Project Tag: Chris Antemann Current

07
Jul
2023
HEY! CÉRAMIQUE.S

HEY! CÉRAMIQUE.S

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

In the name of matter

Both deeply invested in exploring the alternative cultural scene, Halle Saint Pierre and HEY! modern art & pop culture continue their long and close collaboration with a sixth exhibition entirely dedicated to ceramics. If this medium occupies an increasingly visible place on the international art scene, the HEY! CERAMIQUE.S will show other forms which, from pop culture to art brut, unexpectedly emancipate themselves from all dominant norms and discourses to draw on the living forces of the imagination and the sensitive. Whether they are wise or delirious, wild or sophisticated, expressionist or narrative, whether they handle humor or emotion, the ceramic sculptures here carry excess but also poetry and innovations.

  • Martine Lusardy, director of the Halle Saint Pierre and exhibition curator
  • Anne Richard, guest curator and founder of the HEY! modern art & pop culture

HEY! CÉRAMIQUE.S

Musee de la Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, France | September 20, 2023 to August 14, 2024

HEY! CERAMIQUE.S Exhibition Installation featuring Crystal Morey “Replanting: Over the Land (Mt. Lion and Unicorn)” and “Replanting: Over the Water (Rhino and Swan)”, Musee de la Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, France, September 20, 2023 to August 14, 2024
HEY! CERAMIQUE.S Exhibition Installation featuring Chris Antemann “Embrace” and “Kissing Flora”, Musee de la Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, France, September 20, 2023 to August 14, 2024
HEY! CERAMIQUE.S Exhibition Installation featuring Crystal Morey “Replanting: Over the Land (Mt. Lion and Unicorn)” and “Replanting: Over the Water (Rhino and Swan)”, Musee de la Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, France, September 20, 2023 to August 14, 2024
HEY! CERAMIQUE.S Exhibition Installation featuring Crystal Morey “RePlanting: Elephant”, “RePlanting: Giraffe Madonna and Child”, and “Venus on the Waves: Grizzly”, Musee de la Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, France, September 20, 2023 to August 14, 2024
HEY! CERAMIQUE.S Exhibition Installation featuring Mara Superior, Chris Antemann, and Crystal Morey, Musee de la Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, France, September 20, 2023 to August 14, 2024
HEY! CERAMIQUE.S Exhibition Installation featuring Mara Superior Installation, Musee de la Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, France, September 20, 2023 to August 14, 2024
HEY! CERAMIQUE.S Exhibition Installation featuring Mara Superior Installation, Musee de la Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, France, September 20, 2023 to August 14, 2024

EXHIBITION CATALOG

  • Released September 15, 2023
  • Edited by Anne Richard Bilingual (French / English)
  • 250 pages
  • Shaped cover 28 x 24.5 cm
  • Published by HEY! PUBLISHING

Long considered a minor art because of its particular status at the crossroads of art and craftsmanship, ceramics has emancipated itself artistically by making precisely this hybrid position the basis of its renewal. The truly alchemical dimension of the fire arts lends itself wonderfully to blurring and crossing boundaries. But if contemporary ceramic artists draw on timeless traditions and know-how, it is not so much out of nostalgia for the values ​​of the past as to place at the center of creation a return to making and attention to materials in their sensitive dimension. Earth, water, air, fire are no longer simple materials that can be manipulated indifferently, they become the very substance of a material imagination intended to satisfy aesthetic and psychological urgencies. 

— Martine Lusardy, Director and curator of exhibitions at the Halle Saint Pierre Museum

HEY! CÉRAMIQUE.S Exhibition Catalog

Purchase the catalog here

“Our overuse of resources has destroyed our planets natural resources. The skies churn,  rivers flood, oceans rise, and forests burn. The world is a changed place, and the most vulnerable feel the affects first.”

Crystal Morey, Shaping Interconnectedness, essay by Maria Porges

“From there, [she], like many of us, sees the news, imagines the future, and find solace in the triumphant artworks of the past. She is chronicling our time, a unique and strange mix of hope in the ace of humanities greatest collective threat— ourselves.”

Mara Superior, Chronicling our Collective Hopes, essay by Lauren Levato-Coyne.

MORE ABOUT THE MUSEUM

Musee de la Halle Saint Pierre

Paris, France

MUSEUM OF ART BRUT – OUTSIDER ART & POP CULTURE 

Within a beautiful Baltard-style architecture, facing the gardens of the Butte Montmartre, the Halle Saint Pierre houses a museum and a gallery, a bookstore, an auditorium, a cafĂŠ. It is in this harmonious and luminous setting that the major temporary exhibitions and the multiple artistic and cultural activities dedicated to the most unexpected forms of creation are presented.

01
May
2023
CHRIS ANTEMANN: A Stage For Dessert

CHRIS ANTEMANN: A Stage For Dessert

INTERVENTIONS AT THE MINT MUSEUM

Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC

Interventions at Mint Museum Randolph

If you walk through the galleries at Mint Museum Randolph, the art is largely organized by region, type, or era. There are galleries for European art, African art, art of the Ancient Americas, Native American art, and decorative arts. However, within some of these galleries, there are works displayed that are “out of place” or “out of time.” Interventions seek to question the past against the present by placing contemporary artworks alongside works from other eras.

Interventions: Portals to the Past: British Ceramics 1675 – 1825

This exhibition presents over 200 examples of British ceramics. Visitors can learn about these pieces’ functions, styles, manufacturing techniques, and makers. Each region or manufacturer had a unique style and method of creating ceramics, which can be seen in the wide variety of works on display. Included in the exhibition are traditional styles like blue and white Delftware, vessels made to look like vegetables or fruits, commemorative teacups, allegorical figures, decorative figurines of animals, and many more. You can view an online version of this exhibition here.

