January 29, 2003 Feature
Story
Celebrating
Ceramics at Utah State University's Museum
As part of the 20th Anniversary Celebration at the Nora Eccles
Harrison Museum of Art at Utah State University, pieces from
the museum's extensive ceramics collection will be featured.
The ceramic exhibition features 200 of the 1,250 works in the
museum's permanent collection. The exhibit includes a little
something for everyone — from a fantastic teapot that
looks like a cactus to wheel-thrown vases three feet tall, said
Victoria Rowe, interim director of the Nora Eccles Harrison
Museum. The exhibit represents a historical overview of studio
ceramics and pottery throughout the Western states within the
last 80 years.
Utah State University's museum bears the name of Nora Eccles
Treadwell Harrison, a ceramic artist and noted collector of
ceramic works, Rowe said. Harrison was also a generous patron
of the visual arts, and part of the museum's anniversary is
in honor of her gift to this museum. It is through her generosity
that the genesis of the collection was begun, said Rowe.
The exhibit begins with an area devoted to the directors and
artists of the Archie Bray Foundation and the 50 years of its
existence as an artist's colony.
 Rowe
said the Archie Bray Foundation, an artist residency in Helena,
Mont., has generated a significant influence in the creative
evolution of American ceramics. The Bray was founded in the
early 1950s in Montana as a nurturing setting in which resident
artists could explore their craft unthreatened, said Rowe. The
Bray's influence is well documented by the works found in the
Nora Eccles Treadwell Harrison ceramics collection, and many
of the artists have taught workshops at Utah State.
Additional displays in the exhibit explore the broad variety
of techniques used at Utah State University as part of the ceramics
curriculum.
One of these techniques, the woodfire process, has become well-known
at Utah State, Rowe said. This woodfire process was first employed
at Utah State by art department professor John Neely in 1984
and uses wood rather than the traditional coal method to fire
ceramics. This unique process creates wood clouding and smoking
effects that give character to the pieces. The wood fire process
has been imitated and replicated around the world, bringing
international acclaim to Utah State's department of art, said
Neely.
 "The
strength of our ceramics gallery is in the quality and variety
of expression based upon form, shape and surface design,"
said Rowe. "With more than 200 ceramic works on display,
this is a unique opportunity to see so many vessels at one time.
We invite all to come and explore the beauty and creativity
that this exhibit reveals."
The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art at Utah State is open
Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Wednesday
10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday noon to 5 p.m. The museum
is closed Mondays and holidays. For more information contact
Rowe at (435) 797-0164 or visit the museum's Web site at www.artmuseum.usu.edu.
Contact: Victoria Rowe, (435) 797-0164
Writer: Rachel von Niederhausern
utah
state today/archives/January
2003/archives
prior to Sept 2002/
Brought
to you by Utah State University Public Relations and Marketing
|