The Massachusetts Cultural Council recognizes exceptional work by Massachusetts artists across a range of disciplines. These highly competitive awards provide artists crucial validation among their peers and the public. They catalyze artistic advancement and pave the way for creative innovation of enduring cultural value. MCC is committed to funding individual artists. They believe that the core of a vibrant, healthy society resides in the often unheralded work artists perform day after day.
RE—REANIMATE, REPAIR, MEND AND MELD
co-curated by Paul Scott and Andrew Baseman
a group show of work by contemporary ceramic artists explores the issues of conservation, restoration, over-consumption, reuse, and recycling
Stephen Bowers, Bouke de Vries, Ruan Hoffmann, Noelle Horsfield, Sergei Isupov, Garth Johnson, Adam Lefebvre, Frances Palmer, Paul Scott, Caroline Slotte, Mara Superior, Ai Weiwei
February 13–April 17, 2016
Mara Superior, “Ornithology” 2011.
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
Click here to view or download press release.
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!”
Mara Superior is represented by Ferrin Contemporary.
Click here to see available work.
Ferrin Contemporary spent eight days in New York for the NY Ceramics & Glass Fair in late January. There, we presented two exhibitions: MADE IN CHINA: The New Export Ware and Selected Work from Current Projects, featuring work by 18 artists from around the world.
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.
Paul Scott, “Cumbrian Blue(s), Willow Italian” 2014, Staffordshire transferware collage, gold leaf, tile cement, epoxy resin, 15 x 11″.
The New York Observer
Breaking the Mold
by Brook Mason
“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.”
Vipoo Srivilasa, “The Patience Flower” 2014, Jingdezhen super white porcelain, 10 x 6.6″.
Blouin Art Info
by Darryl Wee
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.”
Mara Superior, “Wounded Beauty” 2014, porcelain, cobalt, glaze, gold luster, metal wire, 12 x 15 x 5.5″.
Past Imperfect: The Art of Inventive Repair
by Andrew Baseman
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.”
Sin-ying Ho, “9.28.2014 Hong Kong” 2014, porcelain, cobalt, decal, terra sigillata, 23 x 12 x 15.5″.
DXV American Standard
by Lynn Byrne
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.”
The cover of Paul Scott’s new book, “Horizons: Transferware and Contemporary Ceramics” Visitors were entertained by talks and presentations made by Ferrin Contemporary’s Paul Scott, Garth Johnson, Robert Silverman, Sing-ying Ho, and Leslie Ferrin. Kurt Weiser, “Albion” 2014, china painted porcelain, 26.5 x 18″. 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. Read more coverage on the fair on: Ferrin Contemporary presented two exhibitions at the fair: “MADE IN CHINA: The New Export Ware” and “Selected Work from Current Projects,” featuring work by 18 artists from around the world. In addition to the media blitz, sales were brisk and commissions are still coming in. Click here to see more available work. 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:
Lectures and Book Launch at the Fair
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.
Wait, there’s more
CFile
AsiainNY
The China Press
NY Social Diary
SOLD! Still available?
Or inquire about currently available artworks presented at the fair.
#ferrincontemporaryontheroad
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“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.”
Baseman remarks on work by Mara Superior, Frances Palmer, and Paul Scott in his January 24th blog entry.
Click here to read his full entry.
Read more, see more about Mara Superior.
CONTACT Leslie Ferrin, Director, Ferrin Contemporary
info@ferrincontemporary.com | 413.446.0614
For Immediate Release: Ferrin Contemporary presents Made in China: The New Export Ware at the New York Ceramics and Glass Fair, Jan. 21–25, 2015
CUMMINGTON, Mass – Ferrin Contemporary presents Made in China: The New Export Ware at the New York Ceramics and Glass Fair in New York, Jan. 22–25, 2015. Made in China is an on-going series of exhibitions and public programs, featuring international contemporary ceramic artists referencing traditional Chinese export porcelain. These artists work independently along side and in conjunction with skilled Chinese artisans to find expression for their fresh visual vocabulary to create a new breed of export ware. The featured artists hail from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and China and include Julie Bartholomew, Caroline Cheng, Sam Chung, Future Retrieval (Katie Parker and Guy Michael Davis), Sin-ying Ho, Garth Johnson, Paul Mathieu, Paul Scott, Robert Silverman, and Vipoo Srivilasa.
