Summer/Fall 2017 | Vol 45 No 2
BOUNDARIES & BORDERS
COVER: Ayelet Zohar, Villa in the Jungle, 2016. Camouflage nets over Benyamini Center, supported by the Arts Department, Cultural Division of the Tel AvivJaffa Municipality and the Yehoshua Rabinovich Tel Aviv Foundation for the Arts. Photograph by Yael Gur and Zamir Nega. AT RIGHT: Buddhist Lion-Shaped Dish. Chinese, Ming dynasty, Tianqi period (1621-1627). Porcelain decorated in underglaze cobalt blue, approx. 2 x 7 x 4 in. Exhibited in Ko-Sometsuke. Chinese Porcelain for the Japanese Market, and printed in the exhibition catalogue of the same title, London/ Lisbon, Jorge Welsh Books, 2013, pp. 88-89, no. 28.
Mission
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studio potter
Centered in studio practice, Studio Potter promotes discussion of technology, criticism, aesthetics, and history within the ceramics community. We are a non-profit organization celebrating over forty years of commitment to publishing the Studio Potter journal. We welcome hearing from potters, artists, scholars, educators, and others with special interests in writing and reporting on topics and events that matter in their personal and professional lives.
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studiopotter.org
EDITOR Elenor Wilson editor@studiopotter.org ART DIRECTOR Zoe Pappenheimer zoe@zoedesignworks.com CIRCULATION Josh Speers membership@studiopotter.org COPYEDITOR Faye Wolfe PROOFREADERS Hayne Bayless Mary Barringer Aubrey Kamppila Josh Speers INTERN Aubrey Kamppila FOUNDING EDITOR Gerry Williams EDITOR EMERITA Mary Barringer PUBLISHING PO Box 1365 Northampton, MA 01061 413.585.5998
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Studio Potter
DESIGN Zoe Design Works www.zoedesignworks.com
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PRINTING Penmor Lithographers PO Box 2003 Lewiston, ME 04241-2003 INDEXING Studio Potter is indexed by Ebsco Art and Architecture Index (ebscohost.com), and distributed to Libraries digitally through Flipster (flipster.ebsco.com). BOARD OF DIRECTORS Destiny Barletta Hayne Bayless Elizabeth Cohen Ben Eberle Hollis Engley Fred Herbst Jonathan Kaplan Robbie Lobell David McBeth Jonathon McMillan Nancy Magnusson Josh Teplitzky CONTRIBUTING ADVISORS Michael Boylen Doug Casebeer Neil Castaldo Louise Allison Cort Steve Driver Leslie Ferrin Lynn Gervens Gary Hatcher Tiffany Hilton Doug Jeppesen Brian R. Jones Chris Lyons Mark Shapiro Julia Walther
Volume 45, Number 2, ISSN 0091-6641. Copyright 2017 by Studio Potter. Contents may not be reproduced without permission from Studio Potter. Studio Potter is published in January as the Winter/Spring issue and in July as the Summer/Fall issue. For permissions, corrections, or information about digital versions of back issues and articles, please contact the editor. The views and opinions expressed in the articles of Studio Potter journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the editor, the board of directors, or the Studio Potter organization.
WORD FROM THE EDITOR
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ast summer, as I sought to define the theme for this edition of Studio Potter, Western countries were turning inward, closing their borders, and championing nationalism; in response, individuals and organizations mobilized to advocate for diversity, inclusion, and social justice. As major political and social events unfolded alongside the development of this issue, I relished working with contributors, who addressed the capacity of clay to cross boundaries. Their articles in this issue address many different ways in which ceramicists, through political motivation, artistic drive, and collaborative spirit, are expanding the borders and understanding of our field. Having returned to Canada to teach after years of making pots in the U.S., I’ve thought a lot about the role the border between the two countries has played in shaping my worldview. From a distance, the two nations appear similar in many ways, but their citizens’ individual political approaches are reflections of subtle distinctions in perspectives and behaviors. Exploring this border from a historical viewpoint, Mary Ann Steggles
Studio Potter is pleased to present our 90th issue, a special edition guest-edited by Martina Lantin, who is a studio potter and Assistant Professor dividing her time between Marlboro, Vermont, and Calgary, Alberta.
a space that raises their community’s awareness of handmade objects. As each article in this issue demonstrates, members of the ceramics community are reaching across divides, sharing their perspectives, and developing a deeper understanding of others. Boundaries and borders have the capacity to constrict movement or provide protection from the unknown, but they are at their most dynamic when people are determined to cross them.
Martina Lantin Guest Editor
Studio Potter
Paul Leathers reflects on how artist residencies in China motivated him to integrate ceramics into his practice. He articulates perpendicularity as a “way of re-examining one’s own routine as the stranger” and says that a departure from the familiar establishes new boundaries in individual practice and within the field. In developing this issue of Studio Potter, I aimed to highlight artists operating on a fiercely local level. The Localvore and Slow Food movements seem a natural companion to clay. Plough Gallery, a collaboration between Mark Errol and his partner Glenn Josey, has brought the elements of food and craft together in Tifton, Georgia. Hosting events that focus on the relationship between handmade pots, food, and drink, Mark and Glenn have created
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reflects on how cultural and political differences spurred American artists to seek alternative lifestyles in Canada during the Vietnam era. She identifies the impact these immigrants had on Canadian ceramics. I was curious how bounds are experienced and conveyed through contemporary ceramic artwork, both metaphorically and narratively. Saba Stovall writes on the work of Mac McCusker. Through humor and cultural references, hir sculpture records elements of this historic era of civil rights, particularly those of the LGBTQIA community. Lauren Sandler uses iconic pottery forms as a means of introspective examination of the contrasting powers of repression and freedom. As artists, we can impose limits on our work, constraining our choice of materials, forms, and surfaces. Conversely, these boundaries can define the edges that we push against. How does working across materials shift our conception of what is possible? Jeweler
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VOL 45 NO 2
BOUNDARIES & BORDERS
In This Issue Thank You View a list of donors and supporters on the inside back cover.
COLUMNS
24 | Hand Up, I’m Addicted to Social Media 34 | Bridge Art with a Huge Bandwidth 49 | We're All Students Here
52 | Blending Genre Boundaries 60 | Trans-Action Art 66 | The New Kilns in Town
BITS & PIECES
HISTORY
BY ADRIANA CHRISTIANSON
BY MIREILLE PERRON
BY MICHAEL MCCARTHY
Studio Potter celebrates its 45th year and 90th issue! STUDIOPOTTER.ORG
from 02 | Word the Editor
BY MARTINA LANTIN
BY NICK GEANKOPLIS
BY SABA STOVALL
BY LINDA L. CROWE
Across the Border: Opportunity! 73 | In Memoriam 55 | Just REMEMBERING JOHN GLICK ROBIN HOPPER PAULUS BERENSOHN
BY MARY ANN STEGGLES
Q&A
Addressing the borders is an inherently political act that translates into my interest in social justice, the environment, sustainability and new technologies.
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View from the interior of Helland-Hansen's studio in Seimsfoss, Norway, 2017.
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Lauren Sandler, Conjoined Geographies, 2016 (detail).
ARTIST NARRATIVES Norwegian Potter’s Perspective: 06 | AStudio Pottery Practices in Norway and the Impact of Social Media BY ELISA HELLAND-HANSEN
12 | 27 | Ploughing a New Path Arkansass to Ghana 29 | From the Clay is Still Red Limbo
BY ADAM CHAU
BY MARK ERROL
BY DR. SAMUEL NORTEY AND ADAM POSNAK
Borders, 41 | Crossing Breaking Boundaries BY PAUL LEATHERS
Transformative 44 | The Geographies of Murmuration BY LAUREN SANDLER
65 | “Why Figures?”
BY TERESA LARRABEE
Pierre Aupilardjuk, Giving Without Receiving, 2016. Smoke-fired stoneware. Photograph by M.H. Hutchison, courtesy of the Esker Foundation.
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A Conversation with WENDY GERS
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ARTIST NARRATIVE
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BY ADAM CHAU
ARTIST NARRATIVE
BIO Adam Chau holds a masters in design from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and maintains a studio practice based on research of how digital technologies can be combined with traditional craft. Adam exhibits his work and curates exhibitions nationally, and has written for several publications. adamchau.com info@adamchau.com
Adam Chau, Contour Plates, 2017. Pie-molded porcelain with CNC cobalt decoration, 8 x 7 x 0.25 in. Photograph by the artist.
