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...

I went on a field trip to Scripps College, Claremont to see their amazing collection of post-war American ceramics. With me were  Eric Huff and Tom McMillin (yes the ceramicist). Kirk Delman, the Collections Manager and Interim Director at the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery at Scripps College gave us the tour.   Tom (left) is a legend in California ceramics and added so much to the experience. Not only did he know many of the artist in the collection, his technical knowledge of glazes and ceramics was a great insight to have. Kirk has been at Scripps for 37 years so he knows the collection better than anyone else. He also knew many of the artists personally and shared some great stories about them. This was a major craft geek experience for me and Eric.    The bulk of the Scripps ceramic collection came from Fred Marer. He was a math teacher at LA City College, so far from a rich guy. He built an amazing collection that began in 1954 when he went to an exhibit...