Leslie Ferrin, director of Ferrin Contemporary and curator of Made in China, was inspired to create the show by her recent travels in China and her work with many contemporary ceramic artists who have worked, studied, and participated in some of the traditional Chinese pottery workshops. During her tour, Ferrin visited ceramic workshops in Jingdezhen and Chongqing, observing skilled Chinese artisans aiding in the production of contemporary works for western markets under the direction of visiting western artists.
“After my visit to China, it was clear that this growing movement of western artists engaging with Chinese artisans to provide works for international markets was urging a contemporary re-definition of export-ware,” says Ferrin. “It is a dynamic relationship with appropriation and collaboration occurring in both directions, and we are fortunate that we will be able to truly explore the relationship, with multiple exhibitions over the coming years.”
Made in China will be presented at the New York Ceramics and Glass Fair as a special exhibition on the third floor of Bohemian Hall, 321 East 73rd Street in New York from Jan. 21 through Jan. 25, 2015.
Public events in the Made in China booth
Meet the artists in the Ferrin Contemporary Special Exhibition Booth on the 3rd Floor on Saturday, Jan. 24. 
1:30 p.m. in the Made in China booth
Book signing with Paul Scott
Paul Scott will on hand to sign and present his new book Horizon, Transferware and Contemporary Ceramics.
(This event will follow Scott’s lecture in the lecture hall.)
3 p.m. in the Made in China booth
Conversation and tour with artists and curator
Join us for a conversation about Made in China: The New Export Ware with artists Sin-ying Ho and Robert Silverman. The discussion will be moderated by Leslie Ferrin, curator of Made in China and director of Ferrin Contemporary. A tour of the exhibition with the artists and curator, will follow.
Lectures related to Made in China
Artist and curator lectures related to Made in China will be presented in the lecture hall on Friday, Jan. 23 and Saturday, Jan. 24.
Friday, 12 p.m. in the lecture hall
Duchess, Dogs, Detroit, Dragons, Handles and Cherrypickers: Re-Animating the Transferware Archives of an Industry
with Paul Scott, artist, author and researcher and professor at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts Norway
Friday, 2 p.m. in the lecture hall
Made in China: New Export-ware from Jingdezhen
with Leslie Ferrin, Director of Ferrin Contemporary Friday,
4 p.m. in the lecture hall
I’m So Fancy: Young Artists Take On Historical Ceramics
with Garth Johnson, Curator of the Arizona State University Ceramics Research Center and Director-at-Large of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA)
Saturday, 12 p.m. in the lecture hall
The Most Dangerous Imitations: Fake Chinese Export Porcelain of the 1920s and ’30s
with Ron Fuchs II, Curator of the Reeves Collections at Washington and Lee University
For a full listing of all the lectures and other Ceramics Fair events visit newyorkceramicsandglassfair.com
For a full listing of Made in China events, exhibitions, and artists visit ferrincontemporary.com/madeinchina
Selected Works from Current Projects
In addition to the special exhibition on the 3rd floor, Ferrin Contemporary’s booth on the 4th floor will feature Selected Works from Current Projects. Included will be recent works by international and American artists: Stephen Bowers, AU; Claire Curneen, Wales; Sergei Isupov, USA and Estonia; Steven Young Lee, USA; Frances Palmer, USA; Paul Scott, UK; Bonnie Smith, USA; Vipoo Srivilasa, AU; Mara Superior, USA; and Kurt Weiser, USA.
About Ferrin Contemporary
Ferrin Contemporary specializes in ceramic art produced circa 1950 to the present, with a growing emphasis on international ceramic artists. For more than thirty years, collectors, institutions, and the media have made Ferrin Contemporary their preferred source for artwork by established and emerging artists and designers whose primary medium is clay. Visit ferrincontemporary.com to learn more.
High res images available upon request.
With this post, we launch a new section of the Ferrin Contemporary website with reportage from Miami. Follow along as director Leslie Ferrin documents the objects, people, and experiences relating to various ongoing projects under the purview of Ferrin Contemporary (#FerrinContemporaryOnTheRoad). A specialist in ceramics and a regular participant in the art fair (or art fare) scene, Leslie’s first-person coverage provides a subjective and filtered overview of the scene and seen along the path of her travels. When NOT On-the-Road, in a museum, private collection, partner gallery, or artist studio, Ferrin is based at Project Art in Cummington, Massachusetts where she also directs a live-work artist residency. Now, in an aggregated format, her Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook feeds are shared and linked as photographic and written posts in the Blog section of the NEWS on our website FerrinContemporary.com.
