focuses on three conceptual bodies of work that explore the combined physical properties of three elemental materials: ceramic, glass, and steel. This exhibition contextualizes these vital sculptures within Elozua’s intellectual landscape through the inclusion of a series of collections and research projects that are inextricably linked to his artistic output.

  • September 10—December 31, 2022 at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY – curated by Garth Johnson
  • Catalog features essays by Johnson, Maria Porges, and Thyrza Nichols Goodeve, 2022
  • Published on 

Raymon Elozua: STRUCTURE & DISSONANCE | Everson Museum of Art Exhibition Catalog

Video by the Everson Museum of Art/ Music by: The High Llamas

CATALOG CELEBRATION

Garth Johnson Artist Portrait, photo credit Julie Herman
Raymon Elozua Artist Portrait

Tuesday, March 7 – NOON EST

A Celebration event for the release of the catalog for Raymon Elozua: Structure/Dissonance. Elozua was joined by the three writers who shaped the catalog, Maria Porges, Thyrza Nichols Goodeve, and Garth Johnson. Each writer reflected on the exhibition and shared some of their insights about Elozua’s work. Below, Johnson is pictured left and Elozua on the right.

Register HERE for the Talk

28
Dec
2022
FIGURING SPACE

FIGURING SPACE

JANUARY 12th to APRIL 16th 2023

Featuring work by Cristina Cordova and Sergei Isupov

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The Clay Studio Presents FIGURING SPACE, an Exhibition of Full-scale Figurative Sculptures by a Dozen Top Ceramic Artists Based in America

The Clay Studio (1425 N. American St), Philadelphia’s preeminent ceramic arts and resident artist’s center, will present Figuring Space, a new exhibition comprised of full-scale, figurative sculptures by 12 leading ceramic artists based in the United States. Each of the artists explores their individual cultural identity and what it means to be human through their figurative sculptures. The powerful figures will serve as a body of evidence to lay bare the issues that permeate American art and social culture. Figuring Space will open on January 12, 2023, and will be on display in The Clay Studio’s Jill Bonovitz Gallery through April 16, 2023.

The body, as a concept, is intimately tied to ceramic art. Clay is often used as a proxy for the physicality of flesh and has the capacity to articulate cultural perspectives, social engagement, and artistic intention. Furthermore, figurative sculptures have been at the center of public debate as monuments honoring individuals with dark histories are being reexamined and sometimes removed. Figuring Space uses that conversation – who gets to be seen and celebrated – as the backdrop to present a collection of works used to usurp the painful history of bodies on display in American history. Together, the artists will assert their autonomy and subjectivity by presenting cultural critiques through lenses of their own choosing, including race, gender, class, and anti-war ideas as inspiration for their own powerful stories.

Each of the artists selected for Figuring Space is known for creating contemporary, representational work that incorporates concepts and designs inspired by their cultural heritage.

FIGURING SPACE

The Clay Studio | 1425 N American Street, Philadelphia, PA

Cristina Córdova, “EVA XV”, 2022, unglazed: finished with burnished earth pigments from the island of Puerto Rico mixed with casein, lime, and oxides; 60 x 18 x 22″.

Sergei Isupov, “On the Way”, 2020, porcelain, slip, glaze, 58.5 x 38 x 18″.

Upcoming

MAR & APR

Clay & Conversations: Season 5

bi-weekly zoom conversations (in person and on zoom) at 1 pm on Thursdays

MORE ON THE FEATURED ARTISTS

  • View More by Sergei Isupov HERE
  • View More by Cristina Cordova HERE
Cristina Córdova, “EVA XV”, detail, 2022, unglazed: finished with burnished earth pigments from the island of Puerto Rico mixed with casein, lime, and oxides; 60 x 18 x 22″.
Cristina Córdova, “EVA XV”, 2022, unglazed: finished with burnished earth pigments from the island of Puerto Rico mixed with casein, lime, and oxides; 60 x 18 x 22″.
Sergei Isupov, “On the Way”, 2020, porcelain, slip, glaze, 58.5 x 38 x 18″.
Sergei Isupov, “On the Way”, 2020, porcelain, slip, glaze, 59.5 x 26 x 16″.

CRISTINA CORDOVA

Native to Puerto Rico, Cristina Córdova creates figurative compositions that explore the boundary between the materiality of an object and our involuntary dialogues with the self-referential. Images captured through the lens of a Latin American upbringing question socio-cultural notions of gender, race, beauty, and power.  Córdova has received numerous grants including the North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship Grant, a Virginia Groot Foundation Recognition Grant, several International Association of Art Critics of Puerto Rico awards, and a prestigious United States Artist Fellowship award in 2015.

EVA XV

Cristina Córdova, “EVA XV”, detail, 2022, unglazed: finished with burnished earth pigments from the island of Puerto Rico mixed with casein, lime, and oxides; 60 x 18 x 22″.
Cristina Córdova, “EVA XV”, 2022, unglazed: finished with burnished earth pigments from the island of Puerto Rico mixed with casein, lime, and oxides; 60 x 18 x 22″.
Cristina Córdova, “EVA XV”, detail, 2022, unglazed: finished with burnished earth pigments from the island of Puerto Rico mixed with casein, lime, and oxides; 60 x 18 x 22″.

2022, unglazed: finished with burnished earth pigments from the island of Puerto Rico mixed with casein, lime, and oxides
60 x 18 x 22″

ON EVA & MATERIAL EXPERIMENTATION

I have been sculpting my daughter since she was 9. This 15-year-old version of Eva is unglazed and finished with burnished earth pigments from the island of Puerto Rico mixed with casein, lime, and oxides. They came specifically from two areas, one in Fajardo near the coast, where the rainforest is, and one from Orocovis in the mountainous center. Written on her back are the words “de monte y mar” ( “from mountain and sea” ) in gold, a phrase from the song Verde luz by El Topo (Antonio Cabal Vale), which became a symbol of national Puerto Rican pride and an anti-colonialist anthem.

In my practice, the image of Eva is the embodiment of change and possibility. It speaks to the inevitability of transience and the inherited threads of code that perpetuate both genes and identity. This piece seeks to perform both as a symbol and a relic by holding in its materiality a part of the Island that has thematically bound this whole series through the years, exploring the riches and vulnerabilities of this small Caribbean nation that is my home.

DOWNLOAD STATEMENT PDF

SERGEI ISUPOV

Isupov is the son of a painter and sculptor. While born in Stravapole, Russia in 1963, Isupov was raised in Ukraine from 1964, educated in Kyiv and moved to attend the university of art in Tallinn, Estonia in 1984 at a time when these now separate countries were part of the USSR. Isupov’s family, his father, mother and brother, all established artists, currently reside in Kyiv, Ukraine. With the backdrop of the current war there and threats of Russian aggression in Estonia, Isupov’s studio work took on an urgency to counter the overwhelming anxiety and concern for his family facing down threats to their safety and the loss of their formerly peaceful lives. Now, with his wife, artist Kadri Pärnaments and their daughter Roosi, they divide their time between two studios/homes in the USA and Estonia.

ON THE WAY

Sergei Isupov, “On the Way”, 2020, porcelain, slip, glaze, 58.5 x 38 x 18″.
Sergei Isupov, “On the Way”, 2020, porcelain, slip, glaze, 58.5 x 38 x 18″.
Sergei Isupov, “On the Way”, 2020, porcelain, slip, glaze, 58.5 x 38 x 18″.

