1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
North Adams, MA —
Glazed & Diffused is a survey exhibition focused on a select group of international artists, from George Ohr (b. 1857) to several mid-career artists chosen from the exhibition Ceramic Top 40. These artists use fired clay and glaze pigment to convey abstract content. Their sculpture, objects, vessels, tile, and site-specific installations reveal intended, abstract results using fluidity, abstraction, and color theory.
Spanning eight weeks this summer, Glazed and Diffused will bring attention to the lively dialogue surrounding the dissolution of categorical constraints in institutions and the art market through programming that includes panel discussions, DISH + DINE events and Artist Salons
“Over the course of my career, I have witnessed both the emergence of abstract clay sculpture in the late 1950s and 60s and its re-emergence as a fine art trend fully integrated into contemporary art market. In 2015 fine artists are regularly creating objects and sculpture in clay alongside their works in painting and various other mediums, and likewise their galleries are mounting solo and group exhibitions inclusive of ceramics.”
“Within encyclopedic museums, the permanent collections and period rooms are offering new contexts for contemporary ceramic art to be considered both chronologically and thematically alongside parallel artwork in all media. The “Dirt on Delight” exhibition presented in 2009 at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, was the important seminal museum survey that ignited interest and marked the moment when ceramics not only garnered the attention of New York’s illustrious art critics, such as Roberta Smith, but also that of the Chelsea galleries who began to focus attention on a younger generation alongside the known masters of the medium — Viola Frey, Betty Woodman, Peter Voulkos, Ken Price and Robert Arneson.
“Dirt on Delight: Impulses That Form Clay,” curated by Ingrid Shaffner and Jenelle Porter, was accompanied by a catalog that included Glenn Adamson’s essay “Sloppy Seconds: The Strange Return of Clay.” Since that moment, curators have turned their sights towards ceramics in survey exhibitions organized during Pacific Time in California, by Crystal Bridges, the Venice Biennale, and the Whitney Biennial. (In 2014, the Whitney Biennial featured sculpture by ceramic master John Mason alongside younger counterparts who have only recently aligned with the medium.)” – Leslie Ferrin, Curator
EXHIBITING ARTISTS
PRESS & PROGRAMMING
PAST EVENTS
OPENING RECEPTION
Saturday, June 20, 4 to 6 pm | Ferrin Contemporary, 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA
Meet artists Raymon Elozua, Lauren Mabry, Peter Pincus, Robert Silverman, and Linda Sormin.
ARTIST SALON AND SUNDAY BRUNCH
Sunday, June 21, 11 am to 1 pm | Project Art, 54 Main Street, Cummington
Visual presentations and roundtable discussion with artists Raymon Elozua, Lauren Mabry, Robert Silverman, and Linda Sormin
PANEL DISCUSSION: “CLAY IS HOT! Good Better Best”
Sunday, July 19, 3 pm | 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA
Collecting ceramics from George Ohr to Ai Weiwei — Antiques Roadshow regulars Suzanne Perrault and David Rago, along with the consulting producer Daniel Farrell will discuss collecting ceramics made in the late 1800s through today. The panel, moderated by Ferrin Contemporary director, Leslie Ferrin, will focus on provenance, connoisseurship, and values in ceramics.for a panel discussion moderated by Leslie Ferrin about provenance, connoisseurship, and values in ceramics, pottery, and porcelain 1900 to the present.Guests will have a chance to view the exhibition, GLAZED & DIFFUSED, before the panel discussion and afterwards during a wine and cheese reception in the gallery.
DISH & DINE
Sunday, July 19, 6:30 to 9 pm | Ferrin Contemporary, 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA
Following the panel discussion and reception, enjoy dinner in the gallery with collectors, artists, and panelists. Gramercy Bistro, MASS MoCA’s in-house bistro, will serve modern fare made from locally-sourced food. Ceramic artist Michael McCarthy will provide the handmade dinnerware. Limited space and fee for the dinner.
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STUDIO AND GALLERY VISIT
Saturday, August 8, 2015 | Kinderhook, New York
Visit Raymon Elozua’s studio in Mountain Dale, NY, and tour of the El Anatusui exhibition at Jack Shainman Gallery: The School in nearby Kinderhook. Trip and transportation organized by Ferrin Contemporary. Limited space and fee.TO RSVP More…
DOWNSTREET NORTH ADAMS
Thursdays, June 25 and July 30, August 27, and September 24, 6 to 8 pm | Ferrin Contemporary | 1315 MASS MoCA Way and throughout North Adams
Ferrin Contemporary and other DownStreet art venues and galleries, stores, and restaurants will extend their hours on the last Thursday of the summer months to celebrate the arts.
ARTIST TALK WITH ROBERT SILVERMAN AND CLOSING RECEPTION
Sunday, August 16, 3–5pm | Ferrin Contemporary, 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA
Artist Robert Silverman will talk about his inspiration for “Tirana” a featured piece in the GLAZED & DIFFUSED exhibition. Eddie Rama, artist and mayor of Tirana, Albania, who transformed the city with color, was Silverman’s inspiration for this piece. After the talk, join us for the closing reception of GLAZED & DIFFUSED.
