Welcome back to NewsFile, our weekly roundup of news from the worlds of contemporary ceramics and contemporary ceramic art. We’re kicking off this week with a big announcement about Cfile’s management. Meet our new board of directors!
Above image: Rick Rogers of Akron, Ohio is the new president of Cfile’s executive board.
Rick Rogers of Akron, the art collector and ceramophile, has been elected president of the executive board of the Cfile Foundation for a two-year term, succeeding founder Garth Clark in that role. He is joined on the board by Sande Deitch of Santa Fe who has served as treasurer for Cfile since its inception three years ago. New board members are: the artists and educator, Tony Marsh from Long Beach; publisher and organizer of the Gulgong Clay conference, Bernadette Mansfield from Sydney; noted scholar and dealer in Native American ceramics, Charles King from Phoenix; curator and scholar Martha Drexler Lynn from Carmel CA; and Garth Clark who remains on the board in the Founders seat and as secretary.
We, Cfile’s Team, were thrilled to meet with the board in late November and for us to have such a warm, talented and informed board to give leadership and build our confidence.
Dawn Bennett from Hawaii, secretary from our inception, has retired from the board. She was previously the Executive Director of Urban Glass, Brooklyn, whose term delivered a new $50 million facility. She has proved to be valuable to Cfile in our early years and she will be sorely missed.
The Cfile Team comprises Garth Clark, Bill Rodgers, Marie-Claire Bryant, Jill Epstein, Mariah Epstein, Rachael Donner, consultants Kristin Carlson and Justin Crowe, and designer, Vladimir Zaygorodny.
New York Ceramics and Glass Fair
Get ready for The New York Ceramics & Glass Fair, set for a special preview on January 18. The main fair will run January 19 – January 22 at the Bohemian National Hall on 73rd Street in New York City.
The fair spans two floors of the Hall, bringing together more than 30 galleries, private dealers and artists from the United States, England, Europe and Asia. Objects that date back to the 17th century will be on display, showing visitors a wealth of porcelalin, pottery and glass. We’ve included images of some of the works to accompany this post.
Silver-Mount Kangxi Spirits Barrell on offer from Polly Latham, 19th century, Dutch, 4 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches, $4,800
Robin Best, The Knight of the Lions, 2016, porcelain with on-glaze Xin Cai, 14.125 x 7.875 x 10.25 inches. On offer from Ferrin Contemporary.
Robin Best, Mark Catesby Marine Vase, 2015, porcelain and glaze, 15.75 x 10 inches. Offered by Ferrin Contemporary.
NYMag: Gay Subway Couple is Landmark Artwork for City
Last week we ran a post about the wonderful mosaics that went up along the route of New York’s new subway line. This week New York Magazine called attention to one of our favorites from the bunch, Vik Muniz’s Perfect Strangers (2016). The work shows an assortment of strangers apparently waiting for a train together. They’re loaded with all of these fun character details, such as the middle aged blue collar men holding hands. The magazine had this to say about that mosaic:
The portrait of the couple is the first permanent, nonpolitical LGBTQ public art in all of New York City, Jonathan David Katz told the AP. The SUNY Buffalo art historian said the piece is significant because “it isn’t gayness singled out and made the theme. On the contrary, the work naturalizes gayness within the fabric of the city, and in so doing, that’s actually an even more powerful message.”
Another reason the work is powerful, at least as far as its subjects and their loved ones are concerned, is because the two men aren’t traditionally hunky. “Our friends were happy that this is gay representation on the walls of New York City, but our friends were even happier that this is gay representation that is not incredibly beautiful and skinny,” Kellogg told the AP. Or, as his husband called them,“ just average-looking guys.”
To be added to the folder: Why the United States needs Public Art.
Click to see a larger image.
Lucie Rie Bowl Goes for £173,000
A Lucie Rie bowl sold for £173,000 ($210,437) at auction, setting the second world record for a Lucie Rie piece in three months, according to the Daily Mail (excuse us, we lacked a better source). The bowl is a richly-textured matte white with some hair-thin blue circles running around the circumference. Of course the brilliant art writers at the DM had to point out that you can buy a similar bowl for £4 at Ikea, but I’d point out that Ikea isn’t releasing bowls made by one of the most famous potters to come out of the 20th century. Sometimes you have to reach if you’re affecting an air of populism. Such is the reactionary tabloid business.
Bowl by Lucie Rie.
Garth Brooks Quizzed about Garth Clark on NPR
You might be aware of Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, the weekly show on NPR that quizzes panelists on the week’s news. It’s part game show, part improv comedy and in it I can see the genesis of some of the popular comedy podcasts of today.
One of their bits is “Not My Job,” where a celebrity guest is invited on to answer questions. The celebrity is playing on behalf of a listener, who can win the voice of one of the hosts on their answering machine. That raises an eyebrow in 2017, but —hey— it’s listener-supported radio.
We found out that our very own Garth Clark got a shoutout on Wait Wait back in November. Singer Garth Brooks was on the air answering questions about famous Garths in literature. And…
SAGAL: All right. Your first Garth author is Garth Clark. He’s from South Africa, and he has written several books about art collecting, including which of these – A, “Sad Clown Paintings: The Beauty Behind The Frown Behind The Smile”; B, “Black Velvet: The Medium Is The Message”; Or C, “The Eccentric Teapot: 400 Of Innovation”?
…
BROOKS: Can I phone a friend?
SAGAL: You can phone anybody you want but not now.
BROOKS: Hey, Ms. Yearwood?
BROOKS: Just pick A, B or C for me.
TRISHA YEARWOOD: B.
BROOKS: B
SAGAL: Wait a minute, you just asked your wife, Trisha Yearwood, to pick a letter at random?
…
BROOKS: She said B.
SAGAL: All right. It was C, “The Eccentric Teapot: 400 Years Of Innovation.”
I had one of those crises of perspective when I listened to the clip. At first I wondered how Brooks could fall for two obvious jokes (though, if those first two books existed they’d be on my shelf immediately) but then I realized that, absent context, all three seem like likely answers. They all sound esoteric to outsiders. You sometimes lose the forest through the trees in this line of work.
You can hear the whole segment here. Thanks, NPR!
Bill Rodgers is the Managing Editor of cfile.daily.
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