This exhibition already invites the viewer to analyze our relationship to the past by means of its title. However, in bringing contemporary pieces to this gallery, we can find new ways of looking at a medium’s influence on our present-day society.

Antemann’s work proves that the art of ceramics is still relevant, but its function has changed. Her art focuses on how ceramics exist in the domestic lives of those who own them and what meanings are ascribed to them. Her style is based on that of 18th-century ceramics because she believes that recreating traditions allows us to find new interpretations in the present.

This meeting of past and present is clear in Antemann’s A Stage for Dessert. Numerous figures stand around at a dessert banquet in lively, lighthearted positions. However, Antemann is joking with the viewer to comment on the flirtatious, playful, or even risquĂŠ nature of the figures. What could once signify a deep meaning to a 19th-century owner, such as an allegory or a representation of a season, has been adapted into a less serious object.

Information courtesy of mint.wiko.pbworks.com

A Stage for Dessert

Interventions: Portals to the Past: British Ceramics 1675 – 1825 

Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, On View at The Mint Museum of Art, 2023, 30” x 24” x 24", photos courtesy of The Mint Museum of Art.
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, On View at The Mint Museum of Art, 2023, 30” x 24” x 24", photos courtesy of The Mint Museum of Art.
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, On View at The Mint Museum of Art, 2023, 30” x 24” x 24", photos courtesy of The Mint Museum of Art.
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, On View at The Mint Museum of Art, 2023, 30” x 24” x 24", photos courtesy of The Mint Museum of Art.
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, On View at The Mint Museum of Art, 2023, 30” x 24” x 24", photos courtesy of The Mint Museum of Art.
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, On View at The Mint Museum of Art, 2023, 30” x 24” x 24", photos courtesy of The Mint Museum of Art.
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, On View at The Mint Museum of Art, 2023, 30” x 24” x 24", photos courtesy of The Mint Museum of Art.
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, On View at The Mint Museum of Art, 2023, 30” x 24” x 24", photos courtesy of The Mint Museum of Art.
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, On View at The Mint Museum of Art, 2023, 30” x 24” x 24", photos courtesy of The Mint Museum of Art.
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, On View at The Mint Museum of Art, 2023, 30” x 24” x 24", photos courtesy of The Mint Museum of Art.
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, On View at The Mint Museum of Art, 2023, 30” x 24” x 24", photos courtesy of The Mint Museum of Art.

Images courtesy of The Mint Museum of Art & Ferrin Contemporary

WORKS ON VIEW

A Stage for Dessert

Previous Installation at Hillwood Estate & Gardens

“An Occasion to Gather Chris Antemann’s porcelain centerpiece, is filled with 18th-century style ceramic sweets, takes inspiration from the garden sculptures and eighteenth-century design of Hillwood’s French parterre. As with the dining room table display, here Antemann references eighteenth-century dining culture and the porcelain centerpieces commonly used as table decoration by European elites.“

“Antemann integrates porcelain figures into her reconception of the French parterre. “I imagined what lives were like in the eighteenth century, what these figures would have been doing, what the collectors of these figures would have been doing,” she said. “My centerpiece is a seductive playground for the porcelain figure; they are not static on the base, but in the world, playing and enjoying the environment.” The tableware from Hillwood’s collection on the breakfast room table includes porcelain from a dessert service made by the Jacob Petit manufactory in France around 1835 (acc. no. 24.120), French glassware dating to the 1700s (acc. nos. 23.312–315), and porcelain and silver-gilt flatware made in Russia in the 1800s (acc. no. 25.479).“

–Dr. Rebecca Tilles, associate curator of 18th-century French and Western European Fine and decorative arts, Hillwood Estate & Gardens

–Images courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, photographed by Erik Kvalsvik


Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, Hillwood Museum, 2021, 30” x 24” x 24″, photos courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, Hillwood Museum, 2021, 30” x 24” x 24″, photos courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, Hillwood Museum, 2021, 30” x 24” x 24″, photos courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, Hillwood Museum, 2021, 30” x 24” x 24″, photos courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens

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MORE ON CHRIS ANTEMANN

MORE ON CHRIS ANTEMANN

View More by Chris Antemann  •  HERE  •

Chris Antemann is known for work inspired by 18th-century porcelain figurines, employing a unity of design and concept to simultaneously examine and parody male and female relationship roles. Characters, themes, and incidents build upon each other, effectively forming their own language that speaks about domestic rites, social etiquette, and taboos. Themes from the classics and the romantics are given a contemporary edge; elaborate dinner parties, picnic luncheons, and ornamental gardens set the stage for her twisted tales to unfold.

Chris Antemann Portrait
20
Apr
2023
ARE WE THERE YET?

ARE WE THERE YET?

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

North Adams, MA —

NORTH ADAMS, MA – ARE WE THERE YET? is a celebration of Ferrin Contemporary’s 40+ years as leaders in the field of modern and contemporary ceramics. What began in 1979 as a woman-owned cooperative studio and gallery in Northampton, MA has flourished across the years and the locations to become the international ceramic experts and material champions known as Ferrin Contemporary.

During the course of four decades, the gallery has championed artists whose primary medium is clay. Beginning with a commitment to providing support for living artists, decades-long relationships grew with artists whose works explore traditions and history, deliver social commentary, experiment with the material, and use the medium to challenge themselves to produce new works.  

As part of the exhibition, selected classic works will be presented directly from the artists’ archives or offered by private collectors, illustrating career highlights both in the gallery and online. The exhibition asks us, the artists, and the collectors to reflect on the road we’ve taken and invites the public to join the dialog while we speculate about the future.

