Newsletter January-February 2022
President’s Message
Ahh, what a year it has been!
The board met monthly via Zoom, and although it was efficient and has opened the door to more board participation from members not in the Bay area, I think we all miss the monthly in person gatherings. The exhibitions committee put together some great shows, and it was just fabulous to be able to gather again in Palo Alto for the Clay and Glass Festival. I have spoken to many artists who had a very successful year despite the pandemic, and others who struggled.
I imagine we all wander the halls of both optimism and doubt. There has been so much lost, and so much gained in these past two years, it’s pretty mind boggling!
Still, I remain optimistic and grateful. Grateful that I have made pots for a living for so long and still have buckets of ideas and excitement for the pots yet to be made, and optimistic for the future of craft and the profound meaning offered therein.
In trying times, craft and art doggedly bubble to the surface. To a troubled world, their voice is solid. They are, in both the act of creating, and in the finished piece itself, a nod to life and hope and better days to come.
Wishing you all a happy, healthy and creative New Year.
Cheryl Costantini
Cheryl
707 823-0950 potters@sonic.net nichibeipotters.com
Nichibei Shop
@nichibeipotters
ACGA Exhibition News
ACGA has a variety of exhibitions scheduled for NCECA this year. Here is a quick rundown:
A booth at Gallery EXPO in the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center, Sacramento – with 17 ACGA artists participating from March 16-19. This booth is the inspiration of Mari Emori – and she will give us the details in the next newsletter.
An exhibition at Sparrow Gallery in Sacramento, “Seismic State: Ceramics of California”. Juried by Beth Ann Gerstein, Executive Director of AMOCA in Pomona, CA, it will showcase approximately 40 juried and invited ceramic artists from all over CA.
Participation in EBCR (East Bay Clay Roots) – a collaboration of numerous East Bay Ceramic galleries and individual artists immediately before and after NCECA in Sacramento. ACGA’s location will be at Brushstrokes Studio, 745 Page Street, Berkeley. Details and the application for that will be out shortly.
Jan Schachter janschachter@gmail.com
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Dear friends,
It is time for me to sage my studio and get ready for a new year of wonderful pottery. I bought my sage stick at East West Bookstore on Castro Street. They also sell them at Whole Foods grocery store. The sage ceremony is below.
Best, Barbara
Every year as the year ends I do a studio cleaning ritual so I can start the new year with purpose and good energy. My ceramic artist friend, Bea Wax introduced me to the American Indian tradition called Smudging by giving me a sage smudge stick. You clean your studio and then light the smudge stick till it smokes and walk around the perimeter of your studio, giving special attention to corners and places behind doors. Have ready a fireproof
receptacle such as a shell, glass or ceramic dish to put the smudge stick in when you’re finished and make sure your smudge stick is out
before leaving the studio.
On New Year’s day I go to the studio and make at least one new piece of work to start the new year with purpose and good energy. Have a wonderful, happy new year filled with creative energy.
Barbara
Barbara Brown
1225 Manzano Way
Sunnyvale, Ca 94089
Home 408 736-3889 Cell 408 482-9459
bbrown3@webtv.net
www.barbarabrownclayart.com
WEBSITE LIAISON
Remember that if you would like to have your information to appear in the newsletter, you MUST send it to Bonita Cohn at news@acga.net, (Please separate image and text.)
MEMBER NEWS
Lee Middleman
Lee was awarded a silver prize in the 2021 Shanghai International Ceramics Woodfire Festival held in December. Lee hopes to return to China for more working conferences and exhibitions in 2022/23.
Vicki Gunter
Due to Omicron breakthrough cases, and in the interest of safe family & friend visits, NCWCA decided to cancel this reception.
NCWCA’s Women Artist Collaboration – Composing the Future ll
The DiNapoli Gallery, SJSU King Library
150 E San Fernando St, San Jose, CA 95112
Artists’ Talk – Sunday, January 6, 7-8pm
Online via Zoom, details: www.ncwca.org
Diana Greenleaf
Diana’s Ceramic Sculpture, “Flying is a Stretch” is selected as a Finalist, designating her piece was in the top 25 out of 500 entries. Please follow the link to enjoy the virtual show. Her flying cats can be viewed in the Action Gallery.
Swanica Ligtenberg
Swanica is one of the 36 winners chosen for 2022 ICAN Wall Calenders: Surface Decoration October 2022.
Mimi Abers
Abers has work consisting of kiln-cast glass (below) and clay sculptures on view through January 16 at
Gallery Route One in Pt Reyes Station.
Vince Montague
Montague is involved in ACCI’s A Place at the Table, featuring individual table settings by regional ceramic artists. Organized by ACCI Ceramic Artists, Kathy Kearns and Vince Montague and juried by Bay Area Artist and Writer, Maria Porges. This exhibition explores the concept of “place” and the artists’ visual connection between food and ceramics.