Studio Potter
he United States is a mosaic of cultures where immigrants and first-generation Americans participate in traditions brought here by their ancestors. Both groups diversify the cultural landscape of our country and promote an understanding of the importance of diversity through their unique heritages. As both a first-generation Asian American and multigenerational Caucasian American, I am interested in the perceived boundaries of employing one’s heritage as a contemporary aesthetic. My ceramic work, which is mostly blue-and-white porcelain, has often been read as Eastern-influenced. I often wonder if these interpretations are derived from the visual historic reference of my color palette or from my last name. These thoughts have always been on my mind, but I hadn’t verbalized them until a fortuitous first meeting with Steven Young Lee. After we had exchanged pleasantries, Steve asked, “What’s your ethnicity?” I’ve always found this question bothersome: when I answer, I see the person’s disbelief and letdown because their preconceptions are not met. My life suddenly turns into nothing but a pin-the-nail-on-theglobe game. Coming from Steve, though, the
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ARTIST NARRATIVE
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Carp-Shaped Dish, Chinese, Ming dynasty, Tianqi period (1621-1627). Porcelain decorated in underglaze cobalt blue, 1.5 x 8 x 3.5 in. Exhibited in Ko-Sometsuke. Chinese Porcelain for the Japanese Market, and printed in the exhibition catalogue of the same title, London/Lisbon, Jorge Welsh Books, 2013, pp. 81, no. 23.
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question didn’t seem accusatory, as it often does, and in it I found an unspoken camaraderie. I asked him if he had ever felt a conflict with the use of Asian aesthetics either in the United States or abroad. I was curious to know if native Asians had a different perception of his work than Westerners, and if Westerners understood his historic references. Steve, a Chicago-born Korean, saw that we had similar lineages as Asian-Americans and asked, “Is there a public perception that heritage gives birthright to access?” His artist’s statement elaborates on this topic more poignantly: Growing up in the United States the son of immigrant Korean parents, I am often situated between cultures, looking from one side into another. Living and working in metropolitan centers such as New York, Chicago, Shanghai, Seoul, and Vancouver as well as the rural communities of Alfred, Jingdezhen, and Helena has raised questions of identity and assimilation. I have experienced being an outsider in the country of my heritage and being one of a minority of Asians in Montana. My work allows me to re-interpret and confront questions of place and belonging. Having begun my artistic career learning Asian pottery techniques in a Western educational system, I am also continually investigating the sources and ownership of cultural influence.
Steven’s feelings of being “in-between” cultures opened my eyes to there being other people whose identities are laden with more than one cultural expectation. It seems that first-generation Americans and biracial people are in a cultural limbo, where they cannot wholly assimilate into the dominant culture. I find Steven’s porcelain vessels, which combine Eastern and Western visual ecologies, examples of this limbo. His earlier work took historic Asian vessel archetypes and merged them with graphic imagery of American pop culture and kitsch. His recent work explores how visual deconstruction of vessels can be a metaphor for disassembling cultural architecture. Steven intentionally builds on an Asian framework; I originally had no intention of linking my work to my Asian heritage. My research and the resulting products were purely about the integration of digital technology with traditional studio ceramics processes (see Studio Potter, Vol. 43, No. 2, Summer/Fall 2015). In trying to find better ways to convey abstracted lines, I discovered and have been researching ko-sometsuke,1 eighteenth-century Chinese porcelains produced for the Japanese market. Ko-sometsuke use silhouettes to frame cobalt lines into a cohesive graphic image— form completes surface and vice versa. It is the right vehicle for my current work as
it gives cues as to my process and abstract lines now become recognizable images. Ko-sometsuke is a peculiar part of history; it is often linked to Japanese culture, but the ware was first exclusively imported from China. I find irony as well as solace in this because of its ambiguity. Jorge Welsh’s catalog of ko-sometsuke describes this in more detail: “In contrast to the traditional blue-and-white wares produced at Jingdezhen, ko-sometsuke porcelain was deliberately potted in a rough manner from poorly levigated clay and bears numerous flaws and imperfections as a result. The mushikui, or ‘moth-eaten’ edges, which are so prevalent among these wares, were particularly prized in Japan.”2 The public sees ko-sometsuke as wholly Japanese because of its imperfections, a case of mistaken identity through the stereotypes of the Chinese imperial and Japanese mingei aesthetics. After evolving my body of work to have a direct, historical reference, my curiosity about Asian-American clay artists who transcended, merged, or occupied more than one culture grew. I came across Ayumi Horie’s biography, and toward the end of it an intriguing sentence caught my attention: “The refrigerator was always crammed full of food, and the table laid with dozens of Corningware dishes, loaded with everything from sushi to apple pie.” This description of a cross-cultural feast made me want to learn more about Horie’s work. I’ve always admired her and find her imagery compelling because of its casual expertise (try it, it’s hard to do!). Her loose forms, fused with fantastical characters such as Yeti and Minogame turtles, have an optimistic quality. Her
ARTIST NARRATIVE style of imagery doesn’t directly subscribe to the visual precedent of mingei; her lines are graphic and illustrative as opposed to gestural brushstrokes, but her references have a philosophical parallel with it. I decided to broach the subject of “in-between” with her, and she responded: The notion of birthright access in the context of Asian heritage is a complicated field of moving parts. The cultural diffusion that has defined our long, rich ceramic history from the Silk Road to transcontinental trade has morphed into new questions involving identity and power in the age of the Internet. In the West, my half-Japanese skin gives me the authority of “authenticity,” but in Japan the sturdiness of my pots read as bad craftsmanship. For all intents and purposes, I’m illiterate in Japanese, and yet I use Japanese text at times because it’s a way to explore identity. Even with this birthright authenticity in the States, I am sometimes trolled online as Jackie Chan (people make comments about me looking like him, but first of all, he’s from Hong Kong, asshole!), rather than being seen as an accomplished professional woman in the field. Gender is obviously still an issue, and intersectionality plays into a discussion of birthright. I am careful about knowing my Japanese references from my Chinese, Korean, and Southeast Asian references, because I know how important it is to move beyond a shallow and appropriated understanding of a culture. When I think of how Japanese aesthetics and philosophies
have impacted the course of American studio ceramics, I say, Go ahead and be inspired, but do it with a mindfulness of the skin you are in and an awareness of your power. To take cultural ideas from the East and offer them to a Western audience can be hazardous because there are so many cultural signifiers that can be lost in translation. The buzzword “cultural appropriation” I define as the use of imagery and concepts that are not properly understood or researched or are simply misused for accolades. In ceramics, there are numerous examples, a historic one being the transference of motifs from Asia to Western Europe via the Silk Road, including the Ottoman Empire’s “duplicates” of Chinese wares for the Spanish market.3 In thinking about appropriation and artistic authorship, I remember the words of Toni Morrison, “I wanted to [write] a book with no codes…I want to write for people like me…People that can’t be faked.”4 It is up to the author to be well-informed about their subject matter. Both maker and audience need to be educated about the industry in which they are producing and consuming. Mastery can only be called such when the trained eye knows expertise.
Ayumi Horie, Whale with Silver Knot Plate, 2017. Porcelain and luster, 1 x 8 x 8 in. Photograph by artist.
ENDNOTES
In limbo, where boundaries are blurred and artistic content draws from and communicates between more than one tribe, I continue to wonder about those who occupy the in-between cultures. There is an awkwardness in trying to navigate one’s personal history among thousands of years of tradition. As I cannot speak for others, this essay perhaps has no crux but merely relays my particular vantage point: how heritage and tradition inform me and other artists like me, and how that translates into our ceramic work. Where are the boundaries of inspiration and how can we expand into these gray areas to find growth, meaning, and voice? Cross-cultural aesthetics is a timeless issue, especially in such a diverse nation, but one that through dialogue might take root as culture of its own and influence future generations of makers.
