ABOUT NEW AMERICAN SCENERY
Exhibiting internationally since 2019
EXHIBITION OBJECTIVE
Initially guided by the images depicted in the historic transferware, Paul traveled to cities, explored natural landscapes, met collaborators, and produced a body of work now known as PAUL SCOTT: New American Scenery. First shown in the newly renovated porcelain room at RISD Museum curated by Elizabeth Williams, the exhibition traveled next to Albany Institute of History & Art in 2022 and selected works featured in exhibitions at other locations in both the USA and UK and four open now in the USA.
EXHIBITION DESCRIPTION
In New American Scenery, Scott scrutinizes the American landscape from a contemporary perspective, one that grapples with issues of globalization, energy generation and consumption, capitalism, social justice, immigration, and the human impact on the environment. The images that Scott creates for his ceramics depict unsettling views of nuclear power plants, aging urban centers, abandoned industrial sites, wildfires, and isolating walls. As representations of the American landscape, they suggest a subversion of the picturesque aesthetic—the unpicturesque picturesque—and a new, disturbing norm.
Paul Scott is a leading figure in the international field of ceramics and print. He is known for his manipulation of transfer-printed designs on factory-made domestic tablewares, which thus become vehicles for socio-political commentary. New American Scenery is permeated with his response to the ‘American’ transfer-printed tablewares that were produced in Staffordshire during the first part of the nineteenth century, exclusively for export to America. They have a common format of a central motif framed within an ornamental border and are decorated with imagery that celebrates the new republic. Scott’s New American Scenery work often maintains the same traditional format, while his surface imagery highlights a range of contemporary themes and issues. On the reverse of each piece can be found his maker’s mark, information about the printed edition to which it belongs and his signature; several pieces also offer substantial narrative accounts of the subjects depicted.
Paul Scott: New American Scenery, was made possible by an Artist In Residence grant from the Alturas Foundation, with additional support from Ferrin Contemporary, RISD Museum, Arts Council England, and Albany Institute of History & Art.
EXHIBITION SPECS
EXHIBITION TYPE
- Solo exhibition
KEY TOPICS
- American history
- Environmental
- Critique
TARGET INSTITUTION
- Historic Institution/home
- Museums with historic collection
DURATION | DISPLAY | COSTS & FEES
DURATION OPTIONS
- RUN TIME 5–12 months
- ARTIST CONTRACT DURATION (length of loan): 7-15 months
SPACE/DISPLAY REQUIREMENTS
- REQUIRED DISPLAY TOOLS dependent on location
COSTS & FEES
- EXHIBITION FEES variable by exhibition location
- SHIPPING/LENDING FEES variable by exhibition location
- INSURANCE COVERAGE variable by exhibition location
EVENT OPPORTUNITIES
- OPENING/CLOSING RECEPTIONS – select artist/curator talks
- MEET THE ARTIST – Paul Scott available on-site to speak about his work and how it relates to historic content in conversation.
PRESS
New American Scenery Expanded Series Information
NAS includes the following bodies of work, many of which were conceived on location and/or with insights from significant collaborators. Each highlighted title below represents a sub-series containing multiple iterations and/or designs.
Across the Borderline
Series of platters depicting the border between the US and Mexico using imagery culled from the Wedgwood archive and popular media to address the theme of immigration.
‘Cumbrian Blue(s) New American Scenery, Across the Borderline (Trumpian Campaigne No:7)’. In-glaze decal collage on Copeland/Spode earthenware platter (c.1895), 434mm x 325mm x 38mm (17″ x 13″x 1.5″). Paul Scott 2021.
Paul Scott, “Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Trumpian Campaigne, Legacy No:1, (Across the Borderline, Portland, Black Lives Matter)”, 2021, in-glaze decal collage on pearlware platter (after Enoch Wood), 15.4 x 12.2 x 2″, 39 x 30.5 x 5cm.
The Angola 3
souvenir plate drawing reference to inmates in the Louisiana State Penitentiary who were held in solitary confinement for the longest period in American history. It is suspected that this unethical treatment was retaliation for the inmates’ connection to the Black Panther Party.
