The first gallery opening I attended in the new year was DRINK this!, a superb international show of ceramic cups held at the Workhouse Arts Center that boasts a state-of-the-art ceramic department.
The exhibition exemplified yet again the boundless versatility of clay. There were humorous cups, serious cups, stunningly poetic cups and narrative cups. It was like going to a dog show where you can hardly believe that all those different looking animals actually belong to the same species.
Ceramic art is hot right now. I would venture to say that the ceramic arts are no longer regarded as the poor second cousin to painting and sculpture. The cover of the latest issue of ARTnews magazine features an article entitled Ceramic Art Gets Serious. The eight page article starts off by claiming that ceramics has come out of the closet (we ceramicists have known this for years), and expounds on the wonders of the new crop of ceramic artists.
But let’s get back to the international cup show:
There’s nothing quite like drinking tea or coffee from a one-of-a-kind cup that has been so lovingly and creatively crafted to engage all the senses.
If you’re still not convinced about ceramics as a fine art form, check out my own article in the recent issue of Ceramics Art and Perception, page 92 🙂
Art and Beyond 