1. In China, it is labeled as Ming Dynasty Tianqi ware. 2. Jorge Welsh, Luisa Vinhais, and Richard Valencia. Ko-sometsuke: Chinese Porcelain for the Japanese Market. (London: Jorge Welsh, 2013). 3. Walter B. Denny, “Between East and West: Ceramics of the Islamic World Between China and Europe,” a lecture presented by the Connecticut Ceramics Study Circle at the Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut (March 13, 2017). 4. Toni Morrison interview on Charlie Rose (1993).
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Q &A
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Wendy Gers is a curator and arts administrator who seeks to push the social, political, and technological boundaries of ceramics. Her peripatetic career includes curating biennales in Taiwan and China as well as unique exhibitions, such as her recent Post-colonialism? project at the Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Centre in Israel.
The following conversation addresses curating on an international stage, focusing on the dynamics of Gers’s Post-Colonialism? project.
MARTINA LANTIN: I’m interested in how as a curator of several international exhibitions, you determine the overall vision or unifying element for such events. As this issue is about borders and boundaries, one component of that is examining the impact of contemporary art practice on geographical or political borders and vice versa. From a North American perspective, much of what is curated or accessible to view is work produced locally, regionally, or nationally. From my perspective, the border between Canada and the United States is palpable. Sharing artwork across this boundary is challenging, and there is a lack of awareness between the two countries. How do national boundaries affect your practice as an arts administrator and curator working in Europe? WENDY GERS: National boundaries have a huge influence on my practice as a curator. On a global scale, the question of borders is especially significant at the present moment, as Trump investigates extending the border wall between the United States and Mexico, and Britain leaves Europe over questions of national
sovereignty. Borders are at the heart of many of my projects, as so many important issues, both political and personal, are shaped and influenced by issues of nation and nationality. ML: What drives you to develop international projects and, more specifically, how have your home country of South Africa and your adopted homeland of France colored your curatorial practice? WG: I am interested in the margins and marginalized voices and who determines what is marginal! In my various international curatorial projects, these core interests are articulated within specific national and local contexts. Addressing the borders is an inherently political act that translates into my interest in social justice, the environment, sustainability, and new technologies. These themes span my research and curatorial projects.
My projects aim to create rich and inclusive dialogues and are characterized by a global diversity of artists representing multiple disciplines (fine art, traditional craft, design, jewelry, video, photography, performance, architecture), young and mature, from the north and south, and minorities (LGBQT as well as ethnic minorities). I see my work as creating platforms for artists to engage with a team and a curator in dialogue about the boundaries of their practice. I take risks with younger artists and create platforms for them. This is fundamental to who I am. People have taken risks and given me opportunities, and I would like to extend this faith and generosity to others. In terms of my curatorial practice, I was educated in South Africa and worked as a curator at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art
Curator Wendy Gers photographed by Zamir Nega at the opening gala of Post-Colonialism?, Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2016.
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Q&A
Independent curators are in the unique position to orchestrate exhibitions that work outside of conventional boundaries. Eva Avidar,
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My Choice, 2016. Clay, hand-built. All photographs by Shay Ben Efraim, unless otherwise noted.
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Museum in Port Elizabeth for five years. As a student, I participated in the anti-apartheid movement and was marked by the democratic transition. The first and second Johannesburg biennales of 1995 and 1997 (the latter curated by the legendary Okwui Enwezor) were especially influential for me as a young curator. They featured strong local and international content and encouraged vociferous critical scrutiny of historic imbalances and how they were manifested in the domain of art. Both biennales served as vibrant platforms for engaging with local contemporary art in a contradictory period of slow and painful reconstruction and accelerated globalization. France has been my home for over a decade, and I currently codirect a research laboratory, La Céramique comme Expérience, at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Limoges (ENSA), which focuses on ceramics, glass, and new technologies. I love working with our students and resident artists and developing original research projects that push the boundaries of established practices. Living in northern France is a privilege. There is a sublime depth and density to the artistic scene in Europe. I spend a lot of time in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne, and other cities, where I visit an array of museums and art centers. I particularly revel in the level of discourse within the contemporary art scene and spaces for experimental museology, such as the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, or Le Musée d’Ethnographie de Neuchâtel in Switzerland. Visiting big shows, such as Dutch Design Week, Venice Biennale, Ars Electronica, is a passion.
ML: It is obvious from your writings and curatorial decisions that true global representation is a top priority for you in the realization of your projects. How would you characterize the most salient challenges that remain for a truly global dialogue to exist for the field of ceramics? What strategies do you employ to insure a global perspective? WG: Firstly, access to education and to a broader understanding of the complex workings of the globalized arts landscape is a luxury denied to most non-western artists. Similarly, most developing countries lack professional art, craft, and design historians to tell their stories of local artists and, most especially, crafters. Many artists from developing countries are financially exploited by western artists, agents, and galleries. Furthermore, the pitfalls of western markets for contemporary art versus contemporary design, folk art, studio crafts or outsider art, are nuanced and brutally difficult to navigate. These markets engage with different collectors, dealers, and heritage institutions. The degree of professional recognition and the respective prices of works in these categories may vary significantly. In terms of strategies for ensuring a truly global dialogue, the challenge is to choose a theme that is inclusive for artists from developing and developed nations. It is essential to find a balance between social and intellectual pertinence, originality, and accessibility. I also try to include a variety of works, ranging from overtly conceptual or intellectual to whimsical and playful. ML: You have curated several international exhibitions: Terra-Nova, the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale, Cont{r}act Earth, the first Central China
International Ceramics Biennale in Henan, China, and Post-Colonialism? at the Benyamini Centre in Israel. How do you balance the national perspectives with international ones as components of these events? WG: Each exhibition project is unique and situated within specific cultural and social contexts. Because of their large budgets and public visibility, they play a key role in local politics. In addition, these shows further develop cultural tourism, as well as local, national, and international diplomacy projects. For example, the 2014 Taiwan Biennale was used as a lobbying platform during the Taiwanese local elections, commonly known as the nine-in-one elections, to elect the municipal mayors, municipal councilors, chiefs, and councilors of indigenous districts within municipalities. I spend lots of time with the leaders of my host institutions, discussing the importance of finding a balance between local, national, and international components. There are no universal ratios for what constitutes an “international” biennale, and this requires delicate negotiation. For example, budgetary constraints cause many European ceramics biennales to invite “foreign” local residents to confer a token appearance of cosmopolitanism! In Asia, I lobbied biennale organizers on the importance of being “gracious” hosts, as they are pressured by local government to include as many as possible home-team heroes. I appreciate national humility and generosity as exemplified by the 2013 Venice Biennale swap of pavilions between France and Germany. The German pavilion did not include a single German artist! Susanne
Gaensheimer, curator of the German pavilion, included works by China’s Ai Weiwei, the French-Iranian Romuald Karmakar, South African Santu Mofokeng, and India’s Dayanita Singh. These artists are all politically engaged and have close ties to Germany. While there are many incredible German artists, the choice of international artists with ties to Germany was a magnificently symbolic gesture of humility and grace. On a more personal note, I believe that we are living in an age of increasingly strong “tribal” identities and paradoxically closed communities. Art is a means to foster dialogue between individuals and communities. I feel that it is essential to re-create a sense of enchantment through art and proactively build bridges across communities characterized by disparities of income, education, opportunities, and world views. ML: An important aspect of each of the exhibitions you curated was an international residency. Artists from abroad were able to spend time in the host country making work for the show. Could you describe your process of choosing artists for these opportunities? WG: In each project, I research artists whose works corresponds to the theme of the exhibition and simultaneously respects a variety of demographic factors including race, age, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, disability as well as philosophical, political, and religious beliefs. I also endeavor to show artists who are not known in a specific region, thereby guaranteeing a freshness to the exhibition. Extensive research is essential for ensuring originality, diversity, and pluralism.
ML: What dynamic do these local residencies play on the reception of the exhibition by the national audience?