Ferrin Contemporary, "Are We There Yet?", 2023, Exhibition Installation View with work by Chris Antemann, Courtney M. Leonard, Sergei Isupov, Crystal Morey, & Kurt Weiser, Photo by John Polak Photography
Ferrin Contemporary, "Are We There Yet?", 2023, Exhibition Installation View with work by Chris Antemann, Steven Young Lee, Kadri Pärnamets, & Kurt Weiser, Photo by John Polak Photography
Ferrin Contemporary, "Are We There Yet?", 2023, Exhibition Installation View with work by Sin Ying Ho, Peter Pincus, Paul Scott Mark Shapiro, & Linda Sikora, Photo by John Polak Photography
Ferrin Contemporary, "Are We There Yet?", 2023, Exhibition Installation View with work by Russell Biles, Courtney M. Leonard, & Bobby Silverman. Photo by John Polak Photography
Raymon Elozua Installation for "Are We There Yet?", Exhibition at Ferrin Contemporary in North Adams, MA Sculpture: Raymon Elozua, "Digital Sculpture: Hubris: IMF-02", 04 terra cotta, whiteware, glaze, steel rod and plate, 2016, 26.5 x 16.5 x 20". Photos (top left to bottom right): "Enamelware Mirror (Refractile) #2792", "Enamelware Mirror (Refractile) #3217", "Enamelware Table (EWed-26-e-847)", "Enamelware Conversation (6&3+ExMir-11-14-1094)", "Enamelware Table (EWed-31-a-1328)", "Enamelware Mirror (Refractile) #1835", 2006-2007, Archival ink on archival rag paper, 17 x 22" (each). Photo by John Polak Photography
Lauren Mabry Installation for "Are We There Yet?", Exhibition at Ferrin Contemporary in North Adams, MA Wall Pieces (left to right: Lauren Mabry, "Scrapyard No.2, No.4, No.3, No.1", 2023, ceramic, glaze, 12 x 9.75 x 2". Sculpture (below): Lauren Mabry, "Glaze Flow Cylinder No.1", 2021, ceramic, glaze, 7.75 x 13.5 x13". Photo by John Polak Photography
Ferrin Contemporary, "Are We There Yet?", 2023, Exhibition Installation View with work by Chris Antemann, Cristina Córdova, Steven Young Lee, Courtney M. Leonard, Lauren Mabry, Kadri Pärnamets, Bobby Silverman, & Kurt Weiser, Photo by John Polak Photography
Ferrin Contemporary, "Are We There Yet?", 2023, Exhibition Portrait with Isabel Twanmo (Gallerist pictured left), Leslie Ferrin (Director pictured center), & Alexandra Jelleberg (Gallerist pictured right), Photo by John Polak Photography
Chris Antemann, "Lovers Vase in Blue", 2022, porcelain, 19.5 x 11 x 10"
Ferrin Contemporary, "Are We There Yet?", 2023, Exhibition Installation View with work by Cristina Córdova, "EVA XV", 2022, unlgazed earthenware, burnished earth pigments from the island of Puerto Rico mixed with casein, lime, oxides, 60 x 18 x 22". Photo by John Polak Photography
Sergei Isupov, "Game Changer", 2023, porcelain, underglaze, glaze, 17.5 x 8 x 6.5".
Sergei Isupov, "Pupeteer", 2023, porcelain, underglaze, glaze, 18.5 x 8 x 7".
Sergei Isupov, "Burden II", 2021, stoneware, slip, glaze, 15.5 x 15 x 6.5". Ceramic sculpture with human and animal forms.
Sergei Isupov, "Voice from Inside", 1997, porcelain, underglaze, glaze, 8 x 6 x 4".
Rectangular ceramic artwork with multicolored drips of glaze pouring down the sides
Bobby Silverman, "Untitled (After Kline)", 2022, Commercial tile, glazed porcelain, autopaint, 22 x 19" (backdrop tile), 10.75 x 8.75 x 11.75" (vase & base tile).
Bobby Silverman, "Untitled", 2022, Econolite, commercial tile, glazed porcelain, autopaint, 24 x 24" (backdrop tile), 10.75 x 10.25 x 11.75" (vase & base tile)
Russell Biles, "Gone Too" 2015, hand built porcelain, 6 x 7 x 17".
Sergei Isupov, "Complacency", 1998, porcelain, underglaze, glaze, 11 x 18 x 6.5".
Sergei Isupov, "Chain", 1999, porcelain, underglaze, glaze, 10.5 x 13.5 x 9".
Steven Young Lee, "Jar with Butterflies", 2012, porcelain, cobalt inlay, gold luster, 15 x 15 x 12".
Courtney M . Leonard, "BREACH | Logbook 21 | CONVOKE | Abundance Basket and Contour", 2021, multi-ply birch wood and acrylic, coiled and woven earthenware, coiled micaceous clay, oyster shells, ~ 6 x 15 x 15" (basket), 2.5 x 40 x 48" (wood contour form), John Polak Photography.
Lauren Mabry Installation for "Are We There Yet?", Exhibition at Ferrin Contemporary in North Adams, MA Wall Pieces (left to right: Lauren Mabry, "Scrapyard No.2, No.4, No.3, No.1", 2023, ceramic, glaze, 12 x 9.75 x 2". Sculpture (below): Lauren Mabry, "Glaze Flow Cylinder No.1", 2021, ceramic, glaze, 7.75 x 13.5 x13". Photo by John Polak Photography
Kadri Pärnamets Installation for "Are We There Yet?", Exhibition at Ferrin Contemporary in North Adams, MA Wall Pieces: Kadri Pärnamets, "Cups", 2022-2023, ceramic, glaze, ~12 x 12 x 4" (each). Sculptures: Kadri Pärnamets, "Frame of Mind (#5, 6, 9, 10, 7 pictured top left to bottom right)", 2023, porcelain, slip, glaze, ~4.5 x 5 x 4" (each). Vases: Kadri Pärnamets, "Vase Yellow" & "Vase Blue", 2023, porcelain, slip, glaze, ~9 x 6 x 6" (each). Photo by John Polak Photography
Paul Scott, "Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Broken Treaties, Standing Rock, After Ryan Vizzions, with Mega Mae Plenty Chief, Lakota Oyate on horseback, No. 3", 2022, transfer print collage on Wm Penn's Treaty transferware plate by Thomas Goodwin c.1835, 10.5 x 10.5 x 1.25". Red, blue, and white transferware plate, with updated decal imagery of Standing Rock, ND. The imagery is of Mega Mae Plenty Chief, a Lakota Oyate on horseback, posed in front of the police and military present and opposing. They are the single figure if front of the entire army presence, signifying the resistance to drilling for oil in the US on Native American Lands. Subject matter for the artwork includes the following artist series: New American Scenery, Native American, Antique, Energy, Environment, Race, Indigeneity
Mark Shapiro, "Barrel 3, Barrel 2, Barrel 3", 2021, wood and salt fired with slip markings, 20.5 x 12 x 12", 23 x 12.5 x 12.5", 20.75 x 11.5 x 11.5". Photo by John Polak Photography.
Linda Sikora, "Vase & Box", 2022, stoneware, polychrome glaze, salt fire, 10 x 6.25 x 6.25"
Mara Superior, "Reproduction Rights", 2023, english porcelain, cobalt oxide, 24kt gold leaf, glaze, 9.5 x 13.75 x 2". Photo by John Polak.

