[January 08, 2013]

Breaking the Mold: de Saisset Features Artists Who See Clay Differently

The de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University opens the winter season with an exhibition that speaks to the legacy of ceramics in Northern California.

Clay in the Bay, on view January 18 to March 17, 2013, brings together twelve contemporary artists from around the Bay Area who work with clay in diverse ways. The use of clay as a fine art medium has deep roots in Northern California. Once considered a form of craft, it took the ingeuity, creativity, and vision of artists like Robert Arneson and Peter Voulkos to look beyond the medium's utilitarian properties to its expressive qualities. In the decades following, their successors continued to stretch the creative boundaries of clay sculpture. Today, the use of the medium as a respected art form continues to thrive.

Through the use of varied techniques the artists featured in the exhibition, many of whom teach at local Universities, transform clay into organic shape, architectural design, and narrative form. For some, it is the sole medium in which they work; for others the ceramic elements are part of a larger whole. Regardless, the works included in the show speak to the incredible versatility of the medium as it is molded, shaped, and otherwise manipulated.

Artists in this exhibition include Bean Finneran, Don Fritz, Francisco "Pancho" Jiménez, Robert Kvenild, David Linger, Spring Montes, Matthew Scheatzle, Nancy Selvin, Ehren Tool, Monica Van den Dool, Jenni Ward, and Stan Welsh.

Events:

The museum celebrates the opening of Clay in the Bay on Thursday, Jan. 24 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Many of the artists in the exhibition will be present and available to discuss their work.

On Wednesday, February 27 at 7 p.m., artist Stan Welsh will give a public lecture on his art. The program is co-sponsored by the de Saisset and SCU's Department of Art and Art History.

Artist Nancy Selvin will lecture on Radical Pots: Ceramics in the Bay Area, 1960s Onward on Thursday, March 7 at 7 p.m. She will address the radical departure from the norm that took place in Bay Area ceramic work in the 1960s and discuss how that shift is carried forward in today's clay community.

All events are free and open to the public.

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