The Ceramic Top 40 | 2013 is an exhibition that presents the work of juried and invited artists currently working in conceptual, utilitarian, and sculptural ceramics. From the exhibition, Leslie Ferrin, director of Ferrin Contemporary, selected forty artists (20 over the age of 40 and 20 artists under age 40) to represent the cutting edge of current processes, ideas, and presentation concepts by both the up-and-coming generation of artists and established artists who are breaking new ground. The finalists were announced on November 7th, 2013, after a final jurying of the installation.
Early in 2013, Red Star Studios became collaborators on the project. Michael Baxley, Gallery Manager/Curator at Red Star, saw this is as a perfect storm, “our new gallery space opened at a time that Ferrin was seeking a central location for the exhibition. Ferrin inquired about our space after she selected several key artists who are currently working in or around the Kansas City area. The timing for the artists, the project, and our new space fit perfectly”.
Ferrin explains the concept of the show in this way: in the past, periodic survey exhibitions were sponsored by institutions such as the Everson Museum of Art’s Ceramic National, American Craft Museum’s Young Americans, and the recent exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum of Art’s Renwick Gallery, 40 under 40: Craft Futures,a multimedia survey. With increased media recognition and integration of contemporary ceramic art and objects in museum exhibitions and contemporary art galleries, it seemed important to fill the gap opened up by the Renwick show and provide a subjective survey to the medium of clay. The process of creating this exhibition reveals what an important moment this is for a generation of makers and collectors.
Ferrin uses a farming metaphor to describe this transitional moment for ceramics, “through this show, we are looking at who are the established masters continuing to break creative ground alongside the next generation of artists who are developing a strong root system of their own at mid career.”
The exhibition and its raison d’être raise interesting questions about the field. To give this show its due, it has some great work. I use the term “work” because it is not all art. Utilitarian work is not art but design. And anything that is three-dimensional can be sculptural, but is not necessarily sculpture. And where in the visual arts today do you see exhibitions than combine “conceptual, utilitarian, and sculptural” in one show? Only in the crafts. It can be done, but requires thematic threads more cohesive than “Top 40.” Could it be that the Everson and a dozen other institutions have dropped these kinds of shows over the years because they no longer served a purpose? Even Scripps Annual in Claremont, California (the last of its kind) is looking long in the tooth.
The flaw in this kind of exhibition is that it presupposes that all this stuff, with no connective intellectual tissue, just with a shared material, belongs together under the same roof. It might as well be “40 Ways with Clay” (remember those shows). Leslie Ferrin brings a lot of experience, knowledge, and insight to the table and this show must have been a massive undertaking. Her seemingly boundless energy could be better used. May we respectfully suggest that she retools the Top 40, and comes back with three separate shows, one per year: Conceptual Art, Utilitarian Design and Sculpture? Otherwise we are left, to continue the agricultural analogy, having to compare apples with oranges. However, there is excellent work in this exhibition and while it has no core focus, it is well worth a visit. But this show is not the future for ceramics surveys. Aren’t we ready for a full-scale biennale?
Lastly, some information about Red Star Studios; it has been a mainstay in Kansas City’s ceramics scene for almost fifteen years and has been producing exhibitions of national importance. It has partnered with the Belger Arts Center in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District and expanded to Belger Crane Yard Studios, located at 2011 Tracy Avenue in Kansas City. The Red Star gallery is open Wednesday through Friday from 10am to 5pm and Saturdays from 10am to 4pm. The gallery remains open until 9pm on the first Friday of every month. Red Star Studios also features studio spaces for resident artists and offers classes and workshops to the public for all skill levels.
Garth Clark is the Chief Editor of CFile.
Image above: The Ceramic Top 40 | 2013, Installation at Red Star Studios, Kansas City, Missouri. Beth Cavener Stichter’s Obariyon.
Steven Young Lee, Vase with Scroll Pattern, 2013. Porcelain and copper Inlay. 14″ high
Steve Young Lee, Cups Panels Blue, 2013. Porcelain and mixed media, 19″ high
Paul Scott, Scott’s Cumbrian Blue(s) (Crooklands) Cow in Meadow, 2007. Bone china. 15.75″ height.
Michelle Erikson, Green Squirrel and Second Amendment Squirrel, 2013. Indigenous clays, 8″ high
Beth Cavener Stichter, Obariyon, 2013. Stoneware, antique metal hooks, 30″ length
Adam Shiverdecker, Banquet Series: Red Crater 1, 2013. Stoneware, steel, 14″ h
Stephen Bird, Persian blue shoot out, 2102. Earthenware 16″ H
Thanks CFILE for getting the word out and Garth Clark for “stirring the pot” with ideas about vocabulary and concepts brought forth by our show. The exhibit “Ceramic Top 40” has been enjoyed by thousands of visitors, students, artists and collectors from throughout the country and continues through January 25th. Countless more have seen it online and soon we will have a digital catalog to share and offer in print. While we too, look forward to that future dream of a full- scale biennale there remains an immediate need for application based and curated exhibitions that enable young and mid career artists to participate in the professional arena. A huge thanks goes to Red Star Studios for providing the opportunity for those artists to present their works in a physical space. With CFILE and internet based publishing, the digital version(s) will live on indefinitely.
Thank you, Leslie.
I applaud Leslie Ferrin and others for doing a large ceramic show and showing all the types together. Garth is right that we have to have separate shows in theme but we also have to come together as a whole Ceramics arts to educate that ceramics can be regarded in all aspects and art shows not just left to ceramic only or just design or just sculpture etc…. It is this isolation of ceramics as over here and only conceptual or only sculptural in this show which has separate ceramics so much the public has no idea what ceramic is. Doing academic hacgaryh out it intelligent tissue shows plus ones like the above and the CAA shows both gets us out into the public, gets us more collectors and buyers which as ceramic artists we do have to make a living besides please what critics thinks takes ceramics to that higher place. Some forget that we have to make a living in order to expand ceramics to where it can go and into what Garth wants to see. I would much rather see a show of skill like Leslie Ferrin’s top. 40 then that box clay thing which you categorized as ceramics.
Typo iPhone auto- see this type of show then the boxing clay in the dark thing which should never be considered ceramics. Intelligent themed shows and large shows showing all of what ceramics is about and what can be accomplished -both type shows should have a place- not just separated category shows. And more round table discussions on this we should have.
Thanks for the thoughtful review. And HELL YES to the idea of a full scale biennial.
Thank you!
Dear Garth, Thanks for the review and for spreading the word about this exhibit. With Leslie’s Top 40 opening a week ago and Jun Kaneko’s Magic Flute opening tomorrow night at the Kauffman Performing Arts Center in downtown Kansas City, there is a lot of attention on ceramics in KC right now (even more than usual). A rising tide raises all ships and Belger and Red Star are happy to be on the voyage. If you are anywhere near Kansas City before Jan. 25 we hope you will come to the new Belger Crane Yard Studios gallery and check out the show. There’s a lot to love in this exhibit.
Mo Dickens
Gallery Assistant
Belger/Red Star
Thanks, Mo!