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Chris Antemann

Russell Biles

Cristina Cordova

Raymon Elozua

Sin-ying Ho

Sergei Isupov

Steven Young Lee

Courtney M. Leonard

Beth Lipman

Lauren Mabry

Crystal Morey

Kadri Parnamets

Peter Pincus

Paul Scott

Mark Shapiro

Linda Sikora

Bobby Silverman

Rae Stern

Mara Superior

Jason Walker

Kurt Weiser

ANTEMANN 2003 - Present

  • 2003 : Chris Antemann began exhibiting with Ferrin Gallery at the SOFA, NY Art Fairs
  • “Are We There Yet?” : Marks 20 years of showing with the gallery
  • “An Occasion to Gather”, & “A Stage for Dessert” produced in 2021-2022 are major works currently on view in museum exhibitions
  • “Lovers Vase in Blue” from a series produced in 2023 from her studio located in Joseph, OR

CHRIS ANTEMANN

BILES 2003 - Present

RUSSELL BILES

CÓRDOVA 2013 - Present

  • 2013 : Cristina Córdova began exhibiting with Ferrin Contemporary in “Ceramic Top 40” touring exhibition
  • “Are We There Yet?” : Marks 10 years of showing with the gallery
  • Cristina’s solo show “CRISTINA CÓRDOVA: Del balcĂłn” debuts at Ferrin in 2018
  • “EVA XV”: Among over 60 Artworks Handled or Documented by the gallery

 

CRISTINA CÓRDOVA

ELOZUA 2000 - Present

  • (c. 2003) Raymon Elozua began exhibiting with Ferrin Gallery at the SOFA, NY Art Fairs
  • (2000) “Are We There Yet?” : Marks 23 years showing with the gallery first in “TEAPOTS TRANSFORMED” 
  • (2015) Raymon Elozua showed work from his “Digital Sculpture: Word” Series produced in 2001, in the group exhibition “GLAZED & DIFFUSED”
  • (2023) Work on display in AWTY includes “Digital Sculpture: Hubris: IMF-02” from his HUBRIS (2010-2016) produced in his studio in Mountaindale, NY

 

 

RAYMON ELOZUA

SIN YING HO 2014 - Present

  • (2014) Sin Ying Ho began exhibiting with Ferrin Contemporary in “MADE IN CHINA: THE NEW EXPORT WARE”, at Independent Art Projects, North Adams, MA
  • “Are We There Yet?” Marks 9 years of showing with the gallery, on display is “Made in the Postmodern Era series No. 1”
  • “In the Dream of Hope No. 1”, & “One World, Many Peoples, No. 2” are the largest works exhibited by Ferrin in US
  • (2006-Present) Ho has taught and run workshops, lectures, and exhibitions all across North America & China and is Assistant Professor at Queens College, NY

SIN-YING HO

ISUPOV 1996 - Present

  • (1996) Sergei Isupov began exhibiting with Leslie Ferrin in Richmond, VA
  • “Are We There Yet?” Marks 27 years of showing with the gallery, on display is “Burden II”, “Puppeteer”, & “Game Changer” as well as works available from private collections including “Voice from Inside” (1997), “Complacency” (1998), & “Chain” (1999)
  • Isupov speaks in depth about Ukrainian artist family in interviews : THE WORLD & Tales of a Red Clay Rambler
  • (2022) “SERGEI ISUPOV: Past & Present” is Isupov’s 10th solo exhibition

SERGEI ISUPOV

LEE 2013 - Present

  • (2013) Steven Young Lee began exhibiting with Ferrin Contemporary in “CERAMIC TOP 40”
  • (2014-2015) Lee exhibits “Vase with Peonies” in the group exhibition “GLAZED & DIFFUSED”
  • “Are We There Yet?” Marks 10 years of showing with the gallery
  • Steven Young Lee is both an artist and arts administrator, serving as the Resident Artist Director of the Bray for 15 years and is currently the Director Emeritus and Special Projects Manager
  • “Jar with Butterflies”, shown in AWTY, was originally shown in “Covet” in 2012 at the gallery’s location in Pittsfield, MA, and is available from a private collection.

STEVEN YOUNG LEE

LEONARD 2021 - Present

  • (2021) Courtney M. Leonard began exhibiting with Ferrin Contemporary in 2021 in “Melting Point”
  • (2023) “Are We There Yet?” Marks 2 years showing with the gallery, work on display in AWTY includes pieces from Leonard’s CONVOKE Series produced in 2021
  • (2023) COURTNEY M. LEONARD: Logbook 2004-2023 at The Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY is Leonard’s most recent solo exhibition paired with a public art installation at Planting Fields Foundation.