Paul Scott, “Scott’s Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Angola 3″ 2019, in-glaze screen print (decal) on salvaged Syracuse China with pearlware glaze, 11 x 11 x 1”.
Paul Scott, “Scott’s Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, The Angola 3″ back, 2019, in-glaze screen print (decal) on salvaged Syracuse China with pearlware glaze, 11x 11 x 1”
Albany (Souvenirs & Views of New York)
souvenir plate of an urban landscape viewed through a roadside screen of trees and brush.
Scott’s Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, “View of Albany”, 2019, In-glaze screen print (decal) on salvaged Syracuse China with pearlware glaze, 11 x 11 x 1″, 28 cm dia.
Paul Scott, “Scott’s Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Near the Oxbow (after Thomas Cole)”, 2019, in-glaze screen print (decal), on shell-edged pearlware platter c.1850, 13.5 x 16.75 x 2″.
Fleur.de.Sel’s New York
series of souvenir plates depicting New York City streetscapes drawn from the Instagram account @Fleur.de.Sel that appear timeless, illustrating the small businesses and cultural diversity that are increasingly at risk with the city’s dangerously inflated wealth gap.
“New American Scenery, New York and Transferwares”
In the early part of the nineteenth century, tens of thousands of printed blue and white tablewares from England were exported to North America. Scenes of the newly independent United States were used in a myriad of designs and were characterized by a deep blue semiotic. Alongside printed wallpapers and textiles these transferwares formed part of the new media of their day. Pictorial in nature, their vitrified designs remediated prints from book or magazine illustration, melding them with floral and botanical borders. By the end of the century, they became highly collectible and the subject of a number of books, including RT Haines Halsey’s classic ‘New York on Dark Blue Staffordshire Pottery’. Published in 1899, the limited edition tome plotted the history of the genre, illustrated by sumptuous photogravures in blue depicting a comprehensive range of pictorial transferwares. 120 years later, in my New American Scenery series of artworks I updates some of these early subject matters of New York using 21st century alternatives.
Scott’s Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, “Fleurs.de.sel’s New York”, 2019, (set of twelve plates), In-glaze screen print (decal) on salvaged Syracuse China with pearlware glaze., 11 x 11 x 1″, 11″ or 28 cm diameter (each plate)
Stop, Keat’s & Palm Too… 511 Too… Chicken Place…Mexicana… Laundry Project 23, ChelseaHypermarket, Chelsea Square… Canal Street…. Stairs 361… Hot Dogs…. Village Pizza… Pizza Park… Ray’s Pizza, Jakes Saloon, Meatballs.
California Wildfires
souvenir plate addresses ecological precarity by referencing the most severe wildfire season in California’s history that occurred in 2020.
Paul Scott, “Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, California Wildfires No:1″, 2019, in-glaze screen print (decal) on partially erased ‘Beauty Spots of California’, Staffordshire souvenir transferware plate, 9.75 x 9.75 x 1.25”.
Back of Paul Scott, “Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, California Wildfires No:1″, 2019, in-glaze screen print (decal) on partially erased ‘Beauty Spots of California’, Staffordshire souvenir transferware plate, 9.75 x 9.75 x 1.25”.
“Cup Plates”
In the early part of the nineteenth century, transfer printed blue and white tablewares from Staffordshire were exported to North America in their tens of thousands. Pictorial in nature, their vitrified designs remediated print from book or magazine illustration, melding with floral and botanical borders. Scenes of the newly independent United States formed a significant part of this material. These transferwares included ‘Cup Plates’, tiny coasters used to protect furniture from marks whilst the diner drank coffee or tea from the cup’s accompanying saucer. Measuring between 9 to 11 cm (3.5 to 4 inches) across, the plates are characterised by deep cobalt blue prints melted into a pearlware glaze. Images and patterns were sometimes specifically designed and made for the small form, others (above) were collaged from tissue print details of larger patterns. Because of their small scale, flaws in the prints or their application are more obvious than on larger wares and they have their own aesthetic.
Cumbrian Blue(s), Indian Point cup plate, 4/50. Transferware print on pearlware cup plate, 104mm. dia. Collaborative work with Paul Holdway (former head of engraving at Spode). Tissue print transfer taken from a copper plate engraved by Paul Holdway, Paul Scott 2021.
