Ceramic arts blaze in new exhibit

Merritt

he Memorial Art Gallery's new exhibition may have visitors wondering when a teapot is really a teapot. Color and Fire: Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics 1950-2000 showcases 171 functional and nonfunctional vessels and sculptures drawn from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's touring exhibition.

Color and Fire, opening July 29 and remaining on view through October 7, focuses on ceramic art of the last half-century. The emphasis is on those "defining moments" when creativity burned red hot, offering visitors a journey through 50 years of ceramic history--from classical to cutting edge.

The artists represented include such luminaries as Peter Voulkos, Robert Arneson, Gertrude and Otto Natzler, and Bernard Lead, as well as works from many of Rochester's distinguished ceramists.

One such local artist, Stephen Merritt, is a Rochester native and son of Howard Merritt, professor emeritus of art and art history at the University. In an article published in the November 2000 issue of Ceramics Monthly, Merritt comments on his ceramic art: "My ceramic vessels seek to interpret the elegant functions of their historic counterparts, and in a world where this utility can be an anachronism, these pieces celebrate the elemental nature of clay and the classic beauty it can convey."

Color and Fire documents the evolving methods ceramists have used in the last 50 years to explore art in clay as functional object, abstract sculpture, or humorous social commentary.

The Memorial Art Gallery is offering free admission and free guided tours of the exhibition on opening day, July 29, noon to 5 p.m. For more information, call 473-7720 or visit http://mag.rochester.edu/MAG/default.htm.

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