The 6th biennial Juried Show for Massachusetts Clay Artists

March 29-April 25, 2009

Welcome

The Ceramics Guild of the Lexington Arts & Crafts Society welcomes you to the 6th biennial "The State of Clay". It is always a pleasure to put this show together and to gather old and new friends to the Parsons Gallery.

This year "The State of Clay" had a record 106 artist applications. Juror Jim Lawton chose 78 pieces from 285 submitted entries. Applicants came from the four corners of the state, from across the country and Canada. All participants have ties to the state of Massachusetts.

The pieces represent a diverse array of work from artists/craftspeople whose skilled hands and experience have allowed them to manipulate this malleable material into a multitude of functional and sculptural work - work which invites the viewer to enjoy, smile, and question "why" or "why not!".

It is the Guild's hope that you will feel the energy and creativity in this impressive body of work. We invite you to talk to us and learn, as we are still learning, about the expressive artistry of clay.

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Lexington Arts & Crafts Society

Located in Lexington, MA, the Lexington Arts & Crafts Society was founded in 1935 and currently has a membership of more than 400 members from the New England region. There are nine different guilds. The Ceramics Guild, with a membership of 35, maintains a fully equipped studio, and sponsors workshops, classes and exhibitions throughout the year. General and membership information is available on the website: www.lexingtonma.org/LACS/ or by telephone: 781-862- 9696.

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Juror's Statement

Images of ceramic objects cannot provide, of course, all the inherent material qualities I appreciate in clay, glaze and form - nor the impact that scale, proportion and site have in directly encountering the work. I look forward to this experience at the gallery.

Yet for purposes of jurying a show such as this, the digital format fit appropriately the evaluation methods I typically employ. It allowed, upon first opening the disk file, to see the entries in toto; providing a sense of the breadth of work I was to choose, all at once. While I tend to trust my first gut impression - subsequent cycles of review continued, over and over bringing finer focus to the individual pieces. The technology made it possible to zoom in to look at color and surface relationships in the forms - which further assisted me in making my decisions.

I was charged with gathering a group of work representative of the State of Clay in Massachusetts. The opportunity came with the 285 entries from 106 artists working quite broadly across the ceramic spectrum: functional to sculptural vessels, wall based pictorial and dimensional work, some figurative, and those pieces that always - delightfully, defy category. When I look at work I want to be moved- to be challenged by what the work has to say and the quality, materiality, of how it says it. I appreciate the terrifying and the beautiful, the nuanced and the bold, the whimsical and the serious - a heart that beats. I was not disappointed.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to be juror for the 2009 State of Clay.

Jim Lawton

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Jim Lawton

James Lawton earned his Bachelors degree in Constructive Design at Florida State University, Tallahassee, in 1976, and MFA in Ceramics at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, in 1980. In 1984 and in 1986, Lawton was awarded the National Endowment Visual Arts Fellowship, and the South Carolina Artist Fellowship Grant in 1990. Lawton joined the Artisanry faculty at UMass Dartmouth in 1998, where he is currently Associate Professor of Ceramics.

Prior tenured positions include Associate Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1992-1998. Lawton has held numerous positions as a Visiting Assistant Professor, including the UM-Ann Arbor, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, and LSU-Baton Rouge and Artist Residences at Penland School, Penland, NC.

Professor Lawton's professional activities include serving as a juror for numerous exhibitions and fellowships. He is on the Board of Trustees of the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts and the Studio Potter Magazine. He has contributed articles to Ceramics Monthly, Studio Potter, the NCECA journal, and other publications dedicated to the ceramic arts.

Among many public collections, Lawton's wor is at the Renwick Gallery of American Craft at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; the Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC; the Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred, NY; and the Icheon World Ceramic Center, South Korea. He is also in many private collections. He is affiliated with the Ann Nathan Gallery in Chicago.

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Business Sponsors

The Ceramics Guild of the Lexington Arts & Crafts Society thanks all the sponsors for their financial support for "The State of Clay" exhibition.

Aftosa
Richmond, CA

American Art Clay Co Company
Indianapolis, IN

Bedford Center for the Arts
Bedford Mass

Ceramics Monthly
Westerville, OH

Clay Times
Waterford, VA

Handworks Gallery of American Crafts
Acton, MA

Laguna Clay
LaPuente, CA

Lexington Council for the Arts
Lexington, MA

The Lexington "Trustee of Public Trust"
Lexington, MA

Massachusetts Cultural Council
Boston, MA

Michelson's Shoes, Inc.
Lexington, MA

Orton Ceramic Foundation
Westervillle, OH

Portland Pottery Supply
Braintree, MA

The Potters Shop
Needham, MA

Sheffield Pottery, Inc
Sheffield, MA

Standard Ceramics Supply Division
Pittsburgh, PA

Individual and Family Sponsors

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Ceramics Guild of the Lexington Arts & Crafts Society is a group of extraordinary people who joined together in bringing this special exhibition to the people of Massachusetts. Without their diligence, hard work, long hours, and their love of the challenging medium of clay, this show would not happen.