The first week in December begins with the annual trek to Miami to participate in, explore, and enjoy the social and art fair events that surround Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB), now in its 13th year. As a gallery, we have been showing at various venues in Miami over the years, presenting ceramics and in the past also showing painting, photography, and works on paper. This year, Ferrin Contemporary presented selected works from MADE IN CHINA: The New Export Ware at Miami Project. This fair venue is the second stop in a series of curated exhibitions and talks that examine the contemporary, ceramic-centric exchange between eastern and western artists and markets through porcelain art works produced in Jingdezhen China. The project launched this fall when it was first presented at Independent Art Projects (IAP), our home base, located on the MASS MoCA campus in North Adams, Massachusetts. In addition to our own booth, we partnered with Kasher|Potamkin to show Sergei Isupov’s recent works from his Promenade series. Also showing at Miami Project, was one of our IAP partners Julie Saul Gallery. Other IAP partners, Cynthia Reeves exhibited at Art Miami and Sienna Patti Contemporary showed at Pulse.
Now in its 3rd year, Miami Project is one of the premiere satellite fairs located in Miami’s midtown district. It is located close to the Margulies Collection, a noted private collection open to the public, as well as, the neighborhoods of the Wynwood Walls and the Design District. The 65000 square foot show was elegant, with lofty white walls and airy wide aisles, and conveniently located to amenities within the design district. The 80 dealers and their artists, primarily American from both coasts, are well established and the art shown was framed and well hung. It was our favorite venue to date. We heard over and over, “This is the best show and I like it here.” Translation: We like this type of presentation and we are comfortable in this environment where the art and dealers are familiar.
This year’s Miami Art Week scene was the usual combination of luxury marketing, blue chip art investing, and high contrast global economics. Words like frenzy, overwhelming, and vulgar were in regular use and many experienced in the trade shook their heads in a combination of amusement and disbelief. A Picasso plate was stolen at Art Miami and Jerry Salz , New York Magazine’s senior art critic, kept everyone rolling with laughter (LOL) with his relentless collages posted on Instagram and caption commentary that put him in the center of the action without ever leaving NYC. Many of his posts ended with “What happens at ABMB, stays at ABMB” in a parody of popular culture and the business of the art business.
The traffic and parking, while always a nightmare, made this year’s trekking feel more real when the national protests of the Garver and Brown verdicts intersected with the local unresolved case of the graffiti artist, Israel “Reefa” Hernandez who was tasered by police and died in 2013. The protest brought Interstate 195 to a halt, dozens of helicopters to the sky, and created a lock-down of the bridges and roads that surrounded the Wynwood fairs. In another tragic, real-life turn of events that could have been lifted directly out of one of Tom Wolfe’s fictional parody Back to Blood, a 21 year old graffiti artist was hit by a police car on Saturday night in Wynwood and subsequently died of his injuries. The contrast between what was taking place globally and what was taking place on the ground in Miami was never more extreme than possibly during the inaugural year, when the show was delayed due to 9/11. The economic and racial divide was the topic of several strongly worded articles running in Hyperallergic, one of the many online publications providing live daily reports. The New York Times T Magazine covered the party and Kardashian -Miley celebrity scene in their followup.
#clayiseverywhere continues to be this year’s trending mantra at all the fairs. During the panel The Importance of Women Artists in Today’s Market, held at Miami Projects, a question was posed to the collector and founder of the Girls’ Club, Francie Bishop Gold, “Who are the women photographers who are trending?” She paused, smiled, and said, “Its not photography that’s trending…its ceramics.” The question provoked a short buzz and continued with a discussion of women as leading artists who use of clay and fiber materials and how that choice was gender driven. The panel was introduced with a reading of the usual dismal statistics that compared prices at auction achieved by women artists to those of male artists. The discussion centered primarily around collecting, exhibition practices, and gender ratios. Organized by Karen Jenkins Johnson, gallerist and exhibitor in Miami Project, the panel was followed by a curated tour of the fair, featuring selected works and conversations with women artists, including our own Sin-ying Ho. After thirty years of so-called progress, it was a bit depressing to be discussing this topic or throughout the week, hear helicopters circling overhead during the #blacklivesmatter protests. But it was better that the issues were being aired than ignored, in the midst of all the glitz and glamour taking place around it.
An Aside about #Hashtags
For those who have been puzzled by the constant use of the number sign in front of bundled word phrases appearing in photo captions, they are hashtags and function to convey and gather content in the various social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. That said, we use a few of them regularly to create photo albums that connect one event or program to another. In a future post, I will go into this further; but during Miami, each fair location and the week in general were collected under appropriate tags #clayiseverywhere, #miamiproject, #miamiartweek, #ferrincontemporaryontheroad, and #socialclay.
