Here’s another entry in our efforts to keep our readers up on clay exhibits taking place in the Carolinas.
The Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC, is presenting the exhibit, SC6: Six South Carolina Innovators in Clay, on view in the Mamie and William Andrew Treadway, Jr. Gallery 15 through Oct. 3, 2010.
Drawn from public and private collections, six innovative ceramic artists who are, or have been, active in South Carolina are featured in this Gallery 15 installation. The works illustrate a diverse range of technique, glazes and forms for which the artists are best known. Featured artists include: Russell Biles, from Greenville, whose figural sculptures are deeply laden with social and political commentary; Jim Connell from Rock Hill, whose sinuous vessels are decorated with elaborate glazes, many of which are inspired by ancient Chinese ceramics; Georgia Henrietta Harris (deceased), a member of the Catawba Nation, who is largely credited with reviving the Catawba pottery tradition; Peter Lenzo from Columbia, whose technically complex sculptures recall the 19th century Southern “face jug” tradition yet remain completely unique; Ron Meyers from Athens, Georgia, whose functional ceramics are brightly slip-painted in a gestural, expressionistic style that can be both provocative and confrontational; and Virginia Scotchie from Columbia, head of the ceramics program at the University of South Carolina, who incorporates familiar shapes when creating her richly complex and lushly glazed vessels.
Works by Peter Lenzo
Brian J. Lang, curator of decorative arts at the Columbia Museum of Art, organized and curated the exhibition. “The Columbia Museum of Art is proud to highlight six diverse South Carolina ceramic artists who have had a profound impact on the development of ceramics in the state,” says Lang.
This Gallery 15 show is organized in conjunction with the Museum’s major summer exhibition, Innovation and Change: Great Ceramics from the Ceramics Research Center. The exhibition highlights 78 masterworks by many of the leading international ceramic artists of our day and offers a panoramic survey of the potential of clay as an expressive art form. Great Ceramics runs through Sept. 5, 2010. The Ceramics Research Center in Arizona contains one of the most exceptional collections of contemporary ceramics in the United States. The presenting sponsors for the exhibition are Carolina Ceramics Brick Company and Marcia and Allen Montgomery. Supporting sponsors are Colonial Life and Accident Insurance Company and Helen and Buddy Hill.
For further information call the Museum at 803/799-2810 or visit (www.columbiamuseum.org).