COURTNEY M. LEONARD

LIPMAN 2018 - Present

BETH LIPMAN

Mabry 2014 - Present

  • (2014) Lauren Mabry began exhibiting with Ferrin Contemporary in the “Ceramic Top 40”
  • (2015) Mabry’s signature-glazed cylinders shown in the 2015 group exhibition “GLAZED & DIFFUSED”
  • “Are We There Yet?” Marks 9 years showing with the gallery, featuring the artist’s Glazescape Cave Bloom Series
  • (2019) Lauren Mabry’s first solo show at the gallery, titled “LAUREN MABRY: Fused” debuted ‘dimensional paintings’ that explored the transformative nature of clay.
  • (2023+) Mabry’s Scrap Yard series produced as part of a fundraiser for her new studio, under construction in the Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia, PA

LAUREN MABRY

MOREY 2014 - Present

  • (2014) Crystal Morey began exhibiting with Ferrin Contemporary in 2017 in “The Women”
  • “Are We There Yet?” Marks 6 years showing with the gallery, focusing on works depicting endangered or extinct creatures and the biodiversity found in their habitats.
  • (2019) Crystal Morey’s first solo show at the gallery, titled “CRYSTAL MOREY: Venus on the Waves”, displayed sculptures that narrated the interdependence between humans, plants, and animals while cultivating empathy for our changing world.
  • “Replanting: White Rhino Airlift” (2020), on display in AWTY, was produced in the artist’s Oakland, CA Studio

CRYSTAL MOREY

PÄRNAMETS 2008 - Present

  • (2008) Kadri Pärnamets started exhibiting at Ferrin Contemporary in “ANDRODGYNY”, at the gallery’s Pittsfield location
  • (2022-2023) Pärnamets’ latest solo with the gallery, “CHOREOGRAPHY OF WATER”, displays her signature biomorphic vases and hundreds of cups
  • “Are We There Yet?” marks 15 years with the gallery. Work on display in AWTY includes hand-built cups and vases and her “Frame of Mind” series, a collection of small, thought-bubble-shaped figures.
  • She shares a studio with her partner, Sergei Isupov, at Project Art in Cummington, MA where she produces her sculptural work and teaches clay classes to the community

KADRI PÄRNAMETS

Pincus 2015 - Present

  • (2015) Peter Pincus started exhibition at Ferrin Contemporary in the 2015 group exhibition “GLAZED & DIFFUSED”
  • (2018) Pincus’s first solo exhibition with Ferrin, “Channeling Josiah Wedgwood” was a result of direct research into the extensive collection at the Birmingham Museum of Art that informed a series of complex forms based on urns and challices. 
  • (2020) Pincu’s second solo exhibition with Ferrin, “Art in the Age of Influence: Peter Pincus | Sol LeWitt” began with a series of premises based on the color theories and conceptual instructions of Sol LeWitt inspired by wall drawings
  • (2023) “Are We There Yet?” marks 8 years with the gallery. Work on display in AWTY includes brand new work of vase forms: “Amphora (Blue & Yellow)”, “Pitcher (White)”, “Vase (Gray & Gold Rim)”, “Amphora Pitcher (Tall Gray & Brown Rim/Handle)”.

PETER PINCUS

Scott 2013 - Present

  • (2013) Paul Scott began exhibiting with Ferrin Contemporary in the New York Ceramics and Glass Art Fairs
  • (2013) Scott’s first piece shown was “Cumbrian Blue(s), Sellafield No: 9”, a transfer print collage on Royal Worcester bone china platter with gold luster
  • “Are We There Yet?” marks 10 years with the gallery. Work on display in AWTY includes “Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Posy Vases, Set of Five” which feature decal images from Paul’s 5 primary series which examine themes or ongoing crises in the United States.
  • (2012-2019) With his primary studio in Cumbria, UK, Paul Scott was also a resident artist at Project Art in Cummington,MA
  • (2023+) Scott’s extensive body of work called “New American Scenery”, currently touring in the US & England in multiple locations

PAUL SCOTT

SHAPIRO 2000 - Present

  • (1986) Mark Shapiro moves to Western Massachusetts to begin Stonepool Pottery in Worthington, MA, creating artwork and presenting workshops in his studio and at Project Art in Cummington, MA. 
  • (2000) “Are We There Yet?” marks 23 years showing with the gallery, first in “TEAPOTS TRANSFORMED” & at Ferrin Gallery’s multiple locations
  • (2006) Mark founded the Hilltown Six Pottery Tour with five other area potters. The pottery tour is in its 17th year, and runs the last week every July.
  • Shapiro has been instrumental in mentorship and legacy projects, including working with apprentices (Apprenticelines), museums, and his local community in programs like POW (Pots on Wheels) a mobile gallery/project space

MARK SHAPIRO

SIKORA 2000 - Present

  • (2000) Linda Sikora began exhibiting with Ferrin Gallery at the SOFA, NY Art Fairs
  • (2020) Nature/Nurture group exhibition at Ferrin Contemporary presented her first conceptual artwork with Ferrin Contemporary: “Faux Wood Ground”, (produced in 2014-18)
  • (2021) Selections from “Faux Wood Group”, 2021, are acquired by Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
  • In addition to exhibiting with Ferrin Contemporary for 23 years, Linda Sikora is a Professor of Ceramic Art at Alfred University in Alfred, NY. 
  • (2023) “Are We There Yet?” presents works from her Wood Grain, Blackware, & Redware series first shown in her recent solo exhibition “Linda Sikora: DARKENING GROUND”

 