“If you can only choose one fair, make it Miami Project” – WLRN Miami Herald News
Ferrin Contemporary presented selected works from Made in China: The New Export Ware featuring recent works produced in Jingdezhen, China by Caroline Cheng, Sin-ying Ho, Paul Scott, Robert Silverman, and Vipoo Srivilasa. Kasher | Potamkin‘s booth showed selected major works from Sergei Isupov’s 2014 solo “Promenade.” Kasher | Potamkin is a new Chelsea New York gallery located in the former Barry Friedman space. (Next fall, they will present a solo show of Isupov’s as an installation featuring sculptural works and and site specific wall paintings.)
friends and colleagues
We chose this show for several reasons. Although relatively new, it is well run and we were surrounded by colleagues, our gallery partners, and art that seem to make sense next to ours. Our friend George Adams showed a recently consigned, ceramic selfie with tongue sticking out by Robert Arneson. Kim Dickey (currently showing “Mille-fleur” in the American art survey “State of the Art” at Crystal Bridges) showed two bird sculptures at Robischon whose booth was curated around the theme of birds, flight and sky. Jeffry Mitchell’s “Foo Dogs” were at PDX. Kris Kuski ’s “Ascension of Eos” was at Joshua Liner. Kuski is one of the many Virginia Groot Foundation award winners who were showing at the fairs. Photographer Andy Freeberg surprised us with a gift of his book Art Fare that included photographs he shot in 2010 of dealers and staff behind-the-scenes. The book featured our booth at ArtMiami. That was the year our red painted booth presented works by Sergei Isupov, Chris Antemann, and the lovely Lauren Levato came to work the show and we were reminded about how much had changed in four short years. Freeberg’s current work continues to follow his interest in working in the art world through environmental portraits and was shown by Kopeikin and Andrea Meisel at Miami Project.
collaboration and the special projects
Ephemera, sponsored by Perrier-Jouet, commissioned Vienna based duo Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler to create Small Discoveries. The project included mechanized plants moving, growing, and dying. Thinning Ice by MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang was sponsored by Swarovski. Both dealt with ecological issues and sustainability. To begin and end the show is the leather-clad Fendi booth celebrating Peter Marino, awarded “Design Visionary.” (Marino’s solo show is onview at the Bass Museum.)
no names, no labels, no price lists
While clay may be everywhere, at Design Miami, you have to guess who made the piece or find someone in the booth who isn’t tied up with another VIP to ask. Then you have find a way to remember who did what where. You either needed to record voice or written notes on your phone or revert to taking notes with a pen on paper. I borrowed a pen and drew pictures on paper and left a card to receive digital information sometime in the future #oldschool. Elisabeth Agro, curator Philadelphia Museum of Art, used a pencil-written, paper cheat-sheet of her bucket-list dealers to visit.
less is more and more is less
It is true that #clayiseverywhere throughout this fair, celebrating its 10th year with 35 dealers. Booth design is strong and in some cases overwhelms the work presented. Large low tables, mixed up and sometimes cacaphonic shelving, burnt wood shelf grid, colorful walls, clusters-as-still-lifes, and intensely lit individual works were a bit over the top. A quick overview of the ceramics reveals contemporary and mid-century works from the USA, France, Belgium, Holland, South Africa, and Korea. Of all the fairs, this one provided the most concentrated opportunity to view ceramic objects but this was primarily within the context of design, not fine art. (The highlighted links when clicked lead to web information that offers explanations of what was seen but not readily accessed at the fair. The list that follows refers to the series of images contained in the blog post with artist names and the dealers who presented their works.) Adam Silverman at Edward Cella Art + Architecture; Ron Nagle; Tony Marsh at Pierre Marie Giraud; Anders Ruhwald at Volume; Haas Brothers at R&Company; Maren Kloppman; Eva Hild at Hostler Burrows; Iris Eichenburg at Ornamentum; Studio Makkink & Bey’s Pyramid of Makkum (an edition of 7, that commemorates the original first produced at the Royal Tichelaar Makkum, the oldest dutch manufactory, est. 1572.) Presented within a wooden cabinet housing an assemblage based on everyday objects with detailed instructions to be assembled into a flower pyramid was exhibited by Priveekollektie. Selected ceramic sculpture from La Bourne, France produced from 1940–1960 was shown by Magen H Gallery. The Southern Guild from Capetown, South Africa, presented works by Ardmore Ceramic Art, a ceramic studio in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The presentation of South African design was made possible by the department of trade industry. Seomi exhibited artist-designed ceramic furniture. Jean Jacques Inc. presented an array of American and European ceramicists.