Q&A
WG: Residencies enable foreign artists to learn about regional issues and have firsthand, nuanced experiences of local culture and civil society. It also allows local artists to develop dialogues, new international friendships, and professional networks with foreign artists. Original content, including artwork by foreign artists whose work is not locally known, inevitably attracts local and international press. The inclusion of a significant number of international artists in an exhibition may allow an institution to put challenging issues on the table, as was the case with Post-colonialism? and Cont{r}act Earth. Furthermore, ambitious projects enable the forging of new partnerships and alliances.For example the Post-Colonialism? residency and exhibition was the first common project that all the art academies and art faculties in Israel participated in. ML: The Post-Colonialism? project at the Benyamini Centre is a compelling proving ground to demonstrate the benefits of bringing people of disparate backgrounds who are linked by a common medium together to tackle challenging issues in a very contested part of the world. Within the context of this project, how do you define postcolonialism? WG: We live in a world that is increasingly considered to be postcolonial, as the chapter associated with the historical scramble by western powers for foreign territory and resources seems closed. Yet, many contemporary examples of neocolonial projects exist, as 19
Q&A
Left: Oren Arbel and Noam Tabenkin Arbel, First Reduction (detail), 2016. Clay, wheelthrown and altered.
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Right: Installation view of Post-Colonialism? exhibition, Tel Aviv, Israel. Foreground: Pablo Ponce, Broken Embraces, 2016. Background: Rock Wang, U Need Code, 2016.
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access to territory and resources is still highly polemical within many regions. Consider, for example, China’s status as Africa’s largest trading partner, investing billions of dollars in African governments and infrastructure in return for the petroleum and minerals that fuel the Chinese economy. The Israeli situation is far more complex than economic exploitation, as it involves a contested territory as a legitimate homeland for Jews and a solution to millennia of anti-Semitism. Nonetheless, Israel’s failure to accept that Palestine/Judea/Israel was an inhabited territory has resulted in a long-term internal conflict that remains unresolved. The state that welcomes any Jew in the world as a
response to anti-Semitism has needed to expand and secure its borders. Since 1946 Israel has invaded virtually every nation that shares its borders, annexed neighboring land, and seized great quantities of Palestinian territory. The Israeli state continues to use military and legal mechanisms to seize and expropriate land for governmental and private use. The land issue is made more complex by ongoing racial tensions, and religious and identity politics. Supremacist fantasies that Israel is a European or western nation render it incapable of assimilating into the Middle East. The decolonization of Israel, an intrinsic corollary to the ongoing “colonial” project, is fraught because internal settlements have no
real form of spatial separation from Israeli-occupied territories. Furthermore, vast numbers of Palestinian refugees and exiles are living outside Israel’s formal borders. What is essentially a carefully crafted land-grab by the Israeli state has become a paradoxically global dialogue about displaced peoples, human rights abuses, and geo-political strategy in the Middle East, in the same way that the decolonization project may be argued to be a nebulous “elsewhere”—a series of open-ended discussions on indigenization, autonomy, anti-state- and anti-capitalist-politics. While Post-Colonialism? purported to explore the meaning and relevance of post-colonialism within contemporary Israel, it soon
Q&A ⊳ Ayelet Zohar, Villa in the Jungle, 2016. Camouflage nets over Benyamini Center, supported by the Arts Department, Cultural Division of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality and the Yehoshua Rabinovich Tel Aviv Foundation for the Arts. Photograph by Yael Gur and Zamir Nega.
became abundantly clear that local iterations of post-colonialism were intimately entangled, and dominated by Settler Colonialism. Premised on occupation and the elimination of indigenous populations, Settler Colonialist research focuses on authority, and how invasive settler societies, over time, develop distinctive identities, narratives of self-determination and sovereignty. ML: As a way to familiarize all participants with the complex issues you describe, Post-Colonialism? broke established norms and included a reading group, lecture series, and research tour to engage in a broader discourse and an extended dialogue between international and Israeli artists.
On the website for the project you describe this as a process of learning, involving lots of debate and “often very painful dialogue.” How were these additional components determined and how did they alter or extend your role as curator? WG: The leadership team of the Benyamini and I determined the additional components. We wanted to give local artists as well as the international residents an opportunity to learn more about postcolonialism in general (from a literary and philosophical perspective) as well as explore the diversity of local (Settler) colonial and neo-colonial relationships. The reading group ensured that we all shared the same conceptual and analytical tools, and could discuss
works with an appropriately nuanced lexis. The research tour included a series of lectures and visits to relevant sites. For example, we had a guided visit of the Dead Sea, the world’s saltiest water body, that is also the lowest elevation on land—421.5 meters below sea level. Our visit commenced with a lecture by the geologist Dr Carmit Ish Shalom. She focused on the over-exploitation of this incredible natural resource as a result of the uncoordinated competition among the mineral industry (salt and potassium), tourism, and agriculture. This ruthless exploitation is causing the sea’s rapid exsiccation, and extensive, hazardous sink-holes around its rim. We also visited a Bedouin nonprofit organization, Desert Em21
Q&A
Through courageous leadership, curators have the capacity to build new visions of community and contemporary ceramics. broidery: The Association for the Improvement of Women’s Status, in Lakia, southern Israel. This pioneering embroidery program generates income for Bedouin women and preserves traditional handicrafts. They also operate a mobile library serving more than 1,500 children and educational programs for women and youth.
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ML: The Benyamini project had multiple facets that challenged physical, political, and mental boundaries. These, I imagine, were so individualized in the way they are experienced and concretized through the work. Can you speak to one work, or a group of works, that resonates for you as the strongest success of the project?
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WG: I view exhibitions as polyphonic musical scores. If one removes or isolates any single element, the piece no longer works. Many of the works and installations were site-specific, created for specific areas within the building, and derive their meaning from the dialogue with
their site. An exhibition is an experience of the sum of its constituent components, and I cannot isolate any elements without doing an injustice to the whole. When I realized how small the exhibition space was, I wrote to all the artists and stated that the exhibition space was a metaphor for Israel. I encouraged the artists not to fight for the space and to be flexible. As a curator, I moved many installations around a few times to make the exhibition work for everyone. Clear communication was key to making the process work. No big egos, no occupation of space, no big territories. As the curator, I worked to find logic, melody, and composition in concert with artists. In placing the works, I sought to create dialogues that would work spatially and conceptually. Throughout the residency, I didn’t direct the artists’ individual projects, but rather, I kept the conversations open to support the artists’ ownership of their work and help them to best articulate their ideas. Most of the installations in Post-Colonialism? spoke of the current Israeli-Palestinian relationship in metaphorical terms. The pain is deep; Israeli-Palestinian society is split and civil society is so dysfunctional, with little hope for peace. The situation cannot be reduced to banal clichés of brutal soldiers, endless ugly walls, checkpoints, forced demolitions, etc. Post-Colonialism? thus did not contain gratuitous images of violence or suffering. Rather, the works responded to the human condition via highly personal experiences of domination and manifest borders as well as shattered biological and geographical landscapes. Works delved into local literature, poetry, architectural heritage, and performance and wrested with postcolonial
and Settler Colonial theories. The resulting exhibition was original, evocative, and poetic. ML: In your statement on the website, you articulate that the international artists who took part in the residency and exhibition faced questions about the International Cultural Boycott [of Israel]. You then state that the experience of the residency and subsequent exhibition confirmed for the artists their resolution “to respectfully speak out.” I recognize the challenge of articulating the perspective of many people; can you discuss ways in which this has manifested for you? WG: Regarding “speaking out respectfully,” I chose these words very carefully, and toned down the rhetoric. For example, I deliberately chose not to use words like “resistance” in the introductory text. The Benyamini Center and its staff may be persecuted and suffer the consequences of showing an exhibition of this nature. The engagement of the artists and works speak for themselves. I didn’t need to highlight the obvious in my introduction! Is this self-censorship? No. I see it as a sign of political maturity and a way of ensuring the art works and installations have center-stage. Regarding the Cultural Boycott, some of the participating artists and I faced intellectual challenges from colleagues, family, and strangers, regarding visiting and working in Israel. The issue of participating was particularly difficult for the sole Palestinian artist, Manal Morcos. After the exhibition, I had my computer hacked by anti-Israeli forces, who posted vulgar anti-Israeli slogans on my Facebook homepage. This is a very small price to pay for the privilege of heading such a project.
