The Scripps College Ceramic Annual – the best-known and longest running ceramic exhibition in the United States – opens January 25 at the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery on the Scripps campus and continues until April 6, 2003. An opening reception will take place on January 25 at 7:00 p.m. in the Bixby Courtyard and will include live music and refreshments. Both exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.
The 59th Ceramic Annual features 11 contemporary artists whose works thematically explore nature’s patterns through sculptural abstraction. National in scope, the artists include: Susan Beiner, Redlands, CA; Margaret Boozer, Washington, D.C.; Robert Devers, Rockville, MD; Eddie Dominguez, Lincoln, NE; Cary Esser, Kansas City, MO; Amanda Jaffe, Las Cruces, NM; Marc Leuthold, Potsdam, NY; Mary Roehm, New Paltz, NY; JoAnn Schnabel, Cedar Falls, IA; Virginia Scotchie, Columbia, SC; and Mike Vatalaro, Pendleton, SC.
Since 1992, guest curators, all leading artists, have selected the pieces for the exhibition. This year’s guest curator is Karen Koblitz, ceramist and adjunct professor at the University of Southern California. Koblitz’s own works have been exhibited internationally and are included in such prestigious permanent collections as the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and Skirball Cultural Center, also in Los Angeles. Recent public commissions include work at the Sunland-Tujunga Public Library, Inglewood California Cultural Arts, and the Irmas Campus of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Los Angeles.
“The participants in this exhibition hail from all across this country. Each are prominent contemporary American ceramicists and dedicated educators whose previous exposure to West Coast audiences has been limited,” Koblitz said.
Accompanying the exhibition is a color-illustrated catalogue produced by Perpetua Press, with an essay by art historian and writer Elaine Levin; the publication both explores this year’s works and offers a complete list of the 834 participants in the 59 years of the exhibition.
The 59th Ceramic Annual Exhibition and Catalogue are supported in part by the Ames and Harper Funds at Scripps College, Francine and Bill Baker, Gloria and Sonny Kamm, the Pasadena Art Alliance, and Skutt Ceramics, Inc. For more information on the Scripps Ceramic Annual and events surrounding the exhibition please call (909) 607-3397.
The 59th Ceramic Annual is presented each year by the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, located on Columbia Avenue, between 11th and 12th Streets, on the Scripps College campus. Admission to the gallery is free; regular hours are 1-5 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.