TONY MARSH

» For 35 years, Tony Marsh was a veritable kingmaker as director of what became the Center for Contemporary Ceramics at Long Beach State. There, he “incited” monumental works from some of the most innovative artists working in clay while pushing the medium to new levels in his own practice. His body-formed terra sigillata fertility vessels, lava-like moon jars fitted with taxonomical shelves, and extremely delicate series of containers with thousands of precisely drilled holes are all on display in a new survey of his career, Brilliant Earth: The Ceramic Sculpture of Tony Marsh, at the Long Beach Museum of Art. “So many folks who work with clay settle into a comfortable position relative to cultural appropriation, or in ways that ensure an ever-consistent stylistic identity, or make work driven by technical party tricks,” says Marsh. “Most all of that is something I have worked in opposition to almost from day one.” tonymarshceramics.com