LINDA SIKORA

SILVERMAN 2001 - Present

  • (2001) Bobby Silverman began exhibiting with Ferrin Galley in the SOFA, New York Art Fairs
  • (2014) Silverman exhibited in “MADE IN CHINA: THE NEW EXPORT WARE”, Ferrin Contemporary at Independent Art Projects, North Adams, MA
  • In addition to exhibiting with Ferrin Contemporary for 22 years, Bobby also serves as the head of the Ceramics Department at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, where he lives and works.
  • (2021) Silverman presents his brilliantly-glazed, large-scale porcelain tiles which begin as raw clay in China, where ceramic tradition dates back hundreds of years in “Melting Point”, at Ferrin Contemporary (MA) & The Heller Gallery (NY)
  • (2023) “Are We There Yet?”, includes Silverman’s new work & signature glazed tiles and vases
  • In addition to exhibiting with Ferrin Contemporary for 22 years, Bobby also serves as the head of the Ceramics Department at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, where he lives and works.

BOBBY SILVERMAN

STERN 2014 - Present

  • (2014) Rae Stern began exhibiting with Ferrin Contemporary in the “Ceramic Top 40”
  • (2020) Stern presents “Steve Sherry: Not Old Friends But Good Friends”at Ferrin Contemporary in Nature/Nurture group exhibition
  • (2023) “ARE WE THERE YET” marks 9 years with Ferrin Contemporary. Her work, “A Fugal Arrangement (set of 7 pieces of furniture & 14 lithophanes)” is currently being shown virtually in the exhibition. 
  • Stern’s recent porcelain objects light up from within upon touch and expose hidden lithophanes. The images depicted often portray daily scenes from both her personal archive and through community outreach to people who suffered persecution during WWII.

RAE STERN

SUPERIOR 1979 - Present

  • (1979) Mara Superior was a founding partner of Pinch Pottery with Barbara Walch, Leslie Ferrin in Northampton, MA 
  • (1980-93) “Are We There Yet?” Marks 43 years showing with the gallery, “A Tea Party” was among Superior’s first shows at Ferrin Gallery, Northampton, MA 
  • (2002) Superior’s first solo exhibition with Ferrin Gallery “Souvenirs D’Italia, Ferrin” opened at the gallery’s Lenox, MA location
  • (2020) Nature/Nurture group exhibition at Ferrin Contemporary presented “Only One Planet Earth” & “2020/USA/Vote/America” from the artist’s Political & Environmental Series
  • (2023) “Reproduction Rights” (2023) on display in AWTY was produced in the artist’s Hadley, MA studio

MARA SUPERIOR

WALKER 2004 - Present

  • (c. 2004) Jason Walker began exhibiting with Ferrin Gallery at the SOFA Chicago Art Fairs
  • (2005) Walker began exhibiting with Ferrin Gallery in “The Navigators: Art + Science + History + Travel” exhibition at the gallery’s Lenox, MA location
  • “Are We There Yet?” Marks 19 years showing with the gallery
  • (2019) “JASON WALKER: Personal Encounters” solo exhibition at Ferrin Contemporary presented a body of work that questions our inter-dependent relationship to nature and technology
  • (2023) “Double Vision” (2022) on display in AWTY was produced in the artist’s Cedar City, UT studio

 

JASON WALKER

WEISER 2000 - Present

  • (2000) “Are We There Yet?” Marks 23 years showing with the gallery, first in “TEAPOTS TRANSFORMED” 
  • (2010) Kurt Weiser began exhibiting with Ferrin Gallery in “Re-Objectification”, an exhibition at the gallery’s Pittsfield, MA location
  • (2016) Weiser’s “Fruit Story” exhibited in “EXPOSED: Heads, Busts, & Nudes”
  • (2019-2020) “KURT WEISER: Insomnia” solo exhibition at Ferrin Contemporary featured ceramics as well as prints
  • (2023) “Bug Lesson” (1994) on display in AWTY, showcases Weiser’s signature china painting on works produced in the artist’s Phoenix, AZ studio

 

KURT WEISER

PRESS

ARE WE THERE YET? | PRESS RELEASE | 6.29.2023

ARE WE THERE YET? | FEATURED IN RURAL INTELLIGENCE | 7.10.2023

ARE WE THERE YET? | FEATURED IN THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE | 7.29.2023

ARE WE THERE YET? | FEATURED IN CERAMICS NOW | 8.5.2023

PROGRAMMING

Ferrin Contemporary, "Are We There Yet?", 2023, Exhibition Installation View with work by Chris Antemann, Cristina Córdova, Steven Young Lee, Courtney M. Leonard, Lauren Mabry, Kadri Pärnamets, Bobby Silverman, & Kurt Weiser, Photo by John Polak Photography

• EXHIBITION OPENS  •
Saturday, July 15th, 11 am – 5 pm

•   LUNCH  W/  LINDA  SIKORA  •
   Saturday, July 29th, 12 pm – 5 pm

hosted at Project Art, Cummington, MA
during the Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour

Leslie Ferrin, Gallery Portrait with artwork by Chris Antemann, Sergei Isupov, Lauren Mabry, 2023

• PUBLIC RECEPTION •
Thursday, August 3, 5 – 7 pm

ARE WE THERE YET? RECEPTION

THANK YOU to our friends, neighbors, collaborators, clients, artists, and family who traveled far and wide to attend the reception for our last exhibition in North Adams, ARE WE THERE YET? It was wonderful to celebrate with 70+ guests, many of whom have been a part of our Ferrin world throughout 40+ years.

