The Vessel Revisited: Fundamental Forms in Contemporary Ceramics
- Anne Noland Edwards Gallery
About the exhibition
Perhaps more than any other medium, ceramics bear the weight of their utilitarian origins. Ceramics carry an unavoidable connection to ancient history, to the forms of the jar, cup, bowl, pitcher, or urn so central to cooking, storing, and transporting goods from the very beginning of human civilization.
Far removed from that functional context, the ceramic medium remains a vital pursuit for contemporary artists who have transformed the earthen material from the utilitarian to the aesthetic, from use to contemplation. The elevation of the commonplace, along with related questions of value and the very definition of art, are some of the most significant themes of art in the last hundred years. This exhibition will engage these themes across a range of leading artists’ practices in the United States and beyond.
This exhibition features works by Pattie Chalmers, Chotsani Elaine Dean, Azza El Siddique, Molly Hatch, David Hicks, Sin-ying Ho, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Aida Lizalde, Roberto Lugo, Walter McConnell, Jennifer McCurdy, Maxwell Mustardo, Milena Muzquiz, Jolie Ngo, Denise Pelletier, Arlene Shechet, Stephanie Shih, and Bari Ziperstein.
Selected works
Sponsors
Related events
12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Broken Vessels, Restored Souls: Ceramics in Jewish Mysticism and Art | A Public Lecture by Joanna Homrighausen
In Judaism’s mystical traditions, the myth of the ‘breaking of the vessels’ imagines vessels of divine essence shattered at creation, left for humans to find and repair the world. Join CNU’s Jewish Studies program for a talk exploring Jewish mysticism and the art inspired by it. This lecture will begin with Jewish art from past centuries that engages mystical themes, from ritual implements to calligraphed manuscripts, then turn to more recent Jewish artists who have played with Jewish mystical texts, themes, and symbols.
Joanna Homrighausen (PhD, Religion, Duke University) teaches in Judaic Studies at William & Mary, and writes and teaches on sacred words, sacred texts, and how individuals and communities reproduce, ritualize, and revere them through lettering arts and scribal crafts. She has recently published on Hebrew calligrapher Gabriel Wolff’s tattoo designs, word and image in illustrated scrolls of the Book of Esther, and the Zen influences on Jewish lettering artist Izzy Pludwinski. She is currently in the early stages of a book on the Hebrew lettering of Jewish-American artist Ben Shahn, and speaks on Jewish art for Jewish Art Education.
Presented in collaboration with CNU’s Department of Philosophy and Religion and sponsored by the Bertram and Gladys Aaron Endowed Professorship in Jewish Studies.
Reception | 12:30 p.m.
Lecture | 1:30 p.m.