2020, large-scale figure, porcelain, slip, glaze, 58.5 x 38 x 18″

ON THE WAY & IMPACT OF WORLD EXPERIENCE

On the Way is one of a pair of related, multi-figured, life-sized sculptures produced over several months in 2019-2020. These works strangely, foreshadow the present situation in Ukraine. “Most of my work depicts human relationships through contrasts and comparisons which makes it easy for anyone to find messages or meanings that may or may not be my original intention. Upon reflection, it is easy to connect the expressions, gestures and movements to current events but in reality, all my work comes out of my life experience – growing up during USSR, experiencing its breakup and the establishment of fifteen independent countries – followed by coming to America as a young artist in the 90’s.”

Isupov is a master of nonlinear narration. Combined with his unmatched, masterful skills as both painter and sculptor, the resulting works draw from the past and reflect on the present. Semiautobiographical, Isupov’s intimate narratives interweave poignant representations of men and women, parents and children, shown alongside one another, their pets pointing to the naive sense of security we hold in our daily lives. These works explore individual, interior landscapes and the continually expanding dualities of the self within complex psychological relationships. Intensely personal yet universal, these works in the context of the present day, remind and call upon us to value, protect and preserve the precarious balance we all stand to lose at any present moment.

DOWNLOAD STATEMENT PDF

PROGRAMMING

*Exhibition Catalog can be ordered HERE.

Figuring Space Exhibition Catalog

The Clay Studio: Figuring Space Publication Date: January 2023. This catalog features highlights on the artists in the exhibition and includes commentary by Jennifer Zwilling, Curator & Director of Artistic Programs at TCS, and Dr. Kelli Morgan, who are working together to make Figuring Space relevant to our audiences and the art historical record. Dr. Morgan is a curator, educator, and social justice activist who specializes in American art and visual culture has worked with TCS in the past. Her scholarly and activist work combine to make her incredibly qualified to examine the issues of racial politics and the artistic use of the figure in this exhibition. Morgan has developed and championed new curatorial methodologies that privilege the voices of museum audiences, breaking the misconception that museums should hold all the authority dictating how to experience art. Collaboration with colleagues of varied experiences produce expansive curatorial perspective. Together, we are endeavoring to create an exhibition that can offer truly meaningful experiences for every person who walks into the gallery at The Clay Studio.

  • 2023 Catalog
  • The exhibition catalog also includes color photography of select works in the exhibition.
  • 8 x 10 x .5
  • Available for purchase for $15.00
  • Item:TCS-2252

Upcoming | MAR & APR

Clay & Conversations: Season 5

bi-weekly zoom conversations (in person and on zoom) at 1 pm on Thursdays

Clay & Conversations: Season 5

Series of conversations and get-togethers with ceramic artists, curators, scholars, and friends.

Join The Clay Studio in person at their fourth-floor Conference Room or dial in on Zoom.

OPENING RECEPTION | Thursday, January 12

The Clay Studio will host a special opening reception to launch Figuring Space on Thursday, January 12, from 5 to 8 p.m.

RSVP HERE

Figuring Space Workshop Creating Expressive Facial Features | Friday, January 13, from 1 to 4 p.m.

For those looking for an in-depth look at Figuring Space, The Clay Studio will host the Figuring Space Workshop – Creating Expressive Facial Features, a special workshop led by featured artists Sergei Isupov and Jonathan Christensen Caballero. On Friday, January 13, from 1 to 4 p.m., participants of all skill levels will watch the two highly-acclaimed figurative artists give demonstrations as they explain their techniques for creating expressive facial features in clay. The Creating Facial Features in Clay workshop is an in-person-only event.

Tickets to attend are $100 each and available for purchase HERE.
Please contact Josie Bockelman (josie@theclaystudio.org) for discount information for this workshop.

Figuring Space Symposium | Friday, January 13, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

To further expand on the ideas and themes of this exhibition, The Clay Studio will host a special Figuring Space symposium on January 13, where guests can hear lectures and panel discussions from the artists and curators. From 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., attendees will hear from the twelve featured artists about what making full-scale figurative sculptures means to their art practice. The co-curators, Dr. Morgan and Zwilling, will also share their ideas about figurative sculpture in contemporary art through the lens of social activism as well as the form’s evolution throughout American art history.

Both of these events are free and open to the public. Audiences can also register to participate in the Figuring Space symposium virtually by registering HERE .

VIDEO

Clay & Conversation with Tip Toland and Sergei Isupov | Youtube | April 18th, 2023

Tip Toland and Sergei Isupov are two of the dozen artists whose work appears in Figuring Space, an exhibition of life-size ceramic figurative sculpture. We are thrilled to have these talented artists as guests to ask them about their inspirations for the ideas and styles of their work.

Clay and Conversation with Cristina Córdova| Youtube | May 17th, 2023

Cristina is one of the dozen artists whose work appears in Figuring Space, an exhibition of life-size ceramic figurative sculpture. We are thrilled to have this talented artist as a guest to ask her about her inspirations for the ideas and styles of her work.

01
Nov
2022
Sergei Isupov: PAST & PRESENT Exhibition Catalog

Sergei Isupov: PAST & PRESENT Exhibition Catalog

Sergei Isupov: PAST & PRESENT
Exhibition Catalog

Ferrin Contemporary is proud to present new works from internationally renowned sculptor Sergei Isupov. Sergei Isupov: PAST & PRESENT features new ceramic sculptures presented with both a multi-dimensional, mixed-media wall installation and independent pedestal-based works. Isupov and Ferrin Contemporary have been working together and presenting exhibitions internationally since 1996 and this will be the artist’s third solo show in our North Adams gallery location.

  • Catalog release: November 1, 2022.
  • 26-page, full-color catalog
  • Installation Images & Artwork Highlights
  • Exhibition Release, Show Statements, & Artist Bio-CV
13
Oct
2022
Kadri Pärnamets: CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER

Kadri Pärnamets: CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER

NOVEMBER  17, 2022 to JANUARY 28, 2023

FERRIN CONTEMPORARY
1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams MA

OPENING RECEPTION
Saturday, Dec. 3, 3-5 pm
At Ferrin Contemporary, North Adams, MA

“Kadri Pärnaments: CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER”, installation at 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA, November 17, 2022 – January 28, 2023.
“Kadri Pärnaments: CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER”, installation at 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA, November 17, 2022 – January 28, 2023.
“Kadri Pärnaments: CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER”, installation at 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA, November 17, 2022 – January 28, 2023.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

North Adams, MA –

Ferrin Contemporary is proud to present a new exhibition about one of our most precious resources, water.

Kadri Pärnamets: THE CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER features porcelain sculptures, vases, and cups as a meditation on this universal element. The exhibition is open now with a reception for the artist on Sat., Dec. 3, 3-5 pm.

After installing her work in the gallery, Pärnaments stood outside in the rain, looking in on her work. “It’s amazing to me, we all share this substance. Everyone all over the world is sharing the same water,” said the artist whose primary inspiration for this work is rain.

The exhibition features her biomorphic, organic vessel forms. Thinking of herself as a choreographer, the artist explores shapes that connect to water, from cloud to cup. Pärnaments interests range from fragile, natural environments to female identity and this is evident across form, color, and function.

CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER

Ferrin Contemporary | Nov 17 2022 to Jan 28 2023

“Kadri Pärnaments: CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER”, installation at 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA, November 17, 2022 – January 28, 2023.
“Kadri Pärnaments: CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER”, installation at 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA, November 17, 2022 – January 28, 2023.
“Kadri Pärnaments: CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER”, installation at 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA, November 17, 2022 – January 28, 2023.
“Kadri Pärnaments: CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER”, installation at 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA, November 17, 2022 – January 28, 2023.
“Kadri Pärnaments: CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER”, installation at 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA, November 17, 2022 – January 28, 2023.
“Kadri Pärnaments: CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER”, installation at 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA, November 17, 2022 – January 28, 2023.
“Kadri Pärnaments: CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER”, installation at 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA, November 17, 2022 – January 28, 2023.

ABOUT KADRI PÄRNAMETS

Kadri Pärnamets works in porcelain using traditional hand-building and sculpting techniques to combine surface and form. Her biomorphic, organic forms provide a means to convey her personal interests ranging from fragile, natural environments to female identity. Her surface treatments feature a range of gesture and expression with either abstract shape or narrative figure painting, inspired by painters from the European Renaissance and Impressionist eras, like Lucas Cranach the Elder and Edouard Manet.

Pärnamets’ work has been shown internationally at the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design (Tallinn, Estonia), at the International Tea Trade Expo (Shanghai, China), and many others. Since 1996, she has participated in symposiums in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Switzerland, USA, Norway, and Hungary.

Pärnamets graduated from the Art Institute of Tallinn, Estonia with a BA/MFA in Ceramics. Dividing her time between Estonia and USA, her primary studio is the USA at Project Art in Cummington, MA. She is represented by Ferrin Contemporary.

INQUIRE HERE

SHOP

SELECT WORKS
AVAILABLE IN OUR ONLINE SHOP

CUPS

*Cups by Kadri Pärnamets will be released to the online shop in groups of 10 and will remain online for a limited time.

“Kadri Pärnaments: CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER”, installation at 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA, November 17, 2022 – January 28, 2023.
“Kadri Pärnaments: CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER”, installation at 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA, November 17, 2022 – January 28, 2023.
“Kadri Pärnaments: CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER”, installation at 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA, November 17, 2022 – January 28, 2023.

VASES

Kadri Pärnamets, “Blue and White Cloud Vase (2)”, 2022, porcelain, slip, glaze, 10.25 x 11 x 9.5″
Kadri Pärnamets, “Blue Cloud Vase”, 2022, porcelain, slip, glaze, 6.5 x 9.75 x 8.5″
Kadri Pärnamets, “Light Green and Red Vase”, 2022, porcelain, slip, glaze, 11 x 7 x 8″

CLOUDS

Kadri Pärnamets, “Black Cloud”, 2015, Porcelain, Slip, Glaze, 25.5 x 18 x 14″
Kadri Pärnamets, “White Cloud”, 2015, Porcelain, Slip, Glaze, 21 x 17 x 14.5″
Kadri Pärnamets, “Black Cloud”, 2015, Porcelain, Slip, Glaze, 23 x 15 x 11″
Kadri Pärnamets, “White Cloud”, 2015, Porcelain, Slip, Glaze, 20 x 22 x 11.5″

PRESS

Kadri Pärnamets: THE CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER Press Release 11.21.22

PROGRAMMING

Public artist reception | Sat., Dec. 3, 3-5 pm

Now open at Ferrin Contemporary
exhibition continues through Jan. 28, 2023

PREVIEW EVENT | Oct 1 – 2, 2022

Hilltown Open Studio Tour
at Project Art, Cummington, MA

Kadri Pärnamets, “Cups”, 2020, porcelain, slip, glaze, ~4 x 4 x 4″ (each)
Kadri Pärnamets, “Blue and White Cloud Vase”, 2019, porcelain, slip, glaze, 12 x 13 x 9.5″
Kadri Pärnamets, Cups, 2020, porcelain, slip, glaze, 4 x 4 x 4″ (each).
Kadri Pärnamets, “Blue and White Cloud Vase (2)”, 2022, porcelain, slip, glaze, 10.25 x 11 x 9.5″
17
Sep
2022
Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection

Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

One of the earliest and best-preserved areas of artistic production across the globe, ceramics remains a vital field of expression and experimentation into the present. Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection explores the medium through 14 case studies, placing historical works in visual dialogue with contemporary examples to illuminate symbolic meanings, technical achievements, and resonances throughout time. The exhibition examines how artists working today relate to international artistic traditions of the medium, both through deliberate references to the past and by engaging with aspects of clay materiality that have inspired makers over the centuries. Drawing from LACMAs wide-ranging collections, the exhibition also highlights many recent contemporary acquisitions, including works by Nicholas Galanin, Steven Young Lee, Courtney Leonard, Paul Scott, Mineo Mizuno, Elyse Pignolet, and more.

AT LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART

Los Angeles, CA | August 7, 2022 – May 21, 2023

Steven Young Lee Installation in "Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection", at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 - May 21, 2023. Image (right): Steven Young Lee, "Jar with Tiger and Clouds", 2019, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Debbie and Mark Attanasio and Kelly and Steve McLeod through the 2021 Decorative Arts and Design Acquisitions Committee (DA²), © Steven Young Lee, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA Image (left): Unknown, Jar with Dragon and Clouds, 1700–1800, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, purchased with museum funds, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA Pictured on the right if a blue and white vase by Steven Lee, which has been manipulated by the artist and is fired intentionally to appear as if it collapsed or was torn. Imagery includes tigers and clouds and highlights motifs from Korean decorative imager and ceramics. To the left is a Jar with Dragon and Clouds, featuring two dragons curving around the vase and the same clouds as on the contemporary work.
Paul Scott Installation in "Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection", at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 - May 21, 2023. Installation view of 3 blue and white tranferware print collages by artist Paul Scott on ceramic plates: (left) "Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Forget Me Not, No Human Being is Illegal (1/5)", 2019, transfer print collage on salvaged Syracuse China with pearlware glaze, 12 x 12 x 1.25". (center) "Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, California Wildfires No:1", 2019, transfer print collage on partially erased 'Beauty Spots of California', Staffordshire souvenir transferware plate, 9.75 x 9.75 x 1.25". (right) "Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Souvenir of Shiprock, No. 4", 2020, transfer print collage on pearlware plate with uranium glass, & Corona beer bottle shards collected from the base of Shiprock, 12 x 12 x 1.25". The plates feature subject matters ranging from the artist's series: New American Scenery, Immigration, Race, Souvenir, Native American, Energy, Nuclear, Environment, American Landscapes They are installed in a row of 3, hanging above two trasferware pieces from the LACMA collection. One piece is blue and white while the other is brown or sepia. All works have dynamic shadows which bring drama and dimensionality to the installation view.
"Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection", at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 - May 21, 2023. Installation view. Angled perspective of artworks in wall and floor vitrines, including plates by Paul Scott hanging on the wall (left) , and a vase by Steven Young Lee placed next to a vase from the LACMA collection (right). Other works featured include vases, bowls, and scultpures. The entry panel "conversing in clay" can be seen behind the works on one wall.
"Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection", at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 - May 21, 2023. Installation view. Angled perspective of artworks in wall and floor vitrines, including plates by Paul Scott hanging on the wall, and a bowl by Courtney Leondard in a case along with a smaller white ceramic bowl. Other works featured include vases, bowls, and scultpures. A large portion of the wall is cast with shadows from an overhanging installation which can be seen in this photo.
"Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection", at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 - May 21, 2023. Installation view. Angled perspective of artworks in wall and floor vitrines, including plates by Paul Scott hanging on the wall, and a bowl by Courtney Leondard in a case along with a smaller white ceramic bowl. Other works featured include vases, bowls, and scultpures. A large portion of the wall is cast with shadows from an overhanging installation which can be seen in this photo.
Steven Young Lee Installation in "Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection", at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 - May 21, 2023. Image (left): Steven Young Lee, "Jar with Tiger and Clouds", 2019, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Debbie and Mark Attanasio and Kelly and Steve McLeod through the 2021 Decorative Arts and Design Acquisitions Committee (DA²), © Steven Young Lee, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA Image (Right): Unknown, Jar with Dragon and Clouds, 1700–1800, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, purchased with museum funds, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA Pictured on the left if a blue and white vase by Steven Lee, which has been manipulated by the artist and is fired intentionally to appear as if it collapsed or was torn. Imagery includes tigers and clouds and highlights motifs from Korean decorative imager and ceramics. To the right is a Jar with Dragon and Clouds, featuring two dragons curving around the vase and the same clouds as on the contemporary work.
"Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection", at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 - May 21, 2023. Installation view. Angled perspective of artworks in wall and floor vitrines, including plates by Paul Scott hanging on the wall, and a bowl by Courtney Leondard in a case along with a smaller white ceramic bowl. In the background is also a vase by Steven Young Lee. Other works featured include vases, bowls, and scultpures. A large portion of the wall is cast with shadows from an overhanging installation which can be seen in this photo.
"Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection", at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 - May 21, 2023. Installation view of Courtney Leonard, "Red Algae | Log:17-1", 2016, ceramics, coiled and woven earthenware, steel base, 19 x 20 x 6". Collection of the Crocker Museum of Art. "Red Algae | Log:17-1" from Leonard's "Abundance" Collection. The pieces shown in the photo are coiled, basket bowls. Courtney Leondard's work is made of brown clay and net-like coils and the smaller artwork is a white ceramic bowl, about half the size of Leonard's piece. both works are casting dynamic shadows that display the intricate and dramatic patterns.

