March 01, 2005|By Glenn McNatt | Glenn McNatt,SUN ART CRITIC
Baltimore Clayworks, the region's most important center for ceramic arts, is hosting three exhibitions during the city's six-week Tour de Clay festival. One is an impressive solo show by nationally renowned ceramic artist Richard DeVore; the other two are juried group exhibitions presenting works by artists from across the country.
DeVore's elegant stoneware sculptures, whose vessel-like contours remind one of an ice cream sugar cone or the gracefully curved wrapping paper around a floral bouquet, make reference to the human body and to landscape.
The texture of their surfaces, which are glazed in a variety of hues, resembles that of human skin and that of an arid Western landscape rent by deep crevasses and canyons.
DeVore is known for his large-scale sculptural pieces, some of which measure up to 6 feet tall and convey a visceral impression of a human presence. The works in this show, however, are less than 24 inches high, and have a more intimate feel.
Both the group shows are thematically oriented: Endless Variations: Shino Review 2005 presents works by 120 ceramic artists who finish their pieces in Japanese shino glazing, originally a type of simple white glaze that produced beautifully irregular, unpredictable patterns when fired in a kiln.
The variety of forms in the Shino exhibition nearly equals the variety of different patinas that decorate them, from traditional vessel forms - vases, cups, bowls and platters - to fanciful flights of whimsy.
The other exhibition, the biennial International Orton Cone Box Show, consists entirely of pieces small enough to fit inside the standard cardboard box that pyrometric cones used to measure kiln times and temperatures come in. These miniature artworks take a bewildering variety of forms, from tiny vessels and portrait busts to minuscule animals, insects, shells and houses.
All three shows run through April 3. The gallery is at 5707 Smith Ave. in Mount Washington. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Call 410-578-1919 or visit the Web site www.baltimo reclayworks.org.
Swiss show
It's only relatively recently that ceramic arts in the United States have been accorded a status comparable to painting and sculpture, largely because of the growing number of university art programs that offer instruction in clay and glass as regular components of their studio curriculum.
But in Switzerland, the ceramic arts' struggle for recognition as fine art is still in its infancy. There are no university art programs in ceramics and there are fewer venues for ceramic arts exhibition.
That is why Swiss Contemporary Ceramics, the revelatory show at Baltimore's Contemporary Museum, is such a landmark event. The exhibition presents a dozen leading Swiss artists in the first major exhibition of contemporary Swiss studio ceramics in the United States.
Like their American counterparts, Swiss ceramic artists employ a wide range of materials, styles and approaches to create their works, from traditional vessels and containers to fanciful free-form abstractions.
Many of the artists in this show seem fascinated with the natural forms of the sea - anemones, corals, shells and crustaceans of all sorts.
Ruth Amstutz's radically conceived "Prozess" installation suggests the biology of some fantastic deep-sea larval life. Her forms are suspended from the ceiling cloaked in long polythene tubes that resemble the pale tentacles of jellyfish and that sway gently on the slightest air current.
These works are not so much about clay as form as they are about the material's processes - in this case, the prolonged drying process required for clay to harden. Amstutz's pieces continue to harden throughout the exhibition's run, undergoing a gradual transformation that is a metaphor for the continual change of all life processes.
Arnold Annen creates shell-like forms that resemble fanciful machine parts - ball joints, sockets, receptacles, etc. They are the kind of smooth-surfaced organic shapes one might find on the ocean floor - or in a naval repair yard.
There are also brilliant examples of technical ingenuity. Andreas Steinemann's psychedelic porcelain bowls are made from cross-sections of different color clays that have been worked into flat sheets then folded into vessel-like forms. The patterns that emerge are partly based on chance, partly on the artist's ability to pre-visualize complex geometric constructions.
It's ironic that Switzerland, with its long, illustrious history of fine enamel work associated with its jewelry and watch-making industries, should only belatedly discover the fine art potential of ceramics.
This show suggests that whatever disadvantages Swiss ceramists may face as a result of their lack of institutional support is more than made up for by their ebullient inventiveness and devotion to traditional fine craftsmanship.