The exhibition is generously supported by the Julia Terr Fund for Ceramic Arts under the auspices of the Community Foundation of Sonoma.The Julia Terr Fund will underwrite the cost of the entry fee for all participants (one entry per person) and provide three cash awards to the best place-settings in the exhibition of $300, $200 and $100.
This support will allow access to those artists who are working locally and want to show their work during the the NCECA 2022 conference. We encourage all artists to apply, from students to professionals, especially those artists who are underrepresented and who identify as such.
—
vincemontague.com
Michael Dickenson
Michael has been working over the last few months to open a new space: Dickinson Glass Studio and Showroom, in Sebastopol. They have just announced that “we’re fully open, an operation, and have released class registration for glass flameworking classes in the North Bay. It’s a beautiful space that I’m excited to share more of: as a gallery, working studio, and teaching space. I also have other local artists featured here and plan to host events / would love to feature even more of a variety of artists in the gallery.”
Website: https://www.dickinsonglass.com
Class Registration: https://www.dickinsonglass.com/classregistration
WORKSHOPS AND VIRTUAL CLASSES
Please visit ACGA’s EVENTS/WORKSHOPS page for a complete list of upcoming classes and workshops.
EXHIBITIONS
NOTE: Some of the dates/activities may no longer be correct, be sure to contact the organizer to confirm.
ALBANY
ABRAMS CLAGHORN GALLERY
“One Nest” investigates balancing what is good for human beings with what is beneficial for other species and the planet – our one nest, our only home, and a shared one. Recognizing that all life and ecosystems on our planet are deeply intertwined, we share these impressions in clay, ink and light. We believe in art as agency for change. Artists, historically, have been both witnesses and the raw material for envisioning the future in challenging and critical times. These ARE critical times. It is critical that we do our art. It is critical to make the peaceful revolutionary changes that allow the world to repair. Look closer with us.
Video Tour: https://abramsclaghornshop.com/collections/one-nest-earthworks
VIDEO TOUR: https://abramsclaghornshop.com/collections/one-nest-earthworks
1251 Solano Avenue, Albany, CA 94706
Tuesday – Sunday | 10-6pm and by appointment
BERKELEY
The TRAX art bnb is actively being booked check it out on the trax web site. Covidly cleaned.
TRAX Gallery has five unique Peter Voulkos color lithos
32″ x 24″, 1979, $1000 each, signed, unframed, email for more info.
1812 5th Street, Berkeley, CA 94710
510.540.8729
info@traxgallery.com www.traxgallery.com
by appointment – call: 510.540.8729 or text 510.914.1303
SAN FRANCISCO
We are looking forward to welcoming you back to the museum and your safety is our top priority. We will continue to frequently clean high-touch areas, provide hand sanitizer stations throughout the museum, and reduce capacity to allow for physical distancing. Plus, our building is equipped with a top-notch air-filtration system to deliver some of the cleanest air you can find in the city.
We are committed to providing you an uplifting and worry-free experience. Learn more about what to expect on your visit. And don’t forget to join us on Mar. 7 for Free First Sundays! Book Timed Tickets Online in Advance.
Timed entry tickets are quick and easy to reserve. With reduced capacity, you’ll have plenty of space to enjoy an intimate experience with our collection and exhibitions. Reserve your tickets now…asianart.org
Check Out Our New Hours
Thurs: 1 PM–8 PM
Fri–Mon: 10 AM–5 PM
Tues–Wed: Closed
CROCKETT
EPPERSON GALLERY OF CERAMIC ART
NEW DAY – Chuck Potter and Margaret Realica and Diane Williams
January 21, 2022 – February 27, 2022
Chuck Potter: “My intention is to create a space where the viewer is encouraged to pause so they can tune into the spirit that dwells inside. I use nature as a catalyst to spur deep self-listening so that viewers can connect with a force larger than themselves to discover their purpose.”
Margaret Realica: ” Combining high and low tech. The contemporary and traditional. Organic with industrial. Stark contrasts are intermingled through deconstruction and reconstruction, pushing and overlapping boundaries, leading to new abstractions
and concepts.”
Diane Williams: “I use intuitive color, bold mark making and monumental scale as a vehicle for the voice of the strong feminine to weave nature’s story across time.”
REAP
Emmanuela Sintamarian, Jules Campbell, Oona Nelson, Thomas Wojak, Françoise LeClerc, Maryann Steinert Foley, and Daniel Stingle.
January 21, 2022 – February 27, 2022
The Bay Area has a bounty of talent, an abundance of artists, a cacophony of voices. This show combines work that explores the themes of mortality, memory, decadence, excess, and joy. It challenges your sense of reality, and ponders the question, how did we get to this moment in time?
Friday – Sunday, 11AM – 5PM
Anytime by Appointment – 510.787.2925.
