The Scripps College 55th Ceramic Annual – the best known and longest running ceramic exhibition in the United States – opens Saturday, January 16, 1999, at the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery on the Scripps campus and continues through March 21. The opening reception will take place on Saturday, January 30, from 7-9 p.m., and will include live music. Admission is free and open to the public.
The 1999 Annual focuses on works that reexamine and reinterpret traditional vessel and figurative forms. This year’s exhibition is also international in scope and features works by nine contemporary artists including: Kim Dickey, Santa Monica, CA; Wouter Dam, Amsterdam, Holland; John deFazio, Las Vegas, NV; Doug Jeck, Seattle, WA; Charles Krafft, Seattle, WA; Beverly Mayeri, Mill Valley, CA; Richard Milette, Montreal, Quebec; Joseph Siegenthaler, Chicago, IL; and Janis Mars Wunderlich, Columbus, OH. This year’s guest curator is Kathleen Royster, assistant professor of ceramics at Scripps College.
In conjunction with the 55th Ceramic Annual exhibition, the Williamson Gallery presents a lecture by Professor Judith S. Schwartz, director of Craft Media Sculpture: Ceramics, Glass, Jewelry at New York University. The lecture will take place in the Humanities Auditorium on the Scripps campus, on February 10, at 7:30 p.m.
On Sunday, March 7, the Williamson Gallery presents a Clay Day, Art, Music and Dance Festival, which will feature contemporary ceramics and present a variety of contemporary American music – including classical, Latin and jazz. In addition, there will be performances of modern and West African dance by Scripps students. The Festival, which will take place in the courtyard adjacent to the gallery, from 11-4 p.m., will offer clay-making activities for children, a ceramic sale by local artists, and refreshments. Additionally, there will be a tile-making workshop presented by First Street Gallery. The Ceramic Annual exhibition will also be open from 11-4 p.m.
The Clay Day, Art, Music and Dance Festival is sponsored by grants from The Claremont Community Foundation, Starbucks Coffee, William and Francine Baker, MaryLou and George Boone, and Gloria and Sonny Kamm. For more information on the Scripps Ceramic Annual and events surrounding the exhibition, please call (909) 607-3517.
The 55th Ceramic Annual is presented by the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery located on Columbia Avenue, between 11th and 12th Streets, on the Scripps campus. Admission to the gallery is free, and regular hours are 1-5 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.