Paul Scott, “Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Indian Point (detail)
“New American Cites, Flint, Belle Island & The Ghost Gardens of Detroit”
I grew up in Birmingham, Britain’s ‘Motor City’, where the local economy relied on car manufacturers…. Austin, Morris (later British Leyland), Mini, Rover and all the associated motor suppliers. As a student in the early 1970’s, holiday working included ‘industrial cleaning’ in the huge Austin works in Longbridge… then two summers were spent in an engineering factory in Balsall Heath, assembling brake pipe adjuster clamps (amongst other things). When car production eventually ceased in the city, unemployment, and the impoverishment of communities swiftly followed. I clearly recall the dereliction, then later demolition of huge industrial sites, and the yawing empty spaces. A few years later, similar scenes also became familiar to me in the Staffordshire pottery towns as the British ceramics industry all but collapsed. I was thus well aware, from first hand experience, of the effects of deindustrialisation on urban environments and communities. A series of early Cumbrian Blue(s) artworks reflected the ruin and decay of my home town in prints and tiled panels…
Paul Scott, “Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Detroit Ghost Gardens No:2″, 2019, in-glaze screen print (decal) on salvaged Syracuse China with pearlware glaze, 12 x 12 x 1.25”, 30.48 x 30.48 x 3.18cm.
Paul Scott, “Scott’s Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Belle Island Bridge, Detroit” 2019, in-glaze screen print (decal) on salvaged Syracuse China with pearlware glaze, 11 x 11 x 1″.
Pattern Samplers
Paul Scott, “Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Pattern Sampler No:4 (Adams)”, 2019, in-glaze decal collage on shell-edge, pearlware platter c.1820, 10 x 13 x 1.5″.
Paul Scott, “Cumbrian Blue(s), New American Scenery, Pattern Sampler No:1″, 2019, in-glaze screenprint (decal) on pearlware shell-edged platter c.1820, 11.75 x 14.75 x 1.5”
Posy Vases
Cumbrian Blue(s) New American Scenery, Set of five posy vases. Comprising, Fleurs de Sel’s New York Canal Street & Village Pizza, Souvenir of Portland (Black Lives Matter) & Selma, Broken Treaties & Leonard Peltier, No Human Being is Illegal & Across the Borderline San Antonio, Fracked & California Wildfires. Each vase 165mm x 125mm x 85mm. Paul Scott 2022.
UPCOMING LOCATIONS
American Scenery and Souvenirs: Transferware by Paul Scott
Lightner Museum
75 King St, St.
Augustine, FL
April 25, 2025 – October 27, 2025
Recall. Reframe. Respond. The Art of Paul Scott
Cincinnati Museum of Art
953 Eden Park Drive
Cincinnati, OH
October 10, 2025 – January 4, 2026
NAS | PAST LOCATIONS
CONFECTED, BORROWED & BLUE: TRANSFERWARE BY PAUL SCOTT
SHELBURNE MUSEUM
6000 Shelburne Road
PO Box 10
Shelburne, VT
May 11, 2024 – October 20, 2024
Pearlware, Polish, and Privilege: Artwork by Paul Scott
LSU MUSEUM OF ART
100 Lafayette Street, Fifth Floor
Baton Rouge, LA
October 27, 2022 to February 26, 2023
Paul Scott: New American Scenery
Albany Institute of History & Art
125 Washington Ave
Albany, NY
August 13, 2022 – December 31, 2022
New American Scenery: Printed Ceramics by Paul Scott at Aberystwyth Arts Centre
Aberystwyth University,
Penglais, Aberystwyth
SY23 3FL
United Kingdom
July 9, 2022 – September 25, 2022
Raid the Icebox Now with Paul Scott: New American Scenery
RISD MUSEUM
20 N Main St
Providence, RI
September 13, 2019 – December 31, 2021
THE BOWES MUSEUM
Barnard Castle County
Newgate, Barnard Castle
DL12 8NP
United Kingdom
September 26, 2020 – April 11, 2021
