The Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery of Scripps College has once again been selected by the Getty Foundation to receive funding for its part in the largest collaborative art exhibit ever undertaken in Southern California. The Getty initiative, Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945–1980, will celebrate the dynamic post-World War II art scene in Los Angeles.
The project will culminate in a series of parallel exhibitions at museums throughout Southern California that will run from fall 2011 through spring 2012. At the project’s inception in 2008, the Williamson was one of 15 organizations to receive Getty funding. With this second infusion of support, the number of participants has risen to 26.
The Williamson Gallery has now received two grants from the Getty: the first provides support for the Williamson Gallery’s exhibition, “Sea Change in Ceramics: John Mason, Ken Price and Peter Voulkos, 1956–1968”; the second provides funds for a catalog on the subject. Dr. Mary MacNaughton, director of the gallery, described the concept behind the exhibition and catalog: “From 1954 to 1959, Peter Voulkos, John Mason, and Ken Price built a new ceramic scene, in which artists elevated ceramics and moved it from craft to fine art. The second grant from the Getty has given us the means to bring on a first-rate team of writers and create a catalog that will document this tectonic shift in ceramics.”
With its superb Marer Collection of modern American ceramics, and the longest-running contemporary ceramics exhibition in the nation, the Ceramic Annual, Scripps College is uniquely positioned to focus on the pivotal role that ceramics played after World War II.
“Sea Change in Ceramics” will be on display at the Williamson Gallery from January 21 to April 5, 2012. The gallery is located at 11th St. and Columbia Avenue, adjacent to Baxter Hall, on the Scripps campus in Claremont. During exhibitions, the gallery is open to the public, free of charge, Wednesday through Sunday, from 1 to 5 p.m. For more information, please call (909) 607-3397 or contact [email protected]. More information about the gallery can be found online.