Chris Gustin: Masterworks in Clay

February 1 - May 25, 2014 Free Admission

This retrospective exhibition traces Chris Gustin’s evolution as a ceramist during a career that has spanned forty years. The eighty works in the exhibition range from diminutive tea bowls to sculptural forms measuring up to four-feet high. There are examples from almost every series of work the artist has made, with pieces from numerous public and private collections from throughout the country, as well as Gustin’s own archives.

Gustin’s trajectory began with the production of functional, utilitarian wares and shifted gradually to the sensuous and monumental sculptural shapes of the present. He is well regarded for his biomorphic structures and his dedicated exploration of the vessel. Throughout his career, Gustin has experimented with the formal binaries of inside and outside, glaze and surface. He is also respected for his accomplishments with wood-fired anagama kilns.

Chris Gustin (b. 1952) is one of his generations leading ceramists. He received a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from Alfred University. He is an emeritus professor of art at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. Gustin has had over forty solo exhibitions at leading institutions and galleries throughout the country and abroad. His work is in numerous collections, including the Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Art and Design, New York City; the World Ceramic Exposition Foundation, Icheon, Korea; and Daum Museum of Contemporary Art.