Q&A
ML: Are there other sites where you foresee developing a project such as this, and what components would play (or are playing) into such a selection? WG: I hope to continue facilitating socially and environmentally engaged projects in places and spaces that do not usually consider these types of issues. There is a clear need for the craft sector to “stand up and be counted,” and to produce relevant, engaged exhibitions within this period of increasing domination by conservative forces. My clients and I work closely to determine the intention, scope, and focus of each project. Originality and excellence are my goals. I strive to ensure that all parties are be correctly remunerated. The exploitation of artists and curators is widely institutionalized, especially within craft circles, and is not an acceptable professional practice. ML: I am intrigued by the call for craft to “stand up and be counted.” Does craft hold a unique capacity to generate sites of social engagement and dialogue towards change? I am thinking of the ubiquitous nature and accessibility of craft materials and methods. I sometimes sense a perception among critics, artists, and funding organizations that craftworks are “for the people,” so I am curious to understand your emphasis on craft here. WG: The idea that “craft is for the people” is problematic. I view this as a western construct that privileges certain western art forms, at the expense of others. It also suggests pejoratively that craft is a popular
art form and doesn’t need to be taken seriously. The art/craft divide was engineered in a specific historical context and articulates specific Eurocentric cultural, gender-specific, and economic tropes. If we were to flatten this hierarchy, and all so-called crafts were treated with the same respect as so-called fine arts, we would have a totally different scenario. Firstly, there would be a lack of theorists and historians for the bulk of art practices! Secondly, the language of art would need significant revision, as terms such as “crafted” and “materiality” (among many others) would be applied to paintings, films and photography. This would force theorists to engage with, and perhaps invent new lexical approaches to diverse media and materials.
ML: In conclusion, what are you interested in pursuing for your next curatorial project? WG: I have curated exhibitions in Africa, Europe, and Asia. My dream is to curate in the Americas—there are so many wonderful topics to dig into! How about “post-truth”? What does this mean to a domain such as ceramics, where the medium is characterized by an incredible capacity to mimic other materialsand is both fragile and virtually indestructible? Or how about exploring ceramic archives and questions of inclusion and exclusion in national and regional art-historical narratives?
▲ Modisa Tim Motsomi installing his work Terra-Incognita, Terra-Nullius, Terra-Pericolosa, 2016. Ceramic and vinyl adhesive. Photograph by Zamir Nega.
Editor’s Note: This conversation took place via e-mail and telephone between April 14 and July 4, 2017, and has been edited for clarity and length.
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GHANA, a r k a n s a s
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T H E C L AY I S S T I L L
Dr. Samuel Nortey Adam Posnak
The following article is a collaborative effort, reflecting the authors’ shared experience of international exchange. In the text that follows, Dr. Nortey’s contributions are represented in grey sans serif, and Mr. Posnak’s are in black serif.
Vodu ritual pots, Kuli Village, Volta Region, Ghana. All photographs by Adam Posnak, 2016.
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ARTIST NARRATIVE ▼ Central shrine pot, Kuli Village, Volta Region, Ghana.
DR. NORTEY: Many of the studio potters in
ADAM POSNAK: I’ve always been drawn
Ghana have been trained through informal apprenticeship programs or by skills passed on from their parents, who considered pottery a family profession. An emphasis on formal education has, however, made many young people shun the profession: they seek white-collar jobs instead. I am a ceramicist trained by and now teaching in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Department of Ceramics. My first interactions with foreign ceramicists were with Adam Posnak and Jeannie Hulen. We had communicated for a year about the possibility of their visiting my department for teaching and research. I welcomed the idea and was enthused about their coming first because of the cross-fertilization of skills and ideas it would offer, and second, because of the opportunity it would offer me to fraternize with Americans in the ceramics field. When I met Jeannie and Adam at their hotel on the KNUST Campus, Adam gave me a gift of a thrown mug with a design that used African concepts. The cup he gave me confirms the ability of art to transcend borders and backgrounds. It says that there is a clear opening for dialogue and exchange of ideas. That mug has since been the unique piece on my serving tray and has received the attention of many visitors to my small studio. The question always is “Which African artist made that mug?” From the foregoing discussions, your answer is as good as mine.
to both geographical and conceptual places where cultures overlap and mix. Growing up in the Deep South, in particular, the cities of New Orleans and Miami, I gained an appreciation early on for things of mixed ancestry, whether they be music, food, religion, or art. Though creole is defined in various, if not downright contradictory ways, I use the term to describe anything of mixed cultural origins, particularly African, European, and North and South American origins. Deep mixes—whether the Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans, tamales of the Mississippi and Arkansas Delta, or the music of Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence—are hybrid fires that warm me. Given the recent changes in the government and social currents of the United States, I am even more committed to open borders supported by art and action. I have been a student of African-Atlantic culture for as long as I can remember. For the past decade, I have been making pottery for use in African and African diaspora religions. In comparison with other crafts, such as beading, woodcarving, and altar construction, ceramics is not a prominent tradition of the diaspora. But I’ve worked with members of various African diaspora religions, including Lucumi (“Santeria”) and Vodu (“Voodoo”), making pottery for ritual use. I wanted to do more research on pottery made for religious use, which meant studying in West Africa, where it is a living tradition. My wife, Jeannie Hulen, also had an interest in studying ceramics in Africa, and in particular, in exploring the possibility of starting an exchange program with a West African university. The University of Arkansas’s ceramics program benefits greatly from her instituting an annual graduate student exchange with the Tainan National Institute
of the Arts in Taiwan. The ceramics program has prioritized the building of similar exchanges with other institutions. Together, Jeannie and I began to make inquiries and plan our visit. Our first priority upon arriving in Kumasi, Ghana, was to visit Dr. Samuel Nortey and the Ceramics Department of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). We were immediately impressed by the vitality of the faculty and students and the overall energy in the studio. Some aspects of studio life, mostly related to materials and hardware, were clearly different from what we had come from. We quickly became hyper-aware of the extent to which we, as ceramicists in the United States, are spoiled in comparison to our West African counterparts. Dr. Nortey and his colleagues explained that a ceramics supply industry, such as we are used to in the States, is nonexistent in Ghana or in West Africa generally. For all the differences, though, I found it reassuring that the clay was just as red in Ghana as in Arkansas.
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nitially I was very reluctant to take Adam and Jeannie through the studio and show them the working area. This was simply because I had in mind that they had come into contact with more established studios than mine. I was working on developing a glaze coating for the local pottery industry. I took Jeannie and Adam around to view my materials. In Ghana, most of the ceramic materials are collected in situ (from the places where they were formed or deposited). Clay is found most everywhere, but the other materials can only be found in specific regions. The feldspar we use is mined from Moree and Akurabaze, in the central region of Ghana. The kaolin is from Teleku Bokasso, in the western region, and so is the sand, which
serves as my silica. I use shells from the Volta region as a flux to introduce calcium oxide, as well as granite from Buoho, in the Ashanti region. The works are mostly made by hand, less by machinery. One of the primary finishing materials is manganese, either painted on directly or used in glazes. Manganese is a waste material from the mining industry and gives the works an aged, antique look. Ceramicists in Ghana produce works by prospecting material from their source of formation, and process them towards product development. In America, ceramicists receive processed materials from suppliers. This difference facilitated a very meaningful dialogue. In mining materials and processing them, one may gain a better understanding of their properties. According to Adam and Jeannie, in the U.S., all you need to do is to make a call to the suppliers with your specifications, and what you need is delivered to your studio.
