Esoteric Survey

80th Scripps College Ceramic Annual Starting in 1945, Scripps College has been mounting these legendary annual exhibitions. This year, they combined two major California collections for  In the Hands of the Collector: The Fred Marer and Forrest L. Merrill Collections.  Guest curated by Nancy Servis, there are over 100 pieces by more than 60 artists. Fred donated his collection of over 1,500 pieces to Scripps. Forrest has over 4,000 and counting. They both acquired many works directly from the artists and California ceramics are at the core. Since Fred was in southern California, these direct purchases came from people working at Otis and other institutions around LA. Forrest started his collection through direct purchases in the Bay Area, since he's from Berkeley. He's also still at it.   There are some classics. This Laura Andreson teapot is the first piece collected by Fred Marer.  Glen Lukens Antonio Prieto from Forrest James Lovera was so good and is still s...

  Amy Donaldson vase on a Henry P. Glass table model  Danish table From the famed Illums Bolighus store in Denmark

  This past weekend AMOCA hosted a Panel discussion as part of the  Architectural Pottery: Ceramics for a Modern Landscape exhibition. It was a packed house. Someone from the museum said it was the most people they've had for an event like this. The first panel included three people who were personally connected to the Architectural Pottery.  Jo Lauria on the far left curated the exhibition and moderated the talk. To her right is Lee Whitten, then Marilyn Kay Austin in the middle and Damon Lawrence is on the right. Lee Whitten earned a master's degree in 1964 at UCLA under Laura Andreson and Bernie Kester. His first job in ceramics was at Architectural Pottery working under David Cressey. He was recommended to David by Andreson. This photo is a planter Cressey let Lee buy for $1.50, his hourly wage at the time. Lee said he liked the process of pushing the clay out from the interior of the form. Earth Cells were another favorite of his.  Although he was only at ...

James Lovera birdhouse and Jens Quistgaard Rare Woods tray  Harrison McIntosh tile top table.  More about these Interpace Tiles here . Sven Petersen kinetic tabletop sculpture