too large for one day let alone three hours so you can’t possibly see the whole show
For those who come every year, the #clayiseverywhere saying is true; but actually, clay is not as everywhere as it was last year-but if you weren’t there last year, then it seems as if it is everywhere this year. Great singluar works were on view throughout the show by clay masters Ken Price ,Toshiko Takaezu, and Betty Woodman along with younger artists Theaster Gates and Francesca DiMateo. CFILE’s Justin Crowe spent time there and wrote the filtered report on clay works at this fair. I noticed that he missed a booth off to the side with a set of pickle jars fabricated partly from wood, ceramic, and found objects. Like much of the work we were showing and looking at recently, they used collage and time honored repair methods to join history to the present in an object driven message delivered through the power of the familiar utilitarian object. Sudarshan Shetty, shown by Gallery SKE from New Delhi, presented a series titled “every broken moment piece by piece.”
shiny, reflective and selfies
There were way too many opportunities to take reflective selfies at ABMB, but the most powerful example might have been the two part work by the ultimate, selfie-ist Ai Weiwei whose selfie taken of himself (with police behind him pre-arrest in 2009) was presented behind and reflected upon a something-ton forty-inch cube of clear crystal. ABMB, with over 73000 visitors included 160 museum groups and more than 267 galleries from 31 countries. That’s a lot of PEOPLE. People was the word embodied in one of the booth’s rotating neon signs. A personal favorite, was a neon sign by Jeppe Hein that asked “ARE YOU REALLY HAPPY”.
a kid could do this
“a kid could do this” was one of the special curated projects at the entrance to this fair. Installed as period room setting, each artwork was hung above a wainscot moulding with the artists’ signature on the wall in vinyl shown in dim lighting under a ceiling with a scrimmed covering presented by Gallery Gmurzynska. (Catalog available.) The idea is that modern art elicits the comment “any child could do this ____”. Appropos to our #clayiseverywhere theme, the title and intent of this exhibition could have been used as a starting point for an exhibition that explores the ongoing debate about intentional and unintentional abstraction by artists who come from the “Art World” to suddenly start working with clay and those who work with clay but climbed up the art ladder through training from the “Clay World.”
Glazed and confused
AQUA lost a bit of its charm and uniqueness without the eye of the original founders Jacque Chartier and Dirk Park at the helm. But it was still art fun to cruise through at the end of a long day. Our Berkshire neighbor William Baczek has been exhibiting consistently, and presented illustrator Travis Louie along with well-known artists from our area Susan Mikula and Scott Prior. Victori Contemporary presented Jae Yong Kim’s wall of ceramic donuts. This was our most-liked photo and elicited the best captions comments. His interview in twelvmag about how he came to “make the donuts” is priceless. (Kim’s donuts were also shown by Lyons Weir at ArtMiami)
Now located on the beach
This solid show started in Wynwood ten years ago and is now under the direction of Helen Toomer. Toomer moved it to the beach this year. Adjacent to the boardwalk and steps from the ocean, the show is beautifully installed with plenty of white space to show off the fresh, contemporary, material-driven artworks shown by well-known galleries that feature both established and emerging artists. Included in the varied materials and media was plenty of photography and conceptual installations. These provided a good setting for Sienna Patti Contemporary to show works by Susie Ganch and Lauren Fensterstock. (Fenderstock’s work was shown this summer at Independent Art Projects in North Adams, Massachusetts.) A major seated man by sculptor Viola Frey was presented by Rena Bransten. Tthe work of emerging artist Alwyn O’Brien was shown at James Harris Gallery in an organic grid-glaze-figurine collage sculpture. These assemblages are a new trend in ceramic sculpture as they push the limits of the clay’s fragility. A gorgeous series of works by Kathy Butterly at Shoshana Wayne greeted visitors at the entrance of the fair.
plan A, Skypad and more…
What’s Miami without a few parties? Special thanks goes out to Kasher|Potamkin and particularly Andi Potamkin for hosting the Miami Project exhibitor party on the boat. We felt honored and pampered; it was definitely a lovely benefit of being a dealer exhibiting at the fair. We were on a boat. Then there was the Saturday night let-it-all-down penthouse party held by our uber host and hostess Stuart and Julie Chase at Skypad-on-the-Bay. Twinkly lights, sunrise/sunsets, and birds eye view of the backed up traffic, police lights, and reflections of boats across the water. Gathered there were various #artberkshire regulars, museum professionals, visiting photographers, and, of course, the weary dealers. Stuart Chase, director of HistoryMiami, announced the Knight Foundation award of a matching grant to develop a new photography center dedicated to the photography of Miami. We were all there to congratulate and cheer on this initiative. I lacked any initiative at that hour and only took a shot of the view before sitting down to enjoy the company in real time. Monday we took a spin through the current exhibitions at HistoryMiami museum and discovered how the Beatles foresaw Miami Art Week as shown in the photograph of the group on their 1966 Butcher album cover.
