Expatriate Ceramics

https://www.northernclaycenter.org/exhibition/expatriate-ceramics

Curated by Ursula Hargens, this exhibition will explore how place informs an artist’s body of work and highlights five artists—four Americans and one Canadian—who spent time in residence at influential ceramic centers around the world, or lived abroad for a significant time. Some of these artists launched their careers with this singular experience; others helped to build an institution’s notoriety and create opportunities for the next generation of makers; still others were part of a long lineage of experiential making in places steeped with history and making. The exhibition will showcase work created before, during, and after their experiences, demonstrating the impact of location on materials, process, culture, and concepts.

Each location provides unique opportunities for innovation and reflection. They include: Jingdezhen, China, a city that has been the epicenter of porcelain production for the past 1000 years; c.r.e.t.a. Rome, a residency program with a backdrop of Anguillara Sabazia, a Medieval town on Lake Bracciano, Italy; the Leach Pottery in St. Ives, England, founded in 1920 by Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada, and hailed as the birthplace of British studio pottery; Kohler Factory, a unique American residency program in the Midwest that draws artists from across the globe and affords them access to industrial processes. Work is loaded into huge kilns alongside commodes and bathtubs; and the International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemét, Hungary, a country with a history of exquisite porcelain manufacturing.

Guest artists include Derek Au, Rebecca Harvey, Jeff Oestreich, Amelié Proulx, and George Timock, with select works by two of Timock’s former students, Emily Connell and Maura Wright.