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n addition to touring the KNUST ceramics and art department facilities, Jeannie and I were invited to present lectures on our personal work for the KNUST faculty and students. Rather than deliver a standard, chronological talk focused only on my work, I wanted to emphasize my personal reasons for coming to Ghana to study traditional pottery, and the deep debt of gratitude that I owe African-Atlantic cultures. In my lecture, I addressed the work I have done making pottery for use in African-Diaspora traditions, including those of Cuba, Haiti, and Brazil. When I finished, silence rang out in the packed conference room. I sensed that the lecture had affected the audience, but I had doubts about whether the impression had been positive. I realized that crossing cultural borders was an unpredictable venture. Illumination came from Dr. Nortey. “We feel two ways about this,” he explained. “We are uncomfortable with the fact that a white foreigner is appreciating these aspects of African tradition that we have not valued, though we should. However, these things are also fearful.” This did not come as a complete surprise. I had
gone to Ghana with the understanding that traditional African religions were mostly frowned upon by the vast majority of Ghanaians, who are devoutly Christian. From the moment I arrived in the country, the prevalence of Christianity was evident in radio station broadcasts, billboard advertisements, and the loud, distorted amplification of the words of street preachers. The traditions and beliefs of indigenous Ghanaian culture seem to occupy an ambiguous position. On the one hand, traditional music, dance, and crafts are embraced. On the other, expressly traditional religious practices are considered backward and incompatible with a modern, Christian worldview. I was somewhat perplexed as to how to respond to the mixed emotions of my audience. Then a young man stood up and said: “Throughout my artistic career, as a student and independent artist, I’ve always wanted to incorporate aspects of traditional African religious culture. I was always discouraged by teachers and peers, but seeing you—a white foreigner—embracing these things has given me the conviction to do it, too, regardless of what people say.” In the moment to a degree, and certainly in retrospect, I was struck by the complexity of this exchange between me and the audience. Though it was not a comfortable situation, it was the sort of thing that I find most inspiring and valuable about a cross-cultural dialogue. Here I was, a white American, coming to Africa to study a traditional religious culture that has been largely replaced—even demonized—by Christianity, a religion propagated and sometimes enforced by colonialism. The fact that I and the audience were able to acknowledge the discomfort broke down a barrier. I had received a warm welcome, and the atmosphere became only more welcoming after my lecture. Many students wanted to talk more about my work and interest in West African tradition, and the faculty seemed more engaged as well. It was as if we had to get over the “hump” of Vodu priest tension that my interests elicited; once pouring libations, it was aired, we could move on to a more Kuli Village, Volta Region, Ghana. honest and meaningful discussion.
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dam presented two separate but related bodies work, each intimately bound to the material culture and religious traditions of West Africa, and the African diaspora of the Americas and the Caribbean. His works showcased extensively the influence of these traditions on pottery vessels. I was particularly astounded that an American could display skill in traditional pottery-making and offer meaningful explanations for the works. The work vividly displayed the African intent and I was curious as to how he could develop such skills, taking into consideration his cultural background. This brought to the fore that art is a bridge that brings cultures together, a way of telling stories from outside one’s cultural background.
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Vodu ritual pot in market, Dzodze, Volta Region, Ghana.
In a Ghanaian context, however, Adam’s work would be considered sacred and reserved for religious purposes. The lesson of the presentation was clear: We are throwing away our cultural heritage in favor of Western canons of aesthetics and form. My students were interested in Adam’s works not because he is an American, but rather because he is influenced by African vernacular pottery and forms used by the religious sects.
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hen our time in Kumasi came to an end (all too soon), Jeannie and I traveled to the Volta Region in southeastern Ghana. This area bordering Togo is home to the Ewe people, whose pottery is my primary research interest. Through the Aya Centre in Accra, an organization devoted to assisting and coordinating academic research in Ghana, we had a the name of a contact in the Volta Region who had been briefed on our interest in shrine pottery. The director of the Aya Centre told us to call a cell phone number when we arrived at the Sogakope Bridge, which spans the Volta River, and our guide would appear. This was more or less how things transpired for the rest of our journey. We traveled by way of taxi for miles on washed-out dirt roads to the extreme east, near the Ghana/Togo border, to the village of Kuli. This is a district recognized as both a stronghold for traditionalist Vodu practice, as well as for secular pottery. Entering the village, we were greeted by a crowd of residents and ushered into an inner yard surrounded by stucco houses. A group of three women sat on chairs in the center of the yard, prepared to hold court. These were the senior potters, clearly persons of particular
distinction in the village. The first thing we were shown was a battered copy of Traditional West African Pottery: Kuli Village, written by Terry deBardelaben, which documented and described the pottery-making techniques of this village. The book was presented to us as a badge of authenticity, illustrating in no uncertain terms the status of this group of potters. Clearly we were not the first outsiders to take an interest in the Kuli Village pottery tradition. Yet we did seem to be the first visitors with a specific interest in the pots made for Vodu. We were shown the area where ritual pots are stored separately from the secular pottery made in the village. They brought out a large selection of lidded vessels for us to view. A definitive characteristic of these pots is that they are fashioned with sculptural animals or figurative elements symbolic of specific deity or spirit. Each deity has a distinctive symbol set, taboos, and likes and dislikes; the pots reflect this complex cosmology. For example, snakes represent “Da,” the arch-deity of wisdom; mermaids symbolize Mami Wata (Mother of Waters); and the chameleon is the earthy representative of the creator god Mawu. The most significant cultural challenge came when I expressed interest in visiting the village’s Vodu shrine, a temple enclosure located in a sacred grove on the outskirts of the village. Jeannie, though interested in other aspects of Ghanaian ceramics and culture, chose not to enter the shrine. For me this opportunity was a priority. This was apparently an unusual request from an outsider like me. I communicated that my interest was rooted in the highest respect for the tradition, and of both a personal and an
between traditional and academic practices among artists, educators, and institutions.
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etrospectively, our interactions as ceramicists reveal a series of border crossings, in terms of material processing, techniques, skills, and form development from the most accessible to the most rarefied. Our contact was initiated through academia, the most broadly sanctioned and public face of the arts community. Interactions with groups of wayside potters with improvised wheels and machineries teach us that challenges should not be a stop sign to our creativity. Potteries using indigenous techniques are in constant production to meet the demands of society. The potters of Kuli Village that Adam and Jeannie visited are held in high esteem by their community and outsider connoisseurs alike. Of these women elders’ work, the pots made for use in Vodu practices were the most esoteric, even to the extent that they were stored separately from secular pottery. When Adam and Jeannie left Ghana, they were sad to leave new friends, and knew that they had barely scratched the surface of so many aspects of our ceramic culture. I was reassured that our shared experience was substantive and mutual by the authentic and mutual bonds it formed with both the academic community and amongst traditional potters and Vodu practitioners.
DR. SAMUEL NORTEY is a practicing ceramicist and senior lecturer at the department of Industrial Art, KNUST, Ghana. He holds a PhD in African Art and Culture, has trained indigenous potters, and has published quite extensively on expanding the frontiers of pottery and ceramics production in Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa.
ADAM POSNAK grew up in Macon, Georgia. His great-grandfathers were blacksmiths, his grandfather a woodworker, and his mother a studio potter. Posnak holds a MFA from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, and a BA from Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota. Adam teaches ceramics and foundation courses at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. adamposnak.com adam@adamposnak.com
Studio Potter
The shrine community said that this was the epicenter of the shrine and that visitors came from far afield to be bathed in the healing water of Vodu. This pot holds a special place in my mind and has become something of a symbol for my endeavor of examining the role of pottery in African-Atlantic religious practice. Wherever found, whether in Haiti, Cuba, Trinidad, Venezuela, Brazil, Benin, Togo, or Ghana, these are traditions of healing in the broadest sense, addressing not only concerns of the body but also of the mind and spirit. Though the names vary, water deities are often related to healing. Pottery is relevant in both concept and physicality in that clay vessels serve as containers for spirits’ sacred waters. Pottery results from the collaborative intersection of earth, fire, and water—earth and fire also having important constituent deities. In her outstanding book African Vodun: Art, Psychology, Power, Suzanne Blier quotes a priest from Benin: “Pottery does the things of vodun.” Since returning, Jeannie and I have devoted time to securing funding and support for a lengthier return trip. Working closely with Dr. Nortey, we hope to continue forging a bond with the ceramics program at KNUST that facilitates an exchange of students and faculty. Our primary goal is to create avenues whereby Ghanaian ceramic artists, both academic and traditional, can visit the United States and interact with our ceramics community. This essay represents the mere beginning of our efforts to bridge the gap of artistic processes and production between the U.S. and Africa. We strive to build lasting bonds
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academic nature. After complex negotiations involving both the village chief and the primary priest of the shrine, I paid a small fee (used to purchase schnapps and gin, to be poured as offerings on entering the sacred space) and, in the company of the priest of the shrine and a group of congregants, walked the small distance to the shrine. Because the space is religiously “charged” and separate from the secular world, certain ritual gestures must be performed before entering. Male participants, myself included, removed shirts and covered any remaining secular clothing with traditional cloth. The priest offered prayers and poured libations at the walled entrance to the shrine. We entered the space in single file walking backward, humbly approaching the resident deities. Solemnity pervaded but almost immediately dissipated after we crossed the threshold. From then on, I was eagerly escorted from one point of interest to another and encouraged to photograph everything. In particular, my attention was directed to painted wall murals depicting the primary spirits of the shrine. At the base of the largest tree in the center of the shrine compound was a very large pot, decorated with a cement face with cowrie shell eyes and filled with liquid. Especially significant to my research, the pot was of imposing scale, though the complete size was unclear, as the bottom section of the pot was buried in the ground. My previous research during my visits to other Vodu shrines had not revealed an example of a similar pot elsewhere in Ghana, nor had the scarce literature on the subject.
