Boundless / Mingei

Boundless: Reflections of the Southern California Landscapes in Midcentury Studio Ceramics explores how the physical, social, and political landscapes of the area shaped craft. Nearly 150 objects from Mingei’s permanent collection, set against large-scale photography, transport us to the breathtaking locations reflected in the ceramics. Through these landscapes and the awe-inspiring science of clay, glaze, and fire, this exhibition celebrates Southern California mid-twentieth century ceramics.

Curated by Guusje Sanders

There are a large number of Laura Andreson pieces in the exhibition and there's a reason for that. Andreson started the ceramics department at UCLA in 1933. Over 5,000 students studied under her until she retired in 1970. This includes Martha Longenecker in 1939, who founded Mingei International Museum in 1978.

In 1982, Mingei organized the exhibition Laura Andreson — A Fifty-Year Retrospective in Clay. It was curated by Mingei founder and then Director Martha Longenecker. It included more than 350 pieces by Andreson.

Mingei held a concurrent exhibition, Eve Gulick — Three Decades of Weaves and Innovations which included weavings by Gulick hung above Andreson's pots. Coincidentally, three Gulick weaving are on display in Inside the Design Center, which is running concurrently with Boundless.

Source: Mingei, photo by Gail Reynolds Natzler (Otto's second wife)

The exhibition was accompanied by a book, Laura Andreson — A Fifty-Year Retrospective in Clay, with an introduction by Bernard Kester.

The piece on the cover of the book is part of the current exhibition.

There are also some surprises, like this Joel Edwards.

John Mason

Amy Donaldson

Frank Papworth, a student of Longenecker at San Diego State and then Andreson at UCLA. He took over for Longenecker as the head of the San Diego Ceramics Department (via San Diego's Craft Revolution by Dave Hampton).

It was so good to see a number of Wayne Chapman pieces in the exhibition. Sadly, he passed away just recently. Wayne and his late wife Barbara used to attend a lot of the Mingei events. More about them, here.