The Everson began collecting ceramics in 1916 with a purchase of 32 porcelains by preeminent Arts and Crafts potter Adelaide Alsop Robineau, which ultimately built the framework for the Museum’s focus on works in clay. In 1932, the Museum cemented its commitment to the medium by establishing the juried Ceramic National exhibitions, attracting artists from across the country to display their works in Syracuse. The Everson acquired prize-winning works from every Ceramic National, developing an incomparable collection of American studio ceramics. The collection continued to grow with the acquisition of works made by prominent sculptors and painters through the New Works in Clay project in the 1970s, as well as decisions to collect ceramics from across the globe. In 1979, the Museum opened A Century of Ceramics in the United States, a comprehensive exhibition surveying a hundred-year history of American ceramics, accompanied by a groundbreaking scholarly catalog. Less than a decade later, in 1986, the Museum debuted the Syracuse China Center for the Study of American Ceramics, an open-storage gallery featuring a chronological display of thousands of works from the collection. This was quickly followed by the publication of the first comprehensive catalog of the Museum’s American ceramics collection, featuring detailed catalog entries and exhibition histories for 582 objects.
Installation view of A Century of Collecting: 100 Years of Ceramics at the Everson
More recently, the Museum unveiled a new ceramics gallery in 2016, and implemented a plan to actively acquire new works for the ceramics collection, which now numbers more than