ABOUT LACMA

Located on the Pacific Rim, LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United States, with a collection of more than 147,000 objects that illuminate 6,000 years of artistic expression across the globe. Committed to showcasing a multitude of art histories, LACMA exhibits and interprets works of art from new and unexpected points of view that are informed by the regions rich cultural heritage and diverse population. LACMAs spirit of experimentation is reflected in its work with artists, technologists, and thought leaders as well as in its regional, national, and global partnerships to share collections and programs, create pioneering initiatives, and engage new audiences.

“Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection”, at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 – May 21, 2023. Installation view of entry panel.
“Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection”, at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 – May 21, 2023.
“Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection”, at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 – May 21, 2023.
“Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection”, at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 – May 21, 2023.
“Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection”, at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 – May 21, 2023.
“Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection”, at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 – May 21, 2023. Installation view.
Paul Scott Installation in “Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection”, at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 – May 21, 2023. Paul Scott: 3 tranferware print collages on ceramic plates: (left) “Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Forget Me Not, No Human Being is Illegal (1/5)”, 2019 (center) “Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, California Wildfires No:1”, 2019 (right) “Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Souvenir of Shiprock, No. 4”, 2020.
Courtney Leonard Installation in “Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection”, at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 – May 21, 2023. Courtney Leonard, “Red Algae | Log:17-1″, 2016, ceramics, coiled and woven earthenware, steel base, 19 x 20 x 6”. Collection of the Crocker Museum of Art.
Steven Young Lee Installation in “Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection”, at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 – May 21, 2023. Image (left): Steven Young Lee, “Jar with Tiger and Clouds”, 2019, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Debbie and Mark Attanasio and Kelly and Steve McLeod through the 2021 Decorative Arts and Design Acquisitions Committee (DA²), Š Steven Young Lee, photo Š Museum Associates/LACMA
Steven Young Lee Installation in “Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection”, at LACMA, Lost Angeles, CA, August 7, 2022 – May 21, 2023. Image (right): Steven Young Lee, “Jar with Tiger and Clouds”, 2019, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Debbie and Mark Attanasio and Kelly and Steve McLeod through the 2021 Decorative Arts and Design Acquisitions Committee (DA²), Š Steven Young Lee, photo Š Museum Associates/LACMA

MEDIA

Five artists featured in the show discuss their artistic practice in these short videos.

14
Sep
2022
BREAKING GROUND: Women in California Clay

BREAKING GROUND: Women in California Clay

BREAKING GROUND: Women in California Clay

American Museum of Ceramic Art
Pomona, California

September 10, 2022 through March 12, 2023

Featuring work by Crystal Morey

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The American Museum of Ceramic Art is proud to present the exhibition and accompanying catalog Breaking Ground: Women in California Clay, celebrating 44 artists who have defined—and redefined—ceramics over the past 100 years. Many of the Golden State’s most innovative and impactful ceramic artists in the 20th and 21st centuries are women who faced adversity due to gender inequality and were often ignored or overlooked in favor of their male counterparts. These incredibly determined women pushed forward, driven by creativity and tenacity.

Breaking Ground highlights the significant shifts in California ceramics over several generations of women artists. The story is told in three sections, using the artist’s “breaking ground period” (rather than their date of birth) to determine their place in history. The story begins with trailblazers Laura Andreson, Betty Davenport Ford, Stefani Gruenberg, Vivika Heino, Elaine Katzer, Mary Lindheim, Martha Longenecker, Gertrud Natzler, Susan Peterson, Ruth Rippon, Susi Singer, Helen Ritcher Watson, Marguerite Wildenhain, and Beatrice Wood. These artists laid the groundwork for the field and inspired successive generations of artists.

The second section includes a disparate group of artists who explored—or are exploring—the female figure, feminism, and the creation of the perfect form. Works by Judy Chicago, Dora De Larios, Roseline Delisle, Viola Frey, Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, Phyllis Green, Margaret Keelan, Karen Koblitz, Marilyn Levine, Elsa Rady, Lisa Reinertson, Nancy Selvin, Anna Silver, and Sandy Simon mark a substantial break in artmaking from their predecessors.

The final section represents a younger generation of artists working to shift the perspective” and includes Ashwini Bhat, Christina Erives, Keiko Fukazawa, Jenny Hata Blumenfield, Julia Haft-Candell, Anabel Juarez, Cathy Lu, Brittany Mojo, Crystal Morey, Kristen Morgin, Annabeth Rosen, Erika Sanada, Joan Takayama Ogawa, Kim Tucker, Anna Valdez, and Bari Ziperstein. Their work, in many ways, continues the conversation of the artists featured in the second chapter to traverse the themes of politics, identity, the environment, and other prevailing issues of globalization, colonialism, and reclaiming histories that have become increasingly important in the lives of practicing women artists.

Assembled together for the first time in Breaking Ground, these works tell the compelling story of how women artists from California made, and continue to make, significant contributions to the American Studio Ceramics movement in profound and singular ways.

A momentous reframing of the California Clay Movement and its legacy, this exhibition will be the first to chronologize the evolution of ceramic art in California solely through the work of women artists, and the first exhibition to be presented across all three of AMOCA’s ground-floor galleries. As the show is loosely organized by generation, so too are our gallery spaces. AMOCA’s Armstrong Gallery leads viewers through work from the first generation “Trailblazers” to the second generation, “The Body Politic.” Then, viewers move through The Vault and Gallery B to experience work from Breaking Ground‘s generation three “Now” artists.

READ MORE
CLOSE

Breaking Ground will be on view in AMOCA’s Armstrong Gallery from September 10, 2022 through January 22, 2023, and in Gallery B and The Vault from September 10, 2022 through February 19, 2023.