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n discussions of social reform, there is a point at which words can no longer educate listeners, and verbal repetition by those who argue in defense of social reform denies them power and purpose. Art intervenes where words cannot. Art intercedes and presents information to its audience without overbearing intentions. The unprivileged—the others, the outsiders, the marginalized—can access tools of political and social reform through art to bypass cultural boundaries and speak across borders. Transgender identities are not a new invention. The existence of transgender identities extends from prehistory to the present. Crossdressing (and sometimes transgender) prostitutes were recorded in the ancient Middle East and Mediterranean; third gender, two-spirit, and gender-nonconforming individuals live within many indigenous North American cultures;1 members of a third gender or transgender caste of ancient and contemporary India are called hijra;2 and other examples
exist in past- and present-day Thailand, Indonesia, Samoa, and other nations.3,4 Information regarding transgender or nonbinary gender history has been erased, notably during World War II when the Third Reich destroyed the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sexual Research) and its research library, which focused on “the research and dissemination of progressive ideas and practices concerning sex and sexuality.”5 Now, the existence of transgender people is spotlighted by popular culture, and news and entertainment media have modified our history for general audiences, focusing on narratives that involve medical transition and personal suffering. Especially highlighted are the medical transitions; dysphoric body images are neatly packaged as a three-act play of before, during, and after surgery. These visual narratives tend to end in tragedy, with the death or erasure of an individual. Cisgender men play transgender women in television shows and movies, such as Transparent (2014), The Danish Girl (2015), Dallas Buyers Club (2013), and more. Movies
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Mac McCusker, Top Surgery: 60 Days Post-Op. A Transgender Self-Portrait, 2016. White Earthenware, underglazes and glazes, Cone 04, 19 x 21 x 11 in. Photo by artist.
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Above Mac McCusker, The 49: Remembering Pulse, 2016. Slip cast clay with decals, Cone 04, 8 x 2.25 in. Photo by artist.
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Opposite The 49, detail.
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about transgender history, such as Stonewall (2015), remove trans women of color from the narrative altogether. In short, pop culture feeds off of the drama of transgender narratives in a way that disregards the personal lives of transgender individuals and their diversity. Transgender denotes someone who does not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth; nonbinary indicates that a person does not identify as strictly male or strictly female. Nonbinary people can include identities such as genderfluid (gender changes depending on time or circumstance), demigender (gender tends towards one specific type but is not exclusive), neutrois (or other variations of “neutral” gender), agender (without gender), and
others. New terms describing specific experiences of gender are being established to include many individuals who are not strictly cisgender, heterosexual, and heteromantic, and importantly, each trans individual interprets their identity separately from others. Some who are gender-nonconforming may define their identity in very specific, descriptive terms; others may choose an umbrella term, such as gay or queer. As terms evolve to encompass a vast gender spectrum, many individuals return from using more specific terms to using queer. Formerly strictly a slur, queer covers the spectrum of gender identities and sexual orientations and bundles it into one neat word. The word gay has taken the place of queer in the media; Gay Pride instead of Queer Pride, and pejoratively, “the Gays” instead of “the Queers.” Although reclaimed, queer is not a term that should be haphazardly applied to individuals without
their permission. It is still widely used as a slur. Some claim queer as a politicizing statement. The cliché goes: “I am not gay as in happy, but queer as in f*ck you.” Ceramics artist Mac McCusker claims queer in this way, and uses art-making to highlight transgender identities and present non-stereotypical narratives of transgender people. Contemporary culture frames transgender representation as tragedy, and in response, McCusker provides a much-needed dose of humor. You may have noticed that I’ve avoided using pronouns for McCusker, who is gender nonconforming, as well as identifying under the terms transgender, nonbinary, and queer. The pronouns McCusker uses are ze/hir, a set of pronouns that serve as an alternative to the most common: she/her, he/ him, and they/them. Individuals who exist outside of the male-female binary developed the pronouns ze/hir as an alternative to the non-specific they/them. Although McCusker uses ze/hir, there are many other pronoun sets that ze could use for hirself - such as hie/ hir, em/ems, ae/aer.6 Pronoun use by trans individuals is not an arbitrary personal decision. Some may instantly know what their pronouns are, others may try out different pronouns and names. For cisgender individuals, it may be difficult to understand the requirement of pronoun use, or the struggle of transgender individuals broadly, but using the correct pronouns for a trans person is not optional or “preferred.” The humor in McCusker’s work bypasses the emotional labor of understanding the linguistics of trans pronoun usage. It is relatable to its audience through
bandages instead of using a safe, vestlike compression top. On the neck are tattoos of the chemical structures for the two predominant gender hormones, testosterone, and estrogen. Across the chest are the words “Gender Outlaw” in reference to artist, author, and gender theorist Kate Bornstein’s book Gender Outlaws, which details what it means to be gender nonconforming. After publication, the label of “Gender Outlaw” was quickly taken up by the transgender and nonbinary community, as Bornstein’s optimistic (and occasionally self-deprecating) humor struck a chord with readers. Honest, unstigmatized portraits of transgender individuals are rare. Portraiture of trans individuals tends to be sexualized or subject to abjection. A notable example is Jenny Saville’s work. Saville is an artist known for her largescale paintings of fat women and men, often intended to objectify and degrade their perceived consumption. Saville has targeted transgender individuals as well as fat individuals in such paintings as Matrix (1999) and Passage (2003-2004). Saville parallels food consumption and sexual consumption, depicting transgender bodies as abject, unnatural, or dangerous. In contrast, McCusker depicts hir body to make a statement against the typecasting of transgender bodies as morally or sexually perverse, though hir work is not limited to self-portraiture. With the series Trans-Action Figures (2016), McCusker begins to move away from the self-portrait. The group of articulated ceramic sculptures and their
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from regulating bathroom usage without the approval of the General Assembly. Although HB142 sounds better than HB2, HB142 actually may leave LGBTQIA7 individuals more vulnerable by preventing the state from enacting anti-discrimination policies within government-owned facilities. With plenty of fresh regulatory drama to fuel hir art-making, McCusker includes Peeping Pat McCrory in a new series called Gender Politics (2016). This body of work allows McCusker to explore hir identity through figurative representation without a lengthy explanation of modern gender theory and queer history. Topsurgery, 60 Days Post-Op (see page 61) is a transgender self-portrait. In it, McCusker points to specific aspects of anatomy that cisgender individuals might overlook. Topsurgery refers to the removal of breast tissue to create a flatter, more masculine chest shape. The bust depicts marks such as the scars one would have from this surgery, alongside other transgender iconography. The figure’s shoulders are drawn down and forward, showing the negative effects of years of masking a feminine chest-shape by binding breasts with
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the immediacy of visual comedy. In an absurdist vein, Peeping Pat McCrory (2016) references McCusker’s North Carolina home. McCusker and McCrory, the former governor, are linked through the controversial HB2 (House Bill 2), which sought to force transgender individuals to use the bathroom that corresponds to the gender marker on their birth certificate in government-owned facilities. The sculpture portrays Governor McCrory peeking under the bathroom stall to check the occupant’s “gender.” Perhaps the occupant’s experience in the sculpture is exaggerated, but no one wants to get carded for their birth certificate or ID when walking into a public bathroom. McCusker, like other transgender individuals affected by HB2, just wants to pee in peace, while McCrory’s proposed legislation seeks to interfere. Thankfully, HB2 was repealed at the end of March 2017, though it was replaced by HB142, a bill that revises previous bathroom policies in government-run institutions. HB142 prevents state-level agencies and other governmental branches
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COLUMN BIO Saba Stovall is a ceramicist in Atlanta, GA and is currently pursuing a Masters in Art History from Georgia State University. Their focus is on the intersection of feminist art history, traditional craft mediums, and marginalization of genders and sexualities.
