The Vessel Revisited: Fundamental Forms in Contemporary Ceramics

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.