The exhibition is co-curated by Beth Ann Gerstein (Executive Director), Jo Lauria (Adjunct Curator), and Edith Garcia (Professor, California College of the Arts and University of California, Berkeley).

More information about the exhibition, HERE.

FEATURED ARTWORKS

Crystal Morey, “RePlanting: Crow and Deer”, 2022, hand-sculpted porcelain, 12.5 x 8 x 6”.
Crystal Morey, “RePlanting: Crow and Deer”, 2022, hand-sculpted porcelain, 12.5 x 8 x 6”.
Crystal Morey, “RePlanting: Crow and Deer”, 2022, hand-sculpted porcelain, 12.5 x 8 x 6”.
Crystal Morey, “RePlanting: Crow and Deer”, 2022, hand-sculpted porcelain, 12.5 x 8 x 6”.
Crystal Morey, “RePlanting: Crow and Deer”, 2022, hand-sculpted porcelain, 12.5 x 8 x 6”.
Crystal Morey, “RePlanting: Crow and Deer”, 2022, hand-sculpted porcelain, 12.5 x 8 x 6”.
Crystal Morey, “Replanting: Mountain Lion” 2022, hand-sculpted porcelain, 9.5 x 6 x 8.5”.
Crystal Morey, “Replanting: Mountain Lion” 2022, hand-sculpted porcelain, 9.5 x 6 x 8.5”.
Crystal Morey, “Replanting: Mountain Lion” 2022, hand-sculpted porcelain, 9.5 x 6 x 8.5”.
Crystal Morey, “Replanting: Mountain Lion” 2022, hand-sculpted porcelain, 9.5 x 6 x 8.5”.
Crystal Morey, “Replanting: Mountain Lion” 2022, hand-sculpted porcelain, 9.5 x 6 x 8.5”.
Crystal Morey, “Replanting: Mountain Lion” 2022, hand-sculpted porcelain, 9.5 x 6 x 8.5”.
Crystal Morey, “Without Borders/ White Rhino Airlift” 2020, hand sculpted porcelain, 16.5 x 13.5 x 10”.
Crystal Morey, “Without Borders/ White Rhino Airlift” 2020, hand sculpted porcelain, 16.5 x 13.5 x 10”.
Crystal Morey, “Without Borders/ White Rhino Airlift” 2020, hand sculpted porcelain, 16.5 x 13.5 x 10”.
Crystal Morey, “Without Borders/ White Rhino Airlift” 2020, hand sculpted porcelain, 16.5 x 13.5 x 10”.
Crystal Morey, “Without Borders/ White Rhino Airlift” 2020, hand sculpted porcelain, 16.5 x 13.5 x 10”.
Crystal Morey, “Without Borders/ White Rhino Airlift” 2020, hand sculpted porcelain, 16.5 x 13.5 x 10”.

MORE ON CRYSTAL MOREY

View More by Crystal Morey HERE

Crystal Morey, Artist Portrait in the studio, 2022

Crystal Morey, “The RePlanting: Over the Land (Mt. Lion and Unicorn”, 2022, hand-sculpted porcelain, 17.5 x 11 x 7″.

PUBLIC PROGRAMMING

Member Preview
Friday, September 9, 2022 • 2–4 PM (Pacific) • In Person

Breaking Ground: Women in California Clay is on view at AMOCA from September 10, 2022–February 19, 2023, and members get early access! Be among the first to see Breaking Ground by joining us on Member Preview Day on Friday, September 9.

This preview is complimentary for AMOCA Members.

Opening Reception
Saturday, September 10, 2022 • 4–6 PM (Pacific) • In Person

Join us for an opening reception for Breaking Ground: Women in California Clay, on view at AMOCA. Artists whose work is in the exhibition will be present starting at 4 PM, opening remarks will occur at 4:30 PM, and light refreshments will be served.

Admission to the event and Museum galleries is complimentary with advance registration. For information about at-the-door prices, check AMOCA.org/visit.

MORE ON AMOCA

As an organization of vision, devoted to the arts, we believe that visual art experiences communicated through professional artists, workshops, or gallery exhibitions, promote cross-cultural understanding and provide new perspectives and insights which enrich our lives.

Exhibitions and programming at AMOCA embraces a wide number of topics – all relating to clay. Within this broadly diverse community, it is our goal to increase the aesthetic appreciation of clay as an art form and to assist our audience in unraveling the creative thinking behind the making of ceramic objects. At the same time, AMOCA provides confirmed clay enthusiasts with encouragement, camaraderie, and exhibition opportunity.

Learn More, HERE

29
Aug
2022
FERRIN CONTEMPORARY | RESOURCES & COLLECTIONS

FERRIN CONTEMPORARY | RESOURCES & COLLECTIONS

FEATURED FROM FERRIN COLLECTIONS

Like our clients, we are passionate about ceramics and maintain a collection of our own, curated and built throughout our gallery’s 40-plus-year story. View below to see examples of the Ferrin Contemporary Resources. Please contact us if you are interested in loaning pieces from our collection or are interested in research and details on the works featured below.

FEATURE: OUR AMERICA/WHOSE AMERICA?

FEATURED IN

OUR AMERICA/WHOSE AMERICA

The Valentine, Richmond, VA

IMPRINTED: ILLUSTRATING RACE

Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA

OUR AMERICA/WHOSE AMERICA

Ferrin Contemporary, North Adams, MA

Rockwell Kent | Vernon Kilns “Our America” Plates

"Vernon Kilns "Our America", bread and butter plate with Southern Plantation, designed by Rockwell Kent, plate design by Gale Turnbull, Manfucturer, Vernon Kilns", c.1940-1943, transfer printed earthenware, glaze, 7.5" dia.

Many artists were gravitating to printmaking, as a way of making their art more accessible to the public, especially middle- class consumers. While the designs for his other two services were based on his book illustrations, those he executed for Our America were created afresh. His stark wood-cuts were adapted to transfers on china, to be printed in three monochrome hues—blue, mahogany, and brown. The service depicts American scenes ranging geographically from the metropolis of Manhattan to the Great Lakes to the Florida everglades to the West Coast. A number of the scenes represent laborers at work, championing Kent’s nationalistic beliefs in the America of the common man, the workers who made this country.

Kent’s reverence for the diversity of the American landscape and for “the working man” shines through the decoration. The star-spangled borders are wholly consistent with the patriotic theme.

— Metropolitan Museum of Art

READ MORE
CLOSE

Made By Vernon Kilns | Plates

"Made by Vernon Kilns, California Plate Bits of the old South 'Down on the Levee' ", c.1940, transfer printed earthenware, glaze, 7.5" dia.
"Made by Vernon Kilns, California Plate Bits of the old South 'Down on the Levee' ", c.1940, transfer printed earthenware, glaze, 7.5" dia.
"Made by Vernon Kilns, The Potters, Bits of the Southwest", c.1940, transfer printed earthenware, glaze, 7.5" dia.

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.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, in the aftermath of the Great Depression and in response to the threat of fascism in Europe during World War II, illustrator and painter Rockwell Kent chose to democratize his art and promote nationalistic ideals by creating dinnerware designs for Vernon Kilns, a company in California that produced tableware, giftware, and figurines from 1928 to 1958. Kent’s woodcut illustrations for Vernon Kilns’ Our America series appeared on ceramic plates, cups and saucers, bowls, coffee pots, pitchers, sugar bowls, and other service items that were marketed to middle class consumers. Available in three hues including blue, brown, and maroon, sets were priced from $8.80 to $26.90, and as noted in the company’s advertising, featured “more than thirty different drawings representative of scenes and activities in the various regions of the United States.” The country’s natural beauty and the dedication of laborers who made progress possible were prominent image themes that were in keeping with Kent’s nationalistic beliefs. It is unclear whether Kent’s Southern Plantation was intended to characterize the American South by the antebellum period, with slavery portrayed as a benign institution rooted in tradition, or whether the artist desired to express his admiration for laborers, as was common in his work. 

