What types of art do you specialize in?

We specialize in contemporary ceramics from the 1950s onward, including clay and porcelain sculptures.

Do you offer collection services?

Yes, we work with private collectors and artist archives to organize, document, and appraise ceramic art collections for deacquisition or placement.

Can you help with exhibition development?

Absolutely, we collaborate with museums and cultural institutions to develop and present ceramic art exhibitions.

Do you provide touring programs?

Yes, we curate and organize touring exhibitions for contemporary ceramic artists.

What are legacy projects?

Legacy projects include customized services for artists, such as retrospective catalogs, exhibitions, and museum acquisitions.

Project Tag: Dorothy Hafner Past

Oct

2017

THE WOMEN

Oct 28, 2017 – Apr 21, 2018

Ferrin Contemporary
1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA

Click here for details.

Works on view include recent pieces by women whose primary medium is clay and selected works from private and artist archives by female potters and sculptors.

The Women provides Ferrin Contemporary an opportunity to highlight the range of work by women artists affiliated with the gallery program who are known for their work in ceramics.

Director Leslie Ferrin, a life long advocate for women in ceramics reflects on this moment, “It is gratifying to witness the attention to gender issues taking place throughout society. These same forces are fueling the interest in examining and bringing recognition to the overlooked contributions of women to postwar visual arts. Many of our collectors who brought a female perspective to building their collections are contributing to the public dialog by acquiring new works and making gifts to institutions. Museums are responding by offering exhibition opportunities, site specific commissions and adding to permanent collections to fill in gaps. It is an exciting time to see these changes taking place and being able to participate in the process.”

Ceramic Art and Figural Sculpture

Robin Best
Christie Brown
Caroline Cheng
Cristina Córdova
Claire Curneen
Ruth Duckworth
Viola Frey
Giselle Hicks
Coille McLaughlin Hooven
Crystal Morey
Kadri Pärnamets
Elsa Rady
Caroline Slotte
Mara Superior
Toshiko Takaezu
Susan Thayer
Patti Warashina
Beatrice Wood
Elizabeth (Betty) Woodman

Studio Pottery and Design*
Works by
Laura Andreson
Dorothy Hafner
Karen Karnes
Jenny Mendez
Linda Sikora
*available in Ferrin Contemporary square shop

Robin Best, “The Knight of the Lions,” 2016, porcelain with on-glaze Xin Cai, 14.125 x 7.875 x 10.25″.

Christie Brown, “Ghost Portrait” 2015, ceramic, 19 x 10 x 9″.

Caroline Cheng, “Prosperity V” 2007, porcelain, fabric, 71 x 71″.

Claire Curneen, “Mary Magdalene” 2013, porcelain, gold lustre, 22.5″.

Viola Frey, “Untitled Platter”, 1982, earthenware, slip, glaze, 25″. photo: John Polak (Pennington)

Dorothy Hafner, “Teapot, Sugar, Creamer” 1988, porcelain, underglaze.

Coille Hooven, “Second Skin” 1986, stoneware, 14.75 x 6.5 x 5.5″.

Crystal Morey, “New Symbiosis: Pronghorn” 2017, porcelain, 10.5 x 6 x 4.5″.

Kadri Pärnamets, “Question of Honor — Lucretia, after Lucas Cranach the Elder, porcelain, slip, glaze, 11 x 10.5 x 5”. photo: John Polak

Elsa Rady, “Four Zig Wings”, private collection

Mara Superior, “Mother Nature Says, ‘Wake Up'” 2010, porcelain, glaze, wood, pearls, gold leaf, 17 x 22 x 2″.

Susan Thayer, “Return” 2016, teapot: porcelain, china paint, glazebase: lowfire stoneware, slip, 16 x 9 x 5″.

Patti Warashina, “Beating the Housewife Blues” 1977, white earthenware, glaze, 24 x 16 x 13.75″.

Beatrice Wood, “Not Married” 1965, clay, glaze, 16 x 17 x 13″.

Betty Woodman, “Planter” ceramic, glaze, 27 x 5.5 x 8.5″.

“The Women” at Ferrin Contemporary in North Adams, MA. Work by Beatrice Wood pictured.

“The Women” at Ferrin Contemporary in North Adams, MA. Work by Kadri Pärnamets pictured.

“The Women” at Ferrin Contemporary in North Adams, MA. Work by Mara Superior pictured.

“The Women” at Ferrin Contemporary in North Adams, MA. Work by Robin Best pictured.

