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: Kurt Weiser

May

2017

NEW BLUE AND WHITE

Discover contemporary interpretations of blue-and-white ceramics

“sumptuous, conceptually elegant show”—The Boston Globe

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Exhibition of works by 37 artists, pairs or collectives curated by Emily Zilber, Wornick Curator of Contemporary Decorative Arts, presented with generous support from The Wornick Fund for Contemporary Craft.

“Blue and white” means, at its simplest, cobalt pigment applied to white clay. Over the course of a millennium, blue-and-white porcelain has become one of the most recognized types of ceramic production worldwide. With roots in the Islamic world and Asia, and strong presence in Europe and the Americas, various cultures adapted blue-and-white, from the Willow pattern to isznik. Taking inspiration from global blue-and-white traditions, today’s artists continue the story, creating works that speak to contemporary ideas. They tackle diverse issues, ranging from the public (the political landscape, cross-cultural interchange), to the personal (family, memory, the act of collecting), to the aesthetic (abstraction, pattern, the role of decoration). “New Blue and White” explores the ways in which contemporary makers, working in ceramics as well as other media ranging from fiber to furniture to glass, have explored this rich body of material culture. An international selection of artists and designers is featured in the exhibition, and recent acquisitions of work by the ceramic sculptor Chris Antemann and fashion designers Rodarte are drawn from the MFA’s own collection.

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

For more information and available works by gallery artists featured in the exhibition view profiles below:

Robin Best
Stephen Bowers
Claire Curneen
Michelle Erickson
Molly Hatch
Giselle Hicks
Paul Scott
Adam Shiverdecker
Vipoo Srivilasa
Steven Young Lee
Kurt Weiser

PAST PROGRAMMING

MEET ME AT… New Blue and White | Boston, MA
July 9 – 10
Artist: Robin Best
Visiting Artist Lecture and Behind-the-Scenes private tours with artists and curators

Tuesday, July 9
3 – 4:30 Harvard Museum of Natural Sciences, Blaschka Flowers and Minerals with curator Ethan Lasser

5:30 – 6:30 Artist talk with Robin Best at the Ceramics Program – Office for the Arts at Harvard

Dinner TBA

Wednesday, July 10

10 – 12:00 Michael Lin Freeport Project | Peabody Essex Museum with curators, Trevor Smith and Dean Lahikainen

2:00 – 4:00 New Blue and White | Museum of Fine Arts with curator Emily Zilber

FEATURED ARTISTS

CHRIS ANTEMANN

Chris Antemann, “The Collector”, 2011, porcelain, china paint, decals, 19 x 13 x 10″. Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.

Chris Antemann, “The Collector”, 2011, detail, porcelain, china paint, decals, 19 x 13 x 10″. Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.

ROBIN BEST

Robin Best, “The British East India Company – Trade and War”, 2012, cast translucent white porcelain, on-glaze painting, silver foil, 12 x 41.25 x 4.25″

STEPHEN BOWERS

Stephen Bowers, “Explorers’ Skulls” 2010, slip cast, oxide stains, underglaze, 5.25″

CLAIRE CURNEEN

Claire Curneen, “Blue” 2013, porcelain, cobalt, gold luste, 24 x 21 x 6″.

Claire Curneen, “Blue”, 2013, Porcelain, cobalt blue, gold luster, 24 x 21 x 6″

GISELLE HICKS

Giselle Hicks, “And Then It Was Still II” 2012, detail, vitreous china porcelain, wood, 48 x 60 x 24″

Giselle Hicks, “And Then It Was Still II” 2012, detail, vitreous china porcelain,wood, 48 x 60 x 24″

Giselle Hicks, “And Then It Was Still II” 2012, detail, vitreous china porcelain,wood, 18 x 12 x 2″

PAUL SCOTT

Paul Scott, “Cumbrian Blue(s) – Spode Works Closed, Italian Blue, 03/10/09/09l,” 2013, in-glaze decal, gold lustre on small Spode casserole, (marked Made in Portugal) salvaged from the kiln area in the closed Spode factory 07/09, 3.5 x 9 x 11.25″. Rhode Island School of Design Collection.

Paul Scott, “Cumbrian Blue(s) – The Hartlepool Ghost Ships” 2013, in-glaze decal, gold lustre on bone china plate, 12″ diameter

Paul Scott, “Cumbrian Blue(s) – A Willow for Ai Weiwei, Wen Tao, Liu Zhenggang, Zhang Jinsong, Hu Mingfen” 2012, in-glaze decals on partially erased Willow Pattern platter (c.1840), 13.75 x 17″.

VIPOO SRIVLIASA

Vipoo Srivilasa, “Four Elements Containers”, 2012, ceramic, silver, glass, 8 x 12 x 10″

Vipoo Srivilasa, “Four Elements Containers” 2012, ceramic, silver, glass, 8 x 12 x 10″.

KURT WEISER

Kurt Weiser, “Chinese Cubist II” 2013, porcelain, 22 x 10 x 10″

Kurt Weiser, “Chinese Cubist I” 2013, porcelain, 22 x 10 x 10″.

Kurt Weiser, “Chinese Cubist II” 2013, porcelain, 22 x 10 x 10″

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”.