In the early 1970s Timock joined the ranks of the ceramics department at Kansas City Art Institute. Ken Ferguson and Victor Babu were already in the department when he arrived, and together they built a ceramics department that became one of the most recognized undergraduate programs in the world. With the emphasis the professors put on craftsmanship and aesthetics, their students learned to master their craft. Under the tutelage of these three ceramic masters, students found their own personal styles. The department?s philosophy was to allow students their individual freedom so their growth would not be inhibited. Timock received the National Endowment for the Arts Grant in 1974 and 1981. In 1993 he was awarded the Outstanding Special Projects Award from the Kansas City Art Institute. The Smithsonian Institute and Detroit Institute of the Arts include his sculptural works in their prestigious collections, as well does the Vatican in Rome.
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Vessel #309
In the early 1970s Timock joined the ranks of the ceramics department at Kansas City Art Institute. Ken Ferguson and Victor Babu were already in the department when he arrived, and together they built a ceramics department that became one of the most recognized undergraduate programs in the world. With the emphasis the professors put on craftsmanship and aesthetics, their students learned to master their craft. Under the tutelage of these three ceramic masters, students found their own personal styles. The department?s philosophy was to allow students their individual freedom so their growth would not be inhibited. Timock received the National Endowment for the Arts Grant in 1974 and 1981. In 1993 he was awarded the Outstanding Special Projects Award from the Kansas City Art Institute. The Smithsonian Institute and Detroit Institute of the Arts include his sculptural works in their prestigious collections, as well does the Vatican in Rome.
Spirit Bags 1-3
One of the leading ceramic artists of our times, Reitz?s work is found in collections such as the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum of American Art, and the Mudgee Art Museum in Mudgee, Australia. In 1957 he received his Bachelors degree in Art Education from Kutztown State College in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. He received his Masters of Fine Arts degree from the New York State School of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, New York, in 1962. Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin, Reitz taught at the university from 1962-1988. Still active since retiring from teaching, Reitz gives lectures and workshops across the United States and throughout the world. Reitz has revived the ancient technique of salt-glazing in the world of ceramics. His commitment to the process and his groundbreaking developments in ceramics have made him one of the most innovative living ceramicists. This dramatic vessel by Reitz resonates abstract expressionism.
Grand Slam No. 3
The Void
Currently stored in 2 cardboard boxes on the floor next to shelf E1, next to HVAC unit
Untitled
Vermont artist Karen Karnes is one of the foremost ceramic artists living in the United States today. She was a student at Black Mountain College during the summer of 1946. In the early fifties she returned as a resident potter. The avant-garde artists, Robert Rauschenberg and John Cage were among the many creative minds at Black Mountain College during this period in history. Another leading figure in ceramic art today, Peter Voulkos also taught a summer course there in the early 1950’s. After leaving Black Mountain College she moved to Stony Point, a rural area one hour from New York City. It was during the twenty-five years spent here that she honed her skills in the traditional manner of pottery. She reveled in her role as the local potter because it allowed for personal relationships. This simple way of life awarded her great pleasure with modest economic rewards. In 1979 Karnes moved from Stony Point to Morgan, Vermont. She began working in much larger scale in response to her new open environment. Her works became sculptural abstractions rooted in Modernism as they naturally evolved. The techniques she had mastered in clay decades earlier allowed the metamorphosis in her art to occur. Karnes has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Vermont Arts Council 1997 Governor?s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the 1988 Visual Arts Fellowship, and the 1990 Medal for Excellence in Craft from the Society of Arts and Crafts. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art are amongst a few of the major museums that have her work in their collections.