“The Women” at Ferrin Contemporary in North Adams, MA. Work by Cristina Córdova pictured.

“The Women” at Ferrin Contemporary in North Adams, MA. Work by Kadri Pärnamets pictured.

“The Women” at Ferrin Contemporary in North Adams, MA. Work by Caroline Slotte and Claire Curneen pictured.

The Women

Ferrin Contemporary presents selected works by women artists whose primary medium is clay. On view in the gallery and online, we introduce new works by emerging and established artists along with masterworks available from private collections and artist archives.

STUDIO POTTER: WOMEN IN CERAMICS

Winter/Spring 2017
Women in Ceramics Vol. 45 No. 1

In this issue: nine essays remembering the life of Karen Karnes, a deep investigation of the legacy of women in wood-firing, several narratives about artists’ personal journeys in clay, essays on the lives of California artist Ruth Rippon and Swedish artist Hertha Hillfon, a dynamic discussion of contemporary motherhood, international perspectives from Canada, the United Kingdom, Turkey, and India, a look at fourth-wave feminism, and more.

Click for info on Studio Potter.

Click to request complimentary issue online.

“Ruth Rippon, Her Story”
by Nancy M. Servis

Rippon’s artistic production is extensive and leaves an indelible mark on the artistic landscape of Northern California. … The breadth of her work mirrors the artist herself: technically accomplished, experimental, conceptually grounded, and quietly emotive.

Click here for more.

Artist Salon – Nancy M. Servis
Wednesday, November 8
at 6–8:30 pm

Project Art
54 Main St, Cummington, Massachusetts 01026

Join visiting scholar, Nancy M. Servis, from Sacramento, California, for an image-illustrated presentation ‘State of Clay: Bay Area Ceramics,’ followed by a potluck at Project Art.

From pottery to sculptural expression, Servis unveils the dynamic variety of ceramics found in Northern California. Long recognized as a vital and populous state with extensive clay deposits, California has been the home of refined vessel-makers and artistic rule-breakers for over 75 years, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Her lecture contextualizes clay’s extensive use that includes stylistic architecture in Oakland, impassioned potters like Antonio Prieto and Marguerite Wildenhain from the 1950s, and unabashed practitioners like Peter Voulkos and Robert Arneson. They along with select others like Viola Frey, Ruth Rippon, and Ron Nagle laid Nancy Servis’ groundwork for what exists today – a population of fine artist-makers whose work coexists with those who embrace sculpture or even defy ceramic tradition.

Nancy is a recognized art historian, gallerist, and author. She has served as curator, educator and arts administrator in the greater San Francisco Bay Area for over twenty years.

Click for facebook page.

May

2014

THE NEW YORK CERAMICS AND GLASS FAIR 2014

January 22–26, 2014
Bohemian National Hall, NYC, NY
321 East 73rd Street (Between 1st & 2nd Avenues)

The Bacchanalistas: Passions + Pleasure

This entertaining on site exhibition curated by Leslie Ferrin spotlights the seductive side of historic and modern ceramics and glass objects curated from selected objects from contemporary and antique dealers participating at the fair.

On Saturday, January 25 at 4pm, Leslie Ferrin will present an overview of The Bacchanalistas: Passions + Pleasure. Her lecture will explore contemporary ceramics by living artists whose art practice draws inspiration from ceramic history. Themes of passion, eroticism, sexuality, abundance and excess of food and wine will be shown through figural sculpture, animated painted vessels and still life. Earlier, at 2pm, Robert Hunter, editor or Ceramics in America, will present Angels and Demons: The Pleasures of Pottery and Porcelain. Click here for full lecture schedule.

Paul Scott: New American Scenery
During his recent residencies, lecture tour, and travels in the US, Scott gathered and created a new series, American Scenery, inspired by his travels, observation, and research into American landscape painting, prints, and the subsequent use of those images on ceramic transfer ware. Knowledge drawn from behind-the-scenes tours at museums and collections throughout the North East influences this new work where Scott has applied prints he produced in the USA onto rescued, cast off ceramic plates from the 19th and early 20th centuries. His work tells stories that explore the unexpected movement of images through materials, media, cultures, politics, histories, and geographies, inviting us to see a whole group of objects in a new way.

Contemporary Ceramics
On exhibit will be new work by contemporary ceramic artists Robin Best, Guy Michael Davis, Leopold Foulem, Giselle Hicks, Sergei Isupov, Katie Parker, Mara Superior, and Kurt Weiser.