FERRIN CONTEMPORARY TIMELINE

Click HERE to View
Ferrin Contemporary’s
developing Archive & Timeline

Are We There Yet? 2023, Chris Antemann, Sergei Isupov, Lauren Mabry
Ferrin Contemporary, "Are We There Yet?", 2023, Exhibition Installation View with work by Chris Antemann, Cristina Córdova, Steven Young Lee, Courtney M. Leonard, Lauren Mabry, Kadri Pärnamets, Bobby Silverman, & Kurt Weiser, Photo by John Polak Photography

INQUIRE

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

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

18
Mar
2022
CHRIS ANTEMANN: An Occasion to Gather

CHRIS ANTEMANN: An Occasion to Gather

CHRIS ANTEMANN

Hillwood Museum, Estate, & Gardens

In conjunction with the exhibition The Luxury of Clay: Porcelain Past and Present, organized by Rebecca Tilles, Curator of 18th-century Western European Art, a selection of contemporary ceramics by artist Chris Antemann can be viewed interspersed among the objects from Hillwood’s permanent collection in the dining and breakfast rooms on the first floor of the mansion. The installation is the fourth in a series of Hillwood collaborations with contemporary ceramicists including Eva Zeisel (2005), Bouke de Vries (2019), and Vladimir Kanevsky (2021). On view through June 26, 2022.

Chris Antemann, An Occasion to Gather, Hillwood Museum, 2021, photos courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens
Chris Antemann, An Occasion to Gather, Hillwood Museum, 2021
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, Hillwood Museum, 2021, 30” x 24” x 24″, photos courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, Hillwood Museum, 2021, 30” x 24” x 24″, photos courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens

Images courtesy of Hillwood & Ferrin Contemporary

WORKS ON VIEW

An Occasion to Gather

Installation at Hillwood Estate, Museum, & Gardens

“Chris Antemann’s elaborate porcelain centerpiece—depicting a host of partially clad revelers gathered around a table under an impressive porcelain temple—is a celebration of the eighteenth-century banqueting craze among European elites. Antemann takes inspiration from historical engravings and eighteenth-century Meissen centerpieces, including the Temple of Love, designed by Johann Joachim Kändler while the factory’s chief modeler.“

“Antemann’s playful porcelain fantasy revives the materials and methods used in the eighteenth century to produce figurines while presenting a new narrative invoking contemporary morality and relationships in the age-old matters of romance and seduction. The wares from Hillwood’s collection on the dining room table include porcelain from an elaborate dessert service made by the Jacob Petit manufactory in France around 1835 (acc. no. 24.120), French glassware dating to the 1700s (acc. nos. 23.312–315), and flatware made by François-Dominique Naudin in Paris around 1819 (acc. nos. 12.289, 2021.1). The linen tablecloth was made by the French firm D. Porthault, which generously gifted it to Hillwood in 2020.“

–Dr. Rebecca Tilles, Curator of 18th-century Western European Art, Hillwood Estate & Gardens

–Images courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, photographed by Erik Kvalsvik, & Ferrin Contemporary

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Chris Antemann, An Occasion to Gather, Hillwood Museum, 2021
Chris Antemann, An Occasion to Gather, Hillwood Museum, 2021
Chris Antemann, An Occasion to Gather, Hillwood Museum, 2021
Chris Antemann, An Occasion to Gather, Hillwood Museum, 2021, photos courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens
Chris Antemann, An Occasion to Gather, Hillwood Museum, 2021, photos courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens

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A Stage for Dessert

Installation at Hillwood Estate & Gardens

““An Occasion to Gather” Chris Antemann’s porcelain centerpiece, is filled with 18th-century style ceramic sweets, takes inspiration from the garden sculptures and eighteenth-century design of Hillwood’s French parterre. As with the dining room table display, here Antemann references eighteenth-century dining culture and the porcelain centerpieces commonly used as table decoration by European elites.“

In the adjacent breakfast room,

“Antemann integrates porcelain figures into her reconception of the French parterre. “I imagined what lives were like in the eighteenth century, what these figures would have been doing, what the collectors of these figures would have been doing,” she said. “My centerpiece is a seductive playground for the porcelain figure; they are not static on the base, but in the world, playing and enjoying the environment.” The tableware from Hillwood’s collection on the breakfast room table includes porcelain from a dessert service made by the Jacob Petit manufactory in France around 1835 (acc. no. 24.120), French glassware dating to the 1700s (acc. nos. 23.312–315), and porcelain and silver-gilt flatware made in Russia in the 1800s (acc. no. 25.479).“

–Dr. Rebecca Tilles, associate curator of 18th-century French and Western European Fine and decorative arts, Hillwood Estate & Gardens

–Images courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, photographed by Erik Kvalsvik

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Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, Hillwood Museum, 2021, 30” x 24” x 24″, photos courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, Hillwood Museum, 2021, 30” x 24” x 24″, photos courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, Hillwood Museum, 2021, 30” x 24” x 24″, photos courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens
Chris Antemann, A Stage for Dessert, Hillwood Museum, 2021, 30” x 24” x 24″, photos courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens

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Harbor (AP)

More on the Collaboration with MEISSEN  •  HERE  •

“I am fascinated by 18th-century porcelain figures and what made them so popular: a culture of ritual at the court, with its costumes, powdered wigs, painted faces, and that infatuation with banquets and the extremely complex way of presenting serving platters ‘à la française’ at feasts or receptions. I use the esthetic of those figurines, very modish in France at that time, to recount and parody the relationship between men and women in society or seduction.“

-Chris Antemann

Chris Antemann, Harbor, Meissen, 2019, 12.5 x 5 x 5”, image courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, photographed by Erik Kvalsvik
Chris Antemann, Harbor, back view, Meissen, 2019, 12.5 x 5 x 5”, image courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, photographed by Erik Kvalsvik

MORE ON CHRIS ANTEMANN

MORE ON CHRIS ANTEMANN

View More by Chris Antemann  •  HERE  •

Chris Antemann is known for work inspired by 18th-century porcelain figurines, employing a unity of design and concept to simultaneously examine and parody male and female relationship roles. Characters, themes, and incidents build upon each other, effectively forming their own language that speaks about domestic rites, social etiquette, and taboos. Themes from the classics and the romantics are given a contemporary edge; elaborate dinner parties, picnic luncheons, and ornamental gardens set the stage for her twisted tales to unfold.

