A PORCELAIN MENAGERIE
a solo show of work by Mara Superior features painted porcelain platters, teapots and sculptures celebrating the beauty and fragility of the animal world. Co-curated by Dana Salvo and Leslie Ferrin. Clark Gallery, Lincoln, Mass
March 10–29, 2015
Mara Superior is known for her contemporary porcelain that uses imagery and form to convey theories of beauty and subtle social commentary. Her choice of porcelain, a medium known for its fragile beauty, is analogous to the nature of the subject of the work in this show — this planet with its diverse environments, the flora and fauna, and the delicate balance that holds them all. Using various forms of plates and constructed forms of teapots and tile relief, Superior creates commemoratives that deliver a message to preserve and appreciate our living world. They are a plea for attention to a world out of control. Porcelain and nature are fragile, breakable, and need careful handling to survive. “Wake up people! Preserve your planet!”
Visitors and the NY press were surprised and delighted with their discovery of the contemporary ceramics at the New York Ceramics & Glass Fair and spread the word about contemporary clay throughout the worlds of art and design. Here some of the highlights, along with links to read more.
Paul Scott, “Paul Scott, “Cumbrian Blue(s), American Scenery, Fracked No. 2″ 2013, inglaze decal collage, gold luster on ironstone platter (c.1860?), 8.5 x 1”.
Browsing at Metro Curates and the Ceramics and Glass Fair
by William Grimes
“A number of contemporary artists disturb the polite atmosphere of British tea sets and Chinese export pottery. Paul Scott, an English artist at Ferrin Contemporary, has updated English transferware, with its romantic evocations of American scenes, in the rudest possible way. ‘Turnpike No. 3,’ a rectangular tray showing a toll plaza on the New Jersey Turnpike, is one of a series devoted to such heartwarming sights as the Indian Point nuclear plant and a fracking derrick,” Grimes observed in his unabashed review of the oddities at two NY shows.
“Few slices of the art market have changed as radically, or, surprisingly, have been taken more seriously, in the past few years as the ever-so-sleepy ceramics and glass sector. … When it comes to contemporary ceramics, some dealers said, there’s a shift going on in terms of validity in the eyes of museums. ‘Glance back two decades only a handful of museums were incorporating such work in their holdings,’ said Massachusetts dealer Leslie Ferrin.”
In his review of our show “MADE IN CHINA, Darryl Wee observes, “Whereas traditional ‘export ware’ used to be adorned with European ideas and subjects…, Ferrin notes that this notion of cultural export has shifted somewhat in recent years due to internationally networked and cosmopolitan artists who produce their pieces at Jingdezhen Pottery Workshop while gaining exposure primarily in Western markets halfway around the world.”
Friend and blogger Andrew Baseman focused attention on contemporary ceramic “make-dos” including Paul Scott’s, Mara Superior’s, and Frances Palmer’s mended works. “It was heartening for me to see so many examples of antique and contemporary ceramics with inventive repair in such a prestigious venue. It gives me hope that beauty in imperfection is now being embraced by more artists, dealers and collectors than ever before.”
In her design blog, Byrne admitted, “I know very little about ceramics and glass. There. I have said it right up front. But I like to think I have a certain radar for the artistically innovative, and one place where I did not expect to see it was during my inaugural visit last week to the annual New York Ceramics and Glass Fair. But I was wrong. Very wrong. Talk about cool—it was there in abundance. “By far my favorite was the artists represented by Ferrin Contemporary. Leslie Ferrin had two booths at the fair and each was filled with edgy, thought-provoking pieces.”
Visitors were entertained by talks and presentations made by Ferrin Contemporary’s Paul Scott,Garth Johnson, Robert Silverman,Sing-ying Ho, and Leslie Ferrin. NCECA sponsored a day of modern lectures there for the first time. It was standing room only for Paul Scott’s lecture. Afterwards, the audience followed Scott to a book signing for the newly published Horizon: Transferware and Contemporary Ceramics.Scott’s ironic commentary on landscape drew media attention with his “American Scenery” series featured at the fair.
Visit our Press Coverage webpage for more links to fair coverage as well as articles and reviews about other curated projects with work by artists represented by Ferrin Contemporary.
Follow along as director Leslie Ferrin documents the objects, people, and experiences related to the many projects under the purview of Ferrin Contemporary. Leslie’s first-person coverage provides a subjective overview of the scene (and seen) along the path of her travels. Click on the links below to follow along: NEWS: Instagram facebook twitter tumbler instagram
Jeremy Buben of SeattleMet, takes the reader on an insightful tour of the solo exhibition “Jason Walker: On the River, Down the Road” on exhibit at the Bellevue Arts Museum in Bellevue, WA from October 3, 2014 to March 1, 2015.
Sometimes when you’re visiting a collection and there is an impulse to take a photo and share everything you see, and then there is one object that conveys it all. Henry Varnum Poor’s portrait of Ben Hecht, has a face that looks like someone I know, maybe even someone I was with. Donald Clark, one of our archivists and project manager for The Marks Project, joined me at Yale. This portrait platter from 1926 appears quite contemporary and old at the same time. One of Clark’s many collections is a grouping of objects in all media that feature portraits of other people who look like him, many of them are gifts. Yale’s collection is all online 24/7.
Maker: Henry Varnum Poor, American, 1887 – 1970
Gift of Mrs. William R. Scott, John G. McCullough, Class of 1936, and Mrs. William G. Heaphy, by exchange 2004.84.1
POST FROM SCENE + SEEN – Great day at Yale with Patricia Kane and John Stewart Gordon discussing old and new, contemporary and historic decorative arts, new building and integration of the sculpture, paintings and decorative arts at Yale University Art Museum, New Haven, CT, USA. On view this summer is the Waterbury Collection of Art and through July 14, Society Anonyme, Inc.
Rooftop Sculpture Garden – Aristede Maillol – old + new architecture, view from the roof.
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