No one could have gotten anywhere without them and their friendly coupons.
And we’ll be back, same time next year.
ARTICLES OF NOTE:
HYPERALLERGIC
Miami Artist Run Over by Cop Dies of His Injuries by Benjamin Sutton
Hundreds Take to the Streets to Seek Justice for Artist Killed by Miami Police by Jillian Steinhauer
#BlackLivesMatter vs #artbasel by Jillian Steinaher
Blacked out in the Art World anonymous
From Kim Kardashian to Miley Cyrus Looking Back on Art Basel Miami’s Week of Excess in the New York Times T Magazine
Provacative Art Basel Tweets Make Jerry Saltz the Jonathan Swift of Social Media WSJ
Jerry Saltz’s Fake Instagram Week at Art Basel Vulture.com
Twelvmag.com’s Kamara Williams interviews Jae Yong Kim Ceramic Genius
Artnet with Picasso Stolen from art fair in Miami
CFILE’s Market Report | Art Basel Miami Beach
As part of this series, and through the generous sponsorship of The Australia Council, Ferrin Contemporary, the Lighton International Artists Exchange Program, Amaco and Mayco, eight ceramic artists –including Ben Carter, Chase Gamblin, Alex Jelleberg, Frances Palmer, Bonnie Smith, Mara Superior, Vipoo Srivilasa, and Elenor Wilson — came together at Project Art in Cummington, MA to create a unified tablescape.
From September 23 to October 8, 2014, the artists lived, worked, and explored the region together. The results of their residency, as well as individual works by participating artists will be presented for sale by Ferrin Contemporary at Independent Art Projects November 22 through January 4, 2015.
See below for images from the artKamp residency, and click here to read more about artKamp.
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Presented by Ferrin Contemporary, artKamp: indigo mass is an exhibition of selected works created during artKamp — a two-week international residency featuring eight artists working collaboratively to create a unified tablescape. Individual works by artKamp artists, which include Ben Carter, Chase Gamblin, Alex Jelleberg, Frances Palmer, Bonnie Smith, Mara Superior, Vipoo Srivilasa, and Elenor Wilson, will also be on view.
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Visiting Friends on Sunday Afternoon -ROY AND MARA SUPERIOR have lived in Williamsburg, Massachusetts since the mid 70’s. They’ve been making and collecting art and objects, filling their home with a chronology of their lives – his sculpture and furniture, her porcelain tableware and constructed vessels, his cabinets filled with her ceramics – ledges, shelves, side tables – framed works on paper – their home is an installation and lifetime collaboration. Her work features images and phrases from an idealized life with titles prominently featured. “Paradise” and shows a porcelain heaven, the new work, a commission is on the table “In Pursuit of Happiness” is based on Jefferson in the form of the White House.
OLD GROWTH FOREST – A WALK IN THE WOODS and a rain shower – “I don’t know if you can see this in the photo but …” walking near Project Art in the old growth forest this afternoon, it rained AND the sun was shining, AND I found chanterelles AND I was listening to Ben Carter’s interview with Vipoo Srivilasa AND at the end of the two hour interview, they spoke about when I met Vipoo at the Subversive Clay, 2012 Australian Ceramics Triennale Adelaide. It is a small world when you can walk through the forest in Cummington, Massachusetts and listen to a podcast by someone who is at Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Montana who is talking to someone from Thailand who lives in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia knowing that within a year, he will probably show up at Project Art in Cummington, MA. The “ANDS” could go on from here but I think you get the picture. Podcasts by Ben and Brian R. Jones make the world a smaller place. Vipoo and Mara are have works on view at Ferrin Contemporary located at Project Art in Cummington, MA. Gallery open by appt and during public programs. The next Artist Salon is Tuesday, August 13 6-8 p.m.
FOR MORE on Mara Superior and Vipoo Srivilasa onview at Ferrin Contemporary – Selected works from Current Procects
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