Chris Antemann Portrait

AT MUSEUMS

DACHA & MANSION INSTALLATIONS

PAST PROGRAMMING

The allure of porcelain has beguiled collectors and others for centuries. Challenging as well as costly to produce, porcelain’s material qualities—impermeable, extremely hard, translucent, and a brilliant white—brought it great esteem early on. Porcelain originated in China, and the competition to manufacture it in Europe was fierce. European manufactories often appropriated designs from one another and recruited workers from their rivals with knowledge of the long-guarded formula.

The Luxury of Clay: Porcelain Past and Present traces the discovery and early history of porcelain in western Europe and Russia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries while also highlighting Marjorie Merriweather Posts’s interest in porcelain objects and the pieces she acquired. Juxtaposed to historical porcelain wares are a selection of contemporary ceramics taking cues from porcelain traditions and historical models from Europe and Asia.

Throughout the exhibition works by the contemporary artists and ceramists Cindy Sherman (b. 1954), Bouke de Vries (b. 1960) and Chris Antemann (b. 1971) underscore the continued inspiration and influence of historical porcelain on artists today.

The Luxury of Clay: Porcelain Past and Present

Hillwood Estate, Museum, & Gardens | Washington, D.C. 
Hillwood Estate & Gardens The Luxury of Clay Installation with Bouke de Vries
Hillwood Estate & Gardens The Luxury of Clay Installation with Bouke de Vries
Hillwood Estate & Gardens The Luxury of Clay Installation with Cindy Sherman
Hillwood Estate & Gardens The Luxury of Clay Installation with Cindy Sherman
Hillwood Estate & Gardens The Luxury of Clay Installation with Chris Antemann
Hillwood Estate & Gardens The Luxury of Clay Installation with Eva Zeisel

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Bouke de Vries, Memory Vessell, 2015, 9.8 x 6.7″, image courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, photographed by Erik Kvalsvik
Cindy Sherman, “Madame de Pompadour (nee Poisson)” Tureen, 1990, 14.5 x 22 x 11.75″
Eva Zeisel, “Pieces from the Talisman Service, Lomonosov Porcelain Factory”, 2001-2004, bone china, sizes variable.

PAST PROGRAMMING

The Luxury of Clay Lecture Series

Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens Related Programs

The Luxury of Clay Lecture Series

Explore stories behind porcelain past and present.

 

Conversation with Artist Chris Antemann

In this lecture celebrating the installation of two elaborate centerpieces in the dining and breakfast rooms as part of The Luxury of Clay: Porcelain Past and Present, artist Chris Antemann describes the development of her ceramic artwork inspired by eighteenth-century porcelain figures.

Virtual Artist Talk with Chris Antemann

 to 

In this lecture celebrating the installation of two elaborate centerpieces in the dining and breakfast rooms as part of The Luxury of Clay: Porcelain Past and Present, artist Chris Antemann describes the development of her ceramic artwork inspired by eighteenth-century porcelain figures. She will discuss how she drew inspiration from Hillwood’s French parterre, porcelain collection, and interiors, as well as many other sources for her sculptural tableaux and complex process of constructing them. Learn how Chris crafts new narratives from historical forms, informed by her ten-year collaboration on unique and limited edition artworks with MEISSEN, Europe’s oldest porcelain manufactory.

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“The Porcelain Sickness” in the Gilded Age

Rebecca Tilles, curator, explores the porcelain collections of Consuelo Vanderbilt (1877-1964), Anna Thompson Dodge (1871-1970), and Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973), Hillwood’s founder.

“The Porcelain Sickness” in the Gilded Age

 to 

La Maladie de Porcelain: The Porcelain Collections of Consuelo Vanderbilt, Anna Thompson Dodge, and Marjorie Merriweather Post

This lecture will explore the porcelain collections of Consuelo Vanderbilt (1877-1964), the original American “Dollar Heiress”; Anna Thompson Dodge (1871-1970), heiress to one of America’s great automotive fortunes; and businesswoman, collector, and philanthropist Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973), while placing Post in the context of these two contemporary female collectors and society figures of the day. All three women decorated multiple residences with eighteenth-century furnishings and each had a passion for porcelain. Vanderbilt served as a particularly relevant collecting model for Post who owned eighteenth-century French decorative arts from Vanderbilt’s collection, including an important Vincennes porcelain tureen and platter featured in The Luxury of Clay: Porcelain Past and Present. 

ADDITIONAL DETAILS
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VIDEOS

VIDEOS FEATURING CHRIS ANTEMANN

The Luxury of Clay Lecture Series
“The Porcelain Sickness” in the Gilded Age with Rebecca Tilles

Rebecca Tilles, curator, explores the porcelain collections of Consuelo Vanderbilt (1877-1964), Anna Thompson Dodge (1871-1970), and Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973), Hillwood’s founder.

The Luxury of Clay Lecture Series
Conversation with Artist Chris Antemann

In this lecture celebrating the installation of two elaborate centerpieces in the dining and breakfast rooms as part of “The Luxury of Clay: Porcelain Past and Present,” artist Chris Antemann describes the development of her ceramic artwork inspired by eighteenth-century porcelain figures. She will discuss how she drew inspiration from Hillwood’s French parterre, porcelain collection, and interiors, as well as many other sources for her sculptural tableaux and complex process of constructing them. Learn how Chris crafts new narratives from historical forms, informed by her ten-year collaboration on unique and limited edition artworks with MEISSEN, Europe’s oldest porcelain manufactory.