'The Last Drop.' Sketched by Thomas Rowlandson, Published by John Harwood, Jan 1st, 1829, London. ©Trustees of the British Museum
PRESENTED BY THE NORTH CAROLINA POTTERY CENTER OF SEAGROVE, NC, IN COLLABORATION WITH THE CHIPSTONE FOUNDATION OF MILWAUKEE, WI, AND CERAMICS IN AMERICA
For thousands of years, potters have fashioned clay vessels for the ritual consumption of fermented and distilled beverages. These vessels not only reflect the technological and stylistic concerns of their time and place, but also a wide variety of cultural celebrations as well as proscriptions related to the making, distribution, ceremonial usage, and consumption of alcoholic drinks.
We have invited fifteen leading contemporary potters, from North Carolina and around the United States, to create new ceramic work that will be inspired by specific English (and one German) drinking vessels, out of The Chipstone Foundation's exemplary collection, from the 17th or 18th century. We were not seeking a reproduction or a facsimile necessarily, but an interpretive or conceptually based object that reflects upon historic materials, designs, and processes interpreted through the lens of cultural commentary, societal views on alcohol consumption, and the ongoing role of fired clay in alcohol-related wares.
Other areas of the exhibition will focus on ceramic artist Michelle Erickson’s historical approach to recreating antique ceramics and the alcohol-related ceramics of 19th-century North Carolina.
Ceramics in America 2017 will serve as the document of record for the show/project and will include brief biographies of and statements by each of the participating artists as well as a critical essay.
Curated by Robert Hunter, the editor of Ceramics in America, supported by an advisory panel of Mark Hewitt, David Stuempfle, Michelle Erickson, Lindsey Lambert, Stephen Compton, Jon Prown, and Sarah Carter.