— Stephanie Plunkett Norman Rockwell Museum – IMPRINTED: Illustrating Race 6-2022 – 10-2022

READ MORE
CLOSE

Figurines & Objects | Made in Occupied Japan

Figurines & Objects | Made in Occupied Japan

“Occupied Japan” (OJ) is a term used for the time period from 1945 (after World War II) through April 25, 1952; it was during this time that the Allies “occupied” Japan.

https://gotheborg.com/qa/oj.shtml

One of the most fascinating lines of objects to come out of Occupied Japan were objects made to capture the interest and pocketbooks of the GI’s stationed there. This is an area that is collected by those who do collect Occupied Japan material, and it features tobacco-related trinkets, because GI’s tended to smoke.

So we find lighters made of tin with erotic images, and little wooden birds made to hold pipes. Ash trays with all kinds of scenes were also popular, and for a few bucks a GI could collect souvenirs to take home. And boy, did they take these things home — in droves.

This era was fascinating because of the cultural overlay between the ancient artistry of porcelain and ceramic art in Japan through the ages, and what the American administration thought would be purchased by Americans.

Thus, porcelain — a treasure of Japan — was, during the Occupied Japan period, debased to form toothpick holders and ash trays, often with images and scenes that would appeal to the American market.

Thus, after the first wave of souvenir material made for the GI’s, Japanese ceramic factories made objects that flooded Woolworth, Kresge’s and similar dime stores back home.

— Stephanie Plunkett Norman Rockwell Museum – IMPRINTED: Illustrating Race 6-2022 – 10-2022

READ MORE
CLOSE

Rowland & Marsellus & Co. 1492 Pitchers

"Rowland & Marsellus & Co., 1492 Pitcher Blue", c.1900, transferprinted earthenware, glaze, 7.75 x 7.5 x 5.5".
"Rowland & Marsellus & Co., 1492 Pitcher Blue", c.1900, transferprinted earthenware, glaze, 7.75 x 7.5 x 5.5".
"Rowland & Marsellus & Co., 1492 Pitcher Blue", c.1900, transferprinted earthenware, glaze, 7.75 x 7.5 x 5.5".
"Rowland & Marsellus & Co., 1492 Pitcher Blue", c.1900, transferprinted earthenware, glaze, 7.75 x 7.5 x 5.5".

Rowland & Marsellus & Co. 1492 Pitchers

"Rowland & Marsellus & Co., 1492 Pitcher Multicolor", c.1900, transferprinted earthenware, glaze, 7.75 x 7.75 x 5.5".
"Rowland & Marsellus & Co., 1492 Pitcher Multicolor", c.1900, transferprinted earthenware, glaze, 7.75 x 7.75 x 5.5".
"Rowland & Marsellus & Co., 1492 Pitcher Multicolor", c.1900, transferprinted earthenware, glaze, 7.75 x 7.75 x 5.5".

Amherst College Plates | Syracuse | Walker China

Amherst College salad or appetizer plate, sometimes referred to as the “Fleeing Indians” pattern and notated made by Walker China. It depicts British Army officer Baron Jeffrey Amherst on horseback, chasing native Americans through pine forests during the French and Indian War.

The graphics are mulberry/purple on ivory. These plates were made for Amherst College Valentine Dining Hall by Walker China between 1920s-1970 and discontinued, then removed from service sometime around 1973 when the history and corresponding graphics on the plate became controversial and deemed politically incorrect, for obvious reasons. The colors on the ivory plate is consistent with the school colors of Amherst College – purple and white. Due to the china’s history, it has become very rare and very sought after.

Here’s some historical info about Baron Jeffrey Amherst:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffery_Amherst,_1st_Baron_Amherst

The bottom stamp reads: “Walker China Vitrified, Bedford, Ohio, 3-39.” Salad or appetizer plate measures about 7-1/2” in diameter.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/walker-china-plate-amherst-college-ma-1758163220

The design reportedly depicts Lord Jeffrey Amherst and Native American Indians. Some historical accounts state that Lord Jeffrey encouraged the spread of Smallpox among the Indians by giving them infected blankets, handkerchiefs etc…  The pattern was discontinued and replaced in the 1970’s as a result of Lord Jeffrey’s controversial history.  Manufactured by Walker China in Medford, Ohio.

— From Retailer, Incoming Details to the FC Collection

READ MORE
CLOSE

Souvenir & Transferware Plates | Regional Content

Rowland & Marsellus & Co., "Portraicteur of Captyne John Smith Admiral of New England", c.1905, transfer print on ceramic, glaze, 10 x 10 x 1".
Rowland & Marsellus & Co., "Matoaka Ats Rebecka Filia Potentiss VA", c.1906, transfer print on ceramic, glaze, 10 x 10 x 1".

Pair of plates, Rowland and Marsellus Company, Staffordshire, England, 1906. Whiteware. D. 10″. One plate has a transfer-printed portrait of Pocahontas as the central motif, the other has John Smith, both with surrounding cartouches. The legend of the Pocahontas plate includes both her given name, Matoaka, and the one she received after baptism, “Rebecka” or Rebecca. Produced for the S. T. Hanger Company of Portsmouth, Virginia.

https://www.chipstone.org/images.php/408/Ceramics

https://chipstone.org/article.php/408/Ceramics-in-America-2008/

— Chipstone Website | Figure 22

READ MORE
CLOSE

RESOURCES & COLLECTIONS

RESOURCES & COLLECTIONS

More than 40 years ago, an artist friend pointed out the differences between a polychrome (lots of colors) transfer printed souvenir plate and others that were monochrome (one color). The artist, Miriam Kaye, was known for the reuse of images from history in her own work, along with reclaimed material collage. I don’t recall the image on the plate but I do remember her introduction to the subtle variations of surface, under and over glaze, printed imagery, and the quality of the plates themselves. Depending on the time period when they were produced, each decade built upon a prior narrative to commemorate idealized versions of historic events, portraits of “founders,” man-made monuments and the buildings built, some named for and intended to honor this history. These plates were created as souvenirs with clues to their origins on the backs of plates through merchant stamps, or maker’s marks, and sometimes additional narratives with lengthy written text. This information, further emphasized by titles and relationships with the visual imagery, was quite literally whitewashed of any human struggle that came before, during, or after. Some commemorated foot soldiers who fought for independence, others were generals and portraits of men and their properties.  From a contemporary perspective, we now see these narratives as glorification of  broken treaties, enslavers and the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. 

These images were created and put on plates using illustrations, sometimes copies of well-known paintings and entered popular culture as countless multiples. They used powerful stereotypes and caricatures, added to historical fictions and resonate today as we consider how we came to believe what we do. 

