: The multifaceted forms of ceramic arts in America spiraled out
into society like clay on a potter's wheel as mainstream pottery
centers absorbed important contributions by Modernist artists
working around the edges. The recently opened exhibit "Centers
and Edges: Modern Ceramic Design and Sculpture, 1880-1980,"
examines the wide variety of styles and influences that propelled
the evolution of Modernist ceramic arts in America throughout the
late Nineteenth and Twentieth Century.
The exhibition at the Smart Museum of Art is on view through
September 18.
The objects on view have been culled primarily from the museum's
own collection and arranged according to specific areas of
influence. Irrespective of period or maker, the approximately 110
objects on view share an extraordinarily tactile quality.
When late Nineteenth Century English and American potters looked
to the past they found much to emulate and they integrated
aspects of neo-Gothic, Orientalist and French Rococo Revival
styles into their own work.