Untitled
Vermont artist Karen Karnes is one of the foremost ceramic artists living in the United States today. She was a student at Black Mountain College during the summer of 1946. In the early fifties she returned as a resident potter. The avant-garde artists, Robert Rauschenberg and John Cage were among the many creative minds at Black Mountain College during this period in history. Another leading figure in ceramic art today, Peter Voulkos also taught a summer course there in the early 1950’s. After leaving Black Mountain College she moved to Stony Point, a rural area one hour from New York City. It was during the twenty-five years spent here that she honed her skills in the traditional manner of pottery. She reveled in her role as the local potter because it allowed for personal relationships. This simple way of life awarded her great pleasure with modest economic rewards. In 1979 Karnes moved from Stony Point to Morgan, Vermont. She began working in much larger scale in response to her new open environment. Her works became sculptural abstractions rooted in Modernism as they naturally evolved. The techniques she had mastered in clay decades earlier allowed the metamorphosis in her art to occur. Karnes has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Vermont Arts Council 1997 Governor?s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the 1988 Visual Arts Fellowship, and the 1990 Medal for Excellence in Craft from the Society of Arts and Crafts. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art are amongst a few of the major museums that have her work in their collections. In this wood-fired piece by Karnes, the ash from the kiln has created a speckled effect which gives it a light and airy quality. The anthropomorphic shape of this vessel lends a sensual quality. Light flows through the space of the vessel through a small opening in the center. Her work unmistakably remains grounded in the traditions of pottery even though her latest pieces are rooted in Modernism.
Wavy Brushstrokes Superimposed
After receiving his B.F.A. from Syracuse University in New York in 1949, LeWitt continued his studies at Cartoonists and Illustrators School, which is now known as The School of Visual Arts. In 1969-1970 he returned briefly to The School of Visual Arts to teach. In 1955-1956 LeWitt was the graphic artist for renowned architect I.M. Pei for the Roosevelt Field Shopping Center project in Long Island, New York. LeWitt was one of the key figures in the Conceptual Art movement that emerged in the 1960s. This movement rebelled against Abstract Expressionism by shifting the emphasis in art from the psychological content and spontaneous gestural style to a concept that declared the idea to be the most relevant aspect of the work. LeWitt has moved beyond his days of creating enormous sculptures from cubes that could be arranged in varying patterns. Today he remains interested in patterns and is recognized for his works of wavy arcs and squiggles seen in Wavy Brushstrokes Superimposed. The artist utilizes bold assertive colors as well as soft subtle colors in his creation of these recent drawings. A reference for these recent works by LeWitt may be a series of untitled paintings produced in the mid 1960s by Abstract artist Dan Christensen. Like LeWitt, he mastered the language of abstraction. However, he used spray guns and paint to create his works of wavy loops and lines. Another trait these two artists share is the ability to produce a body of work that remains varied and of superior quality.
Dark Country City
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Platter
In postwar ceramics, Voulkos transformed his wheel-thrown and altered pots into massive sculptural pieces of art. He succeeded in liberating his works from the confines of the vessel. His laid back style and unconventional methods appealed to his students at Otis Art Institute (known as the Los Angeles County Art Institute at that time) who flourished under the influence of their exciting young instructor. Voulkos and his students drastically changed traditional approaches to clay and this led to an inevitable clash with the administration who elected to fire Voulkos. His students at Otis had fond memories of him such as playing a modified version of a Zen game. They played a version that consisted of a two minute challenge to see who could make the ugliest teapot in that brief amount of time. After his firing the University of California at Berkeley hired him and he remained there for thirty years. Voulkos?s innovations with clay were unprecedented and literally shocked the ceramic world into its own elevated status. The spirit of Abstract Expressionism was infused in the massive sculptural pieces he was constructing. Like the Abstract Expressionist painters who made large spontaneous gestural marks across their canvases, he slashed, gouged, and slit the surfaces of his works. He was well acquainted with the Abstract Expressionist artists (or as they preferred to call themselves, the New York School artists) whom he spent time with during his summers when he taught at Columbia University in New York. He gathered with the likes of DeKooning and Pollock at the infamous Cedar Tavern where they held lively discussions about art.