The Merwin and Wakeley Galleries

Aya Nakamura

Steven Kostell

Karen J. Spiering

Megan Diddie

Quinn Ferris

Eric Benson

e. ainsley

Courtney Cross

Claire Reynes

Veronica Pham

This exhibition represents recent work in the continuum of blue on white decorated utilitarian ceramics. Originating in China during the 7th century, the then cobalt decorated porcelain found itself the subject of rich commerce and eventual export to other countries. The beauty and unique character of the wares spurred many emulations and imitations produced in other parts of the world. Persian, English, Italian, and Dutch (among many other) derivatives all similarly found success and proliferation in their time. Portraying often pleasant images of landscape and daily life, the blue and white wares served as a place of solace and ease. As an American maker in 2023, I too have found interest and excitement participating in this tradition. Exchanging the brush driven decoration for the use of ceramics decals, the work invites questions over beauty and its relationship to skill or the technique of the maker. At rest, the objects conjure a fragmented and scattered vision of the floral imagery, marking a parallel to the often scattered and disorderly way lives and livelihood take place day to day. 

Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) and Gerrit Reitveld (1888-1964) are two artists I have always revered and more recently, directly emulated.  On the east wall, Blo-no Boogie-Woogie, a collection of dinner plates together gives us a loosely mapped aerial image of our small metropolis (Bloomington-Normal). The imagined perspective is one I use frequently use to situate myself in new places, being new to the area in 2009. This piece exists as an homage to Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie-Woogie from 1942, finding great similarity in the greatly simplified, map-like image.  Adjacent sits an undecorated version of Reitveld’s Red-Blue Chair, a Destijl beacon from 1919. The chair was originally intended for mass production, although never found footing in the marketplace. Pushing the concept of “social design,” which was meant to contribute to people's well-being and livelihood, the chair employs an alert yet relaxed and supported position for the sitter. I similarly hope for my ceramics to have this alert yet relaxed sensibility, both in aesthetic presence as well as in use. Please feel welcome to sit, enjoy the sensibility for yourself. 

Ultimately, this work comes out of an evolution of making ceramics for the past 30 years. Continually looking and honing my own responsibility for making objects of use for others to live with and enjoy. With a strong dose of familiarity, I hope to in some way offer a new perspective, a new engagement, a new discovery, amongst the “same old”. As it is the “same old” that connects us to one another through the continuum of time.