Teapots
From utilitarian to conceptual, selected teapots by contemporary artists from studios and private collections, circa 1900 to the present.

EVENTS
New York Ceramics Fair | 2014 LECTURE SERIES
The lecture program, free with show admission, is sponsored by the Chipstone Foundation. Click here for full lecture schedule.

Click here to download and print your free admission ticket to New York Ceramics Fair | 2014.

MORE …

Robin Best, “The Travels of William Bartram”, 2014, porcelain, onglaze ‘xin cai’ painting, 7.75 x 3.75″

Robin Best, “The Travels of William Bartram” (detail), 2014, porcelain, onglaze ‘xin cai’ painting, 7.75 x 3.75″

Robin Best, “The Wallace Line”, 2013, porcelain, onglaze, 8 x 4″

Stephen Bird, “Persian Blue Shoot Out” 2012, earthenware, pigment, glaze, 15.75 x 19.75″. Courtesy Garis and Hahn Gallery.

Stephen Bird, “Nice Banana”, 2012, clay, pigment, glaze, 10.6″.

Stephen Bird, “Adam and Eve”, 2012, clay, pigment, glaze, 10.5 x 10.5″

Leopold Foulem, “Trio Flower Patch”, 2012, ceramic and found objects, 20 x 15.25 x 8.5″

Leopold Foulem, Still Life with “Mille Fleurs”, 2011-2012, ceramic and found object, 10.75 x 8.5 x 7.5″

Leopold Foulem, “Boy with Cape on Empire Style Stand” 2012, ceramic, found object, decal, gold luster, 16.5 x 5 x 4.5″. Courtesy of David Kaye Gallery

Future Retrieval: Katie Parker & Guy Michael, “Don’t Tread”, 2009, porcelain, 14 x 12 x 10″

Future Retrieval: Katie Parker & Guy Michael, “Hold ‘Em”, 2012, porcelain underglaze transfer, china paint, 12 x 8 x 8.5″

Future Retrieval: Guy Michael Davis and Katie Parker, “Grand Theft Lion” 2013, Future Retrieval: Guy Michael Davis and Katie Parker, “Grand Theft Lion” 2013, porcelain, china paint, grammertry, rapid prototying, 11 x 14 x 7″.

Sergei Isupov, “Cinderella”, 2013, porcelain, glaze, stain, 6.5 x 10 x 5.5″.

Sergei Isupov, “Velvet”, 2013, porcelain, glaze, stain, 15.75 x 8 x 6″

Sergei Isupov, “The Hero’s Mother”, 2012, porcelain, glaze, stain, 8.5 x 12 x 4″

Howard Kottler, “Virgin Spring”, c. 1967, porcelain, decals, lustre, 10″

Howard Kottler, “Colonial Rockettes” c. 1967, porcelain, decals, lustre, 10″

Howard Kottler, “Calico Chinoisere”, c. 1967, porcelain, decals, glaze, 10″

Kadri Pärnamets, “Picnic Teapot”, 2014, porcelain, glaze, stain, 7.5 x 10.25 x 4″

Kadri Pärnamets, “La Grande Odalisque Teapot”, 2014, porcelain, glaze, stain, 6.5 x 11 x 5″

Kadri Pärnamets, “Picnic”, 2014, porcelain, glaze, stain, 7.5 x 10.25 x 4″.

Rae’ut Stern and Aya Margulis, Doda Designs, “p0rn Plate” from Web Souvenirs, 2010, slip cast, white earthenware, clear glaze, 10.5″

Doda Design: Aya Margulis & Rae’ut Stern, “Web Souvenirs” 2010-2013, earthenware, under glaze, glaze, gold luster, digital print, 148 x 42″.

Doda Design: Aya Margulis and Rae’ut Stern, “Web Souvenirs” 2010-2013, earthenware, under glaze, glaze, gold luster, digital print, 148 x 42″.

Paul Scott, “Cumbrian Blue(s), American Scenery, Hudson River, Indian Point No. 2″ 2013, inglaze decal collage, gold luster on KT&K S–V China (Knowles Taylor and Knowles, Liverpool, Ohio) platter, c. 1920, 7 x 10”.

Paul Scott, “Cumbrian Blue(s), American Scenery, Windturbine No. 1″ 2013, Inglaze decal collage, gold luster on Johnson Bros Late Pankurst Co., Ironstone platter c. 1890, 8.75 x 12 x 1”.