Clay is a Catalyst for Innovation and Change

The Plains Art Museum is currently hosting Innovation and Change, a collection of 79 ceramic pieces on loan from Arizona State University’s art museum.

As the exhibition curator, Peter Held explains, the show “[offers] a panoramic survey of the potential of clay as an expressive art form.

The objects on view range from functional ware for everyday use to more expressive sculptural forms.”

You are instantly aware of the tremendous skill that is present all around you when you walk into the packed exhibit. The show’s viewers become enthralled very quickly.

The exhibit features an array of ceramic forms including wheel-thrown vessels, plates, earthenware, stoneware, porcelain, large-scale and small-scale sculptures.

There are abstract forms and ones that are familiar and functional, like several tea pots and bowls. The show has a wide range of techniques, artists and eras represented. There are also artists from several different national backgrounds with works in the exhibit.

A really remarkable aspect of the show is how evident the influence of other artists is in the works. I couldn’t help but notice all of the similarities between the sculptors’ works and those of several painters. For instance, The Abstract Expressionist by Robert Arneson is a relief of the head and torso of Jackson Pollack and features Pollack’s signature paint drippings over a black painter’s coat. Running Away by Akio Takamori is reminiscent of Picasso’s works and the cubist movement with its visible movement and strong outlines. A glazed stoneware plate by Ken Price is a practical application of Matisse’s clean lines of human figures.

Throughout time, clay has been used for functional purposes. It has been a preservation method that has taught us how civilizations past have lived, and it has been used for aesthetic purposes. Its adaptability makes it a catalyst for innovative ideas and change, yet it is also a substance that has been utilized throughout time for survival.

The show also displays the evolution of the ceramics world (and art in general) since it consists of works from the 1930’s through today.

The show features pieces that have commonalities to other craft processes, cultures, and times. This reinforces the fact that clay is both a useful substance and a vehicle for expression. Clay is reflecting and preserving what is happening in the other arts and around the world.

The exhibit is a tribute to the adaptable nature of clay. It features functional pieces and large and small-scale sculptures. You don’t have to be a ceramicist or an artist to appreciate the simple beauty of this show.

If You Go

What: Innovation and Change: Great Ceramics from the Permanent Collection of the Ceramics Research Center,  Arizona State University Art Museum
Where: Plains Art Museum
When: Through Nov. 16
Info: http://www.plainsart.org