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saba.stovall@gmail.com sabastovallart.com
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matching containers presents McCusker and several cultural figures such as comic Ian Harvie, as action figures. By merely being present and open about their gender identities, they are transgender heroes for adults and children alike. The viewer is invited to engage with McCusker’s figures through touch and play, altering the traditional relationship between art and audience. McCusker leaves fingerprints on each figure to identify them as handmade art objects. Glossy glaze and the patiently rendered personalization of the clothing and skin of the figures separate the reference to children’s toys from the reality of the artwork. McCusker’s stylization as an act of respect and admiration is encapsulated in the details of the Trans-Action Figures and the works of the Gender Outlaws series. While McCusker’s sculpture offsets deeply personal commentary with humor, hir vessel forms are overt and highly politicized. In Remembrance (2016) memorializes the June 12th, 2016, Pulse Nightclub shootings that killed forty-nine people and injured fifty-three others. The piece consists of slip-cast ceramic beer bottles labeled with the Pulse Nightclub logo and the image and name(s) of people who lost their lives. Forty-eight of the bottles are arranged on shelving with the Pulse nightclub logo facing outward while the forty-ninth bottle presents the individual’s name and image inward to invite the audience to touch and hold each beer bottle.
While popular culture represents transgender narratives as tragic, there is no established narrative for transgender individuals in the art world yet. McCusker’s ceramic artworks help expand these narratives to create a space where the transgender, nonbinary, and queer communities can lift up their voices. Like Mac McCusker, I identify as trans, nonbinary (specifically agender), queer. I am a ceramic artist, an art historian, and a writer, and still struggling to find broader representation of my gender-nonconforming identity in the art world. I met McCusker in passing at NCECA 2016. I reached out to hir on a hunch; ze was wearing a shirt emblazoned with a transgender symbol when we met, and I thought, only someone as queer and outspoken as myself would advertise their gender in spite of potential backlash. Finding someone within my medium who represented the trans community with compassion and understanding encouraged me to involve my narrative and trans-rights activism in my own work. McCusker and I have similar thoughts about presenting our transgender identities to the public. I speak on behalf of us both in concluding with the following shared statement: Our intentions are to break down the unspoken boundaries and borders that exist between transgender artists and the art world so that every person who comes into contact with our work leaves more in-
formed, more compassionate, and perhaps more entertained than when they started. And, if we can help one person discover or accept an aspect of their identity, then the work is worth the effort.
END NOTES 1. Zachary Pullin, “Two Spirit: The Story of a Movement Unfolds.” Native Peoples Magazine, (May 2014): 44-46. 2. Aniruddha Dutta, “An Epistemology of Collusion: Hijras, Kothis and the Historical (Dis)continuity of Gender/Sexual Identities in Eastern India.” Gender & History 24, no. 3 (November 2014): 825-49. 3. Sharyn Graham Davies, “Gendering the Present Past.” Gender Diversity in Indonesia: Sexuality, Islam and Queer Selves (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2010), 58-86. 4. Megan Sinnott, “Korean-Pop, Tom Gay Kings, Les Queens and the Capitalist Transformation of Sex/ Gender Categories in Thailand.” Asian Studies Review 36 (December 2012): 453-74. 5. Paul B. Preciado, “The Micropolitics of Gender in the Pharmacopornographic Era.” Testo Junkie: Sex, Drugs, and Biopolitics in the Pharmacopornographic Era (New York: Feminist Press at CUNY, 2013). 6. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee LGBT Resource Center, https://uwm.edu/lgbtrc/support/gender-pronouns/ (accessed June, 2017). 7. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual
PLINTH GALLERY Plinth Gallery is a pristine exhibition space for contemporary ceramic art located in Denver’s exciting River North Art District.
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CORNELL STUDIO SUPPLY THE ORIGINAL HI ROLLER
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EUTECTIC GALLERY Eutectic Gallery features both rising and established contemporary ceramic artists as we explore the relationship between process, concept, and how the public interacts with the finished work.
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Bailey Pottery Equipment | PO Box 1577, Kingston, NY 12402 info@bailey pottery.com | (800) 431-6067 | baileypottery.com
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PHOENIX FIRED ART Phoenix Fired Art is a community clay center and fine art gallery established in 2012. The clay center offers year round classes, advanced workshops, and a residency program. Our gallery features functional and decorative work from over thirty established and emerging ceramic artists.
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HAYNE BAYLESS SIDEWAYS STUDIO Hand-built, functional stoneware for sale at the studio and at these fine galleries: AKAR Gallery Iowa City, IA The Clay Studio Philadelphia, PA Dowstudio Deer Isle, ME Fairhaven Furniture New Haven, CT Freehand Gallery Los Angeles, CA Plinth Gallery Denver, CO Schaller Gallery St. Joseph, MI Spectrum Gallery Centerbrook, CT
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Studio Potter April 1, 2016 - March 31, 2017
We express our deepest gratitude to the following donors, and those who chose to remain anonymous, for their generosity. INDIVIDUALS Richard Aerni Ian Anderson & Kari Radasch Posey Bacopoulos Mary Barringer Hayne Bayless David Bellar Curtis Benzle David Beumee Kenneth Bichell Sandy Blain Susan Bogen William R. Bowser Claire Brassil Lucy Breslin Patricia Bridges Robert Briscoe Sue Browdy Joy Brown Joanne Brown John A Burkholder Sarah Burns Kris Byrd Rev. Paul F. Campbell Sharon Campbell Peter Chartrand Linda Christianson Sam Chung
Donald Clark Mark Coppos Louise A. Cort Mark Cortright Kevin Crowe Cheryl Lee Crowley Amanda Dobbratz Roy Eddey Carol Eddy Eileen Egan John Clark & Elizabeth Barringer Raymon Elozua Kathy Erteman Sandra Eskin Anne Fallis Liz Fletcher Geoffrey Flickinger Warren Frederick & Catherine White Barbara Frey Kiku Fukui Silvie Granatelli Lynn Gervens Marcia Halperin Holly Hanessian Doug Hanson Michael Harrison Jacob Hasslacher Elise Hauenstein & Norm Abram Robbie Heidinger Bonnie Hellman in memory of Ronald Wilson Fred Herbst Linda & John Hillman Tiffany Hilton Dwight Holland Lynne Horning Angela Howell Marilyn Iarusso Al Jaeger Sarah Jaeger David & Diane Jenkins Brent Johnson
Jonathan Kaplan Reena Kashyap Gretchen Keyworth Carol Kliger Jim Kolva Dr. Clayton D. Lanphear III Ronald Larsen Mary Law Marjorie Levy Suze Lindsay & Kent McLaghlin Robbie Lobell Warren Mackenzie Nancy Magnusson Peg Malloy Jeff Manfredi Virginia Marsh David McBeth Tim McCosker Rochelle McGriff Robert McWilliams Alleghany Meadows & Sam Harvey Pat Meehan Ron Meyers Hannah Niswonger Mark Oehler Frances Palmer Jessica Parker Mark Pharis Joan Platt Donna Polseno Tim Reece Joan Resnikoff Crystal A. Ribich Guy Rich Sue Ricklefs Russ Roeller Deborah Rosenbloom in memory of Malcolm Davis Peter Russo Patricia Savignac Jan Schachter Karen Schwartz
Nancy Selvin Mark Shapiro Anat Shiftan Michael Shortell Linda Sikora & Matthew Metz Peter Sohngen Rebecca Sparks Jim Spevak Suzanne Staubach Jeanne Stevens-Sollman Rebekah Strickland Will Swanson Connie Talbot Josh Teplitzky David Thompson Dennis Trombatore in memory of Akio Takamori Susan Tunick Ursula Vann Mike Vatalaro Barbara Walch Alan Willoughby & Linda Shusterman Paul Wisotzky Marie Woo Jacqui Worden FOUNDATIONS Haymarket Peoples Fund Mazal Foundation Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation Tile Heritage Foundation CORPORATIONS Bailey Pottery Equipment Corp. Highwater Clays Inc. IN KIND Akar Architecture and Design, and all the artists who donated their work to our annual Yunomi fundraiser. Santa Fe Clay
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