Epperson Gallery of Ceramic Art, 1400 Pomona Street, Crockett, CA • 510.787.2915
Safety Precautions in place, Masks Required!
Private Appointments available upon request
PT REYES STATION
Blunk Space
Solange Roberdeau and Jochen Holz
Through February 6, 2022
Blunk Space is a new research center and exhibition venue dedicated to advancing the art and legacy of JB Blunk. The exhibition program presents historical and contemporary art, design and craft with links to Blunk’s work. The JB Blunk Estate invites contemporary artists to engage with Blunk’s work and legacy through a variety of means, from exploring the estate’s extensive archive and permanent collection to visiting his iconic handmade home. Blunk Space will operate as a commercial gallery and event space, creating opportunities for artists to present their work to fresh audiences and engage new collectors. Located in downtown Point Reyes Station, a growing hub of tourism and cultural activity, Blunk Space aims to be a destination to view contemporary art and design in a place that has inspired artists for decades.
11101 Highway 1, #105, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956
POMONA
AMOCA – The American Museum of Ceramic Art
info@amoca.org, or call (909) 865-3146.
Life is Not a Dress Rehearsal – Don Reitz
June 4, 2021 – February 20, 2022
The exhibition Don Reitz: Life is not a Dress Rehearsal features the work of Don Reitz, an artist broadly recognized as one of the most influential American ceramic artists of the last century. Known by many in the ceramics community as “Mr. Salt” for his role in almost single-handedly reviving the salt-fire tradition in American studio ceramics, the New York Times recognized Reitz as “one of a small cadre of midcentury artisans who expanded the medium to include immense, intellectually provocative works of abstract art” (New York Times, March 30, 2014). This exhibition will add to the significant body of scholarship on Reitz’s work with new research on the well-known but largely unstudied “Sara Series” (1983-91). This exhibition will feature, together for the first time, over 40 works from this series.
Imprinted – Assembling California – Ahwini Bhat
January 8, 2022 – May 1, 2022
Since 2016, the American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA) has partnered with the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery at Scripps College to produce exhibitions of works by the guest curators of the Scripps College Ceramic Annual. In January of 2022, curator Ashwini Bhat will curate On Fire: Contemporary Trailblazers for the 77th Scripps College Ceramic Annual. Opening earlier in the month in the Vault Gallery at AMOCA, the exhibition Ashwini Bhat: IMPRINTED, Assembling California will debut a new body of work comprising sculptures, photographs, and a video work that are based in direct experiences with the California landscape.
frontdesk@amoca.org
http://www.amoca.org
399 N Garey Ave
Museum: 909.865.3146
Studio: 909.622.0464
OJAI
OJAI VISIONS
Featuring Members of Ojai Studio Artists
In the Beato & Logan Galleries
Opening Reception was held Saturday, January 22, 2022 / 2 – 4 pm
The Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts is Open to the Public
Fri, Sat, & Sun 11:00 am – 5:00 pm.
8585 Ojai-Santa Paula Road, Ojai, CA 93023
805.646.3381
BeatriceWoodCenter@gmail.com
SFO AIRPORT
International Terminal
Departures – Level 3
May 28, 2021 – Jan 23, 2022
Stoneware Stories- Folk Pottery of Edgefield, South Carolina
The Deep South has a unique place in the history of American ceramics. In the Northeast, potters commonly used salt to glaze stoneware in the European tradition. But in the southern United States, where salt was a more precious commodity, potters often applied alkaline glazes on high-fired stoneware. Pottery ranges in color from pale green to dark brown with glazed surfaces that vary from smooth and glassy, to drippy and textured. The technique originated in Han
Dynasty, China (206BCE–220CE) and was pioneered in the United States by South Carolina physician and newspaper editor Dr. Abner Landrum (1785–1859), who most likely studied published accounts of Chinese alkaline glaze formulas. Landrum established the Pottersville Stoneware Manufactory around 1815 in the
Edgefield District, the west-central area of the state that is rich in kaolin clay deposits and the alkaline ingredients—wood ashes or lime—required to melt the additional glaze elements.
……more….
Traditionally, Southern potteries were small, family-owned seasonal operations, consisting of farmers who sold their wares locally to supplement their incomes. In contrast, Edgefield’s potteries were ambitious enterprises. By 1850, numerous entrepreneurs and investors had opened factories to fulfill the demand for stoneware required for food storage and preservation in the agriculturally rich region. Manufacturers shipped pottery via railway to planters and merchants throughout the state. They placed newspaper advertisements, hired journeymen potters, and applied makers’ marks. Enslaved laborers and, later, freed African Americans, engaged in all aspects of Edgefield stoneware production, from digging and mixing clay to loading wood-fueled kilns, and peddling wares. Others served as “turners” or potters, producing exceptional examples of Edgefield stoneware.
https://www.sfomuseum.org/exhibitions/stoneware-stories
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