— Leslie Ferrin, Director & Collector

READ MORE ABOUT THE COLLECTION  •  HERE  •

Enoch Wood & Sons transferware platter, Cape Coast Castle on the Gold Coast Africa c.1820.
Souvenirs, Adams, The Shrine of Democracy (Mount Rushmore) (plate), and Collectible California State Plate – ‘Beauty Spots of California’
Souvenir, Staffordshire, Landing of Roger Williams 1636, 10″
Souvenir, Souvenir of Plymouth Mass, Landing of the Pilgrims (John Roth, Old Stafforshire Ware), c 1905, 9.25 x 9.25 x 0.75″
Souvenir plate, Rowland & Marsellus & Co; The Boston Massacre 1770 Boston State House, c. 1900, transferprinted earthenware, glaze, 10″
Souvenir, Souvenir of LEWIS & CLARK CENTENNIAL Portland, OR 1905, Staffordshire, 1905, 10 x 10 x 1″
Amherst College Plates Syracuse – Walker China Set , variable (7 objects): 3 x 3.5 x 4.5 (cup); 5.5 x 5.5 x 1″ (saucers); 7.25 x 7.25 x.5″ (dessert plate); 6.5 x 6.5x 1.75″ (bowl)
Amherst College Plates Syracuse – Walker China Set , variable (7 objects): 3 x 3.5 x 4.5 (cup); 5.5 x 5.5 x 1″ (saucers); 7.25 x 7.25 x.5″ (dessert plate); 6.5 x 6.5x 1.75″ (bowl)
Sheila Bridges, Converse Chuck Taylor Harlem Toile-print, 2021, canvas, rubber
Sheila Bridges, Harlem Toile De Jouy (one of six plates in collaboration with This Glitterville), 2021, melamine, 9 x 9 x .75″
Manhattan Vernon Kilns “Our America” Rockwell Kent (Brown), 10.5 x 10.5 x 1″
Chicago Red Vernon Kilns “Our America” Rockwell Kent dinner plate, 9.5 x 9.5 x 1″
Hoover Dam Vernon Kilns “Our America” Rockwell Kent (Brown), 14 x 14 x 1″

Collection of Leslie Ferrin/Ferrin Contemporary

HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS

HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS

From the mid-70’s on, I collected, was given and sent more than 100 plates, figurines, and small objects in glass and ceramics. This started casually. Like others of my generation who hunted and gathered vintage materials, we sought cultural objects that reminded us of a past that many of us never actually experienced but for which were nostalgic without fully understanding the depth of that past. We saw the irony and displayed these objects in our homes, naive and unaware of their toxic power to continue the original message conveyed and widely distributed through commercial reproduction.

Vaseline Glass Tomahawk, Arrowhead, Toothpick Holder

Vaseline Glass Tomahawk, Arrowhead, Toothpick Holder

green vaseline glass
varying sizes
year N/A

Aunt Jemima Syrup Bottle
Aunt Jemima Syrup Bottle, side view
Aunt Jemima Syrup Bottle with White Face
Aunt Jemima Syrup Bottle with White Face (back)

Aunt Jemima Syrup Bottle

year n/a
glass
10 x 3.5”

Collection of Leslie Ferrin/Ferrin Contemporary

Aunt Jemima Syrup Bottle White Face

year n/a
glass, paint
8.5 x 3”

Uncle Remus and Little Boy Created by the Federal Art Project, Works Progress Administration

1935-1936
Ceramic sculpture (Ohio clay mixed with 25% flint)
5.5 x 4”

Collection of Leslie Ferrin/Ferrin Contemporary

MADE BY VERNON KILNS

PRODUCED BY VERNON KILNS

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.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, in the aftermath of the Great Depression and in response to the threat of fascism in Europe during World War II, illustrator and painter Rockwell Kent chose to democratize his art and promote nationalistic ideals by creating dinnerware designs for Vernon Kilns, a company in California that produced tableware, giftware, and figurines from 1928 to 1958. Kent’s woodcut illustrations for Vernon Kilns’ Our America series appeared on ceramic plates, cups and saucers, bowls, coffee pots, pitchers, sugar bowls, and other service items that were marketed to middle class consumers. Available in three hues including blue, brown, and maroon, sets were priced from $8.80 to $26.90, and as noted in the company’s advertising, featured “more than thirty different drawings representative of scenes and activities in the various regions of the United States.” The country’s natural beauty and the dedication of laborers who made progress possible were prominent image themes that were in keeping with Kent’s nationalistic beliefs. It is unclear whether Kent’s Southern Plantation was intended to characterize the American South by the antebellum period, with slavery portrayed as a benign institution rooted in tradition, or whether the artist desired to express his admiration for laborers, as was common in his work.

READ MORE
CLOSE
“Vernon Kilns “Our America”, bread and butter plate with Southern Plantation, designed by Rockwell Kent, plate design by Gale Turnbull, Manfucturer, Vernon Kilns”, c.1940-1943, transfer printed earthenware, glaze, 7.5″ dia.

Our America: Southern Plantation

Vernon Kilns “Our America”, bread and butter plate with Southern Plantation, designed by Rockwell Kent, plate design by Gale Turnbull, Manfucturer, Vernon Kilns

c. 1940-1943
transfer printed earthenware, glaze
7.5 x 7.5 x 0.75”

Manhattan Vernon Kilns “Our America” Rockwell Kent (Brown), 10.5 x 10.5 x 1″

Manhattan Vernon Kilns “Our America” Rockwell Kent (Brown)

transfer printed earthenware, glaze
10.5 x 10.5 x 1”

Chicago Red Vernon Kilns “Our America” Rockwell Kent dinner plate, 9.5 x 9.5 x 1″

Chicago Red Vernon Kilns “Our America” Rockwell Kent dinner plate

transfer printed earthenware, glaze
9.5 x 9.5 x 1”

Hoover Dam Vernon Kilns “Our America” Rockwell Kent (Brown), 14 x 14 x 1″

Hoover Dam Vernon Kilns “Our America” Rockwell Kent (Brown)

transfer printed earthenware, glaze
14 x 14 x 1”

Collection of Leslie Ferrin/Ferrin Contemporary

SOUVENIR PLATES

“SOUVENIR” PLATES & TRANSFERWARE

At first, most of the souvenir plates I purchased were produced by English potteries like Johnson Brothers and Rowland & Marsellus who operated in the early 1900s, commissioned by merchants to offer for sale to tourists at the sites depicted. The plates I purchased showed monuments and architecture flanked by their namesakes, generals and politicians; scenes copied from famous paintings such as the landing of Europeans – Roger Williams, Henry Hudson; portraits such as Pocahontas/Matoaka depicted as an Englishwoman copied from an engraving by Simon van de Passe; geographically significant landscapes tamed by Europeans such as Plymouth Rock with 1620 carved into it and Mount Rushmore with the faces of the founders, Niagra Falls now accessible by boat and generating electricity. These images are about American identity which led me to seek out others, plates and figurines made in America and Occupied Japan drawn as I was to how they represented and portrayed race, positions in society, and through popular culture continue to infuse tropes, maintain stereotypes and deliver messages “hidden in plain site.” 

Johnroth English Staffordshire Mohawk Trail 7 3/4 Souvenir Plate Vintage, c. 1910-1915, transferprinted earthenware, glaze, 7.5″ diameter
Enoch Wood & Son, America Independent July 4 1776, souvenir plate, 1900, transfer printed earthenware, glaze, 10.5″
Rowland & Marsellus & Co; Mohawk Indian Trail Berkshires Plate, c. 1900, transferprinted earthenware, glaze, 9″
Souvenir plate, Bermuda Alias Somers Island 1609 1909 Sir George Somers (Rowland & Marsellus & Co.), 10 x 10 x 1″
Souvenir, Plymouth Mass 1907 (Rowland & Marsellus & Co.), 10 x 10 x 1″
Souvenir, Souvenir of Plymouth Mass, Landing of the Pilgrims (John Roth, Old Stafforshire Ware), c 1905, 9.25 x 9.25 x 0.75″
Souvenir, Matoaka Ats Rebecka Filia Potentiss VA (Rowland & Marsellus & Co.), 1906, 10 x 10 x 1″
Souvenir, Portraicteur of Captyne John Smith Admiral of New England (Rowland & Marsellus & Co.), c. 1905, 10 x 10 x 1″
Souvenir, Souvenir of LEWIS & CLARK CENTENNIAL Portland, OR 1905, Staffordshire, 1905, 10 x 10 x 1″
Souvenir, Enoch Wood & Son, America Independent July 4 1776, c. 1900, 10.5″
Souvenir, Adams, The Shrine of Democracy (Mount Rushmore), 10″
Souvenir, James Wood, Bennington Battle Monument, John Stark and Ethan Allen, 9.75″ d
Souvenir, Staffordshire, Landing of Roger Williams 1636, 10″
Souvenirs, Adams, The Shrine of Democracy (Mount Rushmore) (plate), and Collectible California State Plate – ‘Beauty Spots of California’

Collection of Leslie Ferrin/Ferrin Contemporary

MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN

MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN

Figures Made in Occupied Japan
Figures Made in Occupied Japan
Figures Made in Occupied Japan

“Tiny Indians” Made in Occupied Japan

1945-1952
ceramic
varying dimensions

Vintage Mohawk Trail, Mass. Souvenir Hand Painted Made In Post War Japan
Vintage Mohawk Trail, Mass. Souvenir Hand Painted Made In Post War Japan

Vintage Mohawk Trail, Mass. Souvenir Hand Painted Made In Post War Japan

1945-1952
ceramic
7.5” radius

“Who Left This Behind?”, Black Child Ashtray Made in Occupied Japan
“Who Left This Behind?”, Black Child Ashtray Made in Occupied Japan
“Who Left This Behind?”, Black Child Ashtray Made in Occupied Japan

Laundry, Black Child Ashtray Made in Occupied Japan

1945-1952
ceramic

Made in Occupied Japan – Black Child, Watermelon, Chamberpot, cast porcelain, glaze, 1945-1952
Made in Occupied Japan – Black Child, Watermelon, Chamberpot, cast porcelain, glaze, 1945-1952
Made in Occupied Japan (Black Child, Watermelon, Chamberpot), 1945-1952, 3.5 x 1.75 x 2″

Made in Occupied Japan (Black Child, Watermelon, Chamberpot)

1945-1952
cast porcelain, glaze

Made in Japan (Male and Female Native Americans Figurines), 1945-1952, cast porcelain, glaze, Woman: 4.25 x 2 x 1.25″; Man: 4.25 x 2 x 1.25″
Made in Japan (Male and Female Native Americans Figurines), 1945-1952, cast porcelain, glaze, Woman: 4.25 x 2 x 1.25″; Man: 4.25 x 2 x 1.25″
Made in Japan (Male and Female Native Americans Figurines), 1945-1952, cast porcelain, glaze, Woman: 4.25 x 2 x 1.25″; Man: 4.25 x 2 x 1.25″

Made in Japan (Male and Female Native Americans Figurines)

1945-1952
cast porcelain, glaze,
Woman: 4.25 x 2 x 1.25” , Man: 4.25 x 2 x 1.25”

Collection of Leslie Ferrin/Ferrin Contemporary

CONTEMPORARY WORKS

CONTEMPORARY WORKS

Paul Scott, ‘Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Souvenir of Selma, AL. No. 5, 2020. In-glaze screen print (decal) on pearlware plate, 305mm dia.
Scott’s Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Souvenir of Shiprock (3), 2020. In-glaze screen print decal on pearlware plate with uranium glass and Corona beer bottle shards collected from the base of Shiprock, 12 1/4″ dia.
Paul Scott, ‘Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Souvenir of Portland Or., Black Lives Matter (After Killen & Howard)/Trumpian Campaigne No. 2, In-glaze screen print (decal) on partially erased, Staffordshire transferware souvenir plate c.1900, 10 x 10 x 1″

Paul Scott

Paul Scott is a Cumbrian based artist with a diverse practice and an international reputation.Creating individual pieces that blur the boundaries between fine art, craft and design, he is well known for research into printed vitreous surfaces, as well as his characteristic blue and white artworks in glazed ceramic.

Garth Johnson, “Manifest Destiny (Currier and Ives – The Village Blacksmith #760)” 2010, Bing & Grondahl limited edition Currier and Ives porcelain plate, decal, 8″.
Garth Johnson, “Manifest Destiny (Currier and Ives – The Western Farmers Home #756)” 2010, Bing & Grondahl limited edition Currier and Ives porcelain plate, decal, 8″.
Garth Johnson, “Manifest Destiny (Currier and Ives – Home on the Mississippi 751)” 2010, Bing & Grondahl limited edition Currier and Ives porcelain plate, decal, 8″.

Garth Johnson

Garth Johnson’s works celebrate the history of ceramic objects and their ability to convey status. He often juxtaposes common vessel forms like plastic containers and soap bottles with gold or silver handles taken from fine silver coffee and teapots.

Sheila Bridges, Harlem Toile De Jouy (one of six plates in collaboration with This Glitterville), 2021, melamine, 9 x 9 x .75″
Sheila Bridges, Converse Chuck Taylor Harlem Toile-print, 2021, canvas, rubber
Sheila Bridges, Harlem Toile De Jouy (one of six plates in collaboration with This Glitterville), 2021, melamine, 9 x 9 x .75″

Sheila Bridges

Named America’s Best Interior Designer by Time magazine and CNN, Sheila Bridges is considered a creative visionary and design tastemaker. Residing and working in Harlem for more than 25 years, Bridges is recognized for her classic yet versatile design aesthetic and critical eye. She is sought after to create thoughtfully inspired and narrative rich interiors because of her profound sensitivity and appreciation of timeless design and quality craftsmanship.

Our America/Whose America?, Elizabeth Alexander, A Mightier Work is Ahead Series, 2022, image courtesy of John Polak
Our America/Whose America?, Elizabeth Alexander, A Mightier Work is Ahead Series, 2022, image courtesy of John Polak
Our America/Whose America?, Elizabeth Alexander, A Mightier Work is Ahead Series, 2022, image courtesy of John Polak

Elizabeth Alexander

On her series, A Mightier Work is Ahead – I have been collecting Confederate commemorative plates since 2016 in response to the rise in white supremacist pride in contemporary culture. I imagine these objects as Trojan horses hanging innocently among family photos. These plates were printed long after the Civil War with romantic illustrations, and created for people to hang in their homes, to pass dangerous values down to future generations aided by collectable marketing. 

When I stumbled across my first set of plates in a tiny junk shop it felt like a call to action. I immediately envisioned using the porcelain cutting techniques I have mastered to grind out these harmful symbols of oppression.  I edit each plate by extracting the Confederate symbols, leaving only the American landscape between the voids. The dust from each removal is harvested and displayed below its plate of origin to show that history cannot be erased; there is still a residue and the dust still remains.

It wasn’t until I began this work that I learned that I have ancestors that fought and died for the Confederacy. Now this work is as much a rejection of systems of oppression as it is a reckoning about my own place in those systems.  Speeches like Douglas’s spoken over a century ago illustrate how little has changed and remind us not to settle for symbolic gestures of progress, there is still mighty work ahead.

Read More
CLOSE