Formed & Fired: Contemporary American Ceramics at the Anderson Collection

TL;DR

“Formed & Fired” explores how contemporary ceramics can address the body, identity, materiality, value, race, gender, history, and social justice while remaining grounded in tradition. The Anderson Collection exhibition features works by Simone Leigh, Brie Ruais, Kathy Butterly, and Kahlil Robert Irving, including Ruais’s large-scale pieces made with around 130 pounds of clay. Read on to discover how each artist uses ceramics to make movement, memory, and contemporary issues tangible.

Transcript

• The exhibition "Formed and Fired" highlights key works by four groundbreaking ceramic artists whose practice is very much grounded in tradition and grounded in the past, but whose work really speaks to contemporary issues, contemporary ideas and interrogates these questions of the body and identity and materiality and value. The works on view in ... Read More

Key Insights

• 🌉 The "Formed and Fired" exhibition showcases ceramic artworks by Simone Leigh, Brie Ruais, Kathy Butterly, and Kahlil Robert Irving that bridge tradition and contemporary issues.
• 🧔 Brie Ruais's large-scale clay objects reveal a physicality born from her performative approach, capturing the material's ability to convey motion.
• 💦 Kathy Butterly's small ceramic works project strength and provoke reflection on our bodies' connection to the past.
• 🫵 Kahlil Robert Irving prompts viewers to reconsider American history and ongoing social issues, promoting awareness and a better future.
• 🖤 Simone Leigh's art addresses race and gender, emphasizing black femininity and empowering black women.
• 👨‍⚖️ The exhibition provides an opportunity for conversations around race, gender identity, materiality, social justice, and contemporary issues.
• 🔉 Ceramics offer a unique medium to memorialize and process information related to violence, as well as a way to slow down the movement of photography and digital media.

Questions & Answers

Q: What is “Formed & Fired: Contemporary American Ceramics” about?

The exhibition highlights key works by four groundbreaking ceramic artists whose practices are grounded in tradition and the past while addressing contemporary issues. Their works investigate the body, identity, materiality, and value.

Q: Which artists are featured in “Formed & Fired” at the Anderson Collection?

The exhibition features Simone Leigh, Brie Ruais, Kathy Butterly, and Kahlil Robert Irving. Their works create opportunities for conversations about race, gender identity, materiality, social justice, and contemporary issues.

Q: How does Brie Ruais create her large-scale ceramic works?

Ruais largely makes the works on the floor using around 130 pounds of clay, an amount she describes as equivalent to her body weight. She works quickly through a gestural, movement-driven, performative process and sometimes tears the clay into sections so the physical gestures remain visible.

Q: What does Brie Ruais want clay to reveal?

Ruais values clay’s ability to report process and gesture. By leaving gestures and tear lines legible, she uses the material to reveal what she calls the mystery of movement.

Q: What distinguishes Kathy Butterly’s ceramic works?

Butterly’s works are small and intimate, and they appear fragile. Despite their scale and apparent fragility, they feel bold, forceful, strong, and proud.

Q: How does Kahlil Robert Irving connect ceramics with American history and violence?

Irving asks viewers to refocus on American history and consider how violence from the 16th through the 20th centuries relates to violence occurring today. He sees ceramics as a way to memorialize and work through that information while increasing awareness of the body’s relationship to the past.

Q: Why does Kahlil Robert Irving use ceramics to address photography and digital media?

Irving observes that photography, news, television, and social media keep moving through time, space, and screens. He uses ceramic sculpture to render that movement still and make photography and digital media slow down.

Q: How does Simone Leigh’s work address race, gender, and Black femininity?

Leigh addresses race and gender while speaking about making work for a Black audience. Her work highlights Black femininity and presents Black women in proud and powerful positions.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The "Formed and Fired" exhibition features works by Simone Leigh, Brie Ruais, Kathy Butterly, and Kahlil Robert Irving, whose ceramic art delves into contemporary issues while being rooted in tradition.

• Brie Ruais's large-scale clay objects reveal a physicality that reflects the artist's gestural, movement-driven approach and highlights the material's ability to capture and convey motion.

• Kathy Butterly's small, intimate ceramic works project strength and boldness while inviting contemplation of the body and its relation to the past.

• Kahlil Robert Irving's art prompts viewers to reexamine American history, social issues, and their own bodies, fostering greater awareness and encouraging a better future.