The Denver Art Museum takes a closer look at the medium of clay in its exhibition “Marvelous Mud: Clay Through the Ages.” Celebrating the prolific and diverse material, “Marvelous Mud” reveals how clay has shaped culture, creativity, science and industry over time and around the globe. “Marvelous Mud” is on view June 11 through September 18.
The show features seven exhibitions throughout the Hamilton and North buildings, hands-on and live programming, with artists and experts and indoor and outdoor creation stations that allows visitors to discover the medium.
“Marvelous Mud” features two large-scale exhibitions in the Hamilton Building galleries †”Marajo: Ancient Ceramics at the Mouth of the Amazon” and “Overthrown: Clay Without Limits.” Five additional exhibits are presented in the museum’s permanent collection galleries. Each display focuses on a particular art form, showing how clay has connected artists for centuries.
“Marajo” focuses on the elaborately decorated red, white and black earthenware ceramics from the people who occupied the Brazilian island of Marajo from 300 to 1300.
“Overthrown” brings together regional, national and international artists who push the boundaries of clay to create large-scale installations that respond to the dynamic architecture of the Daniel Libeskind-designed Hamilton Building. The majority of the 25 participating artists will create site-specific artworks.
Other exhibitions include:
“Blue and White: A Ceramic Journey” conveys the popularity of blue and white pottery throughout the centuries in different parts of the world.
“Dirty Pictures” shows the varied ways photographers have depicted mud in their work.
“Earth and Fire” showcases ceramic work in the DAM’s modern and contemporary art collection, as well as paintings that respond to earth and fire.
“Mud to Masterpiece: Mexican Colonial Ceramics” explores the era of global trade and its effect on traditional Mexican earthenware, Chinese porcelain and Mexican majolica.
“Potters of Precision: The Coors Porcelain Company” displays porcelain labware produced by the Golden, Colo., company.
The Denver Art Museum is on 13th Avenue, between Bannock Street and Broadway. For information, 720-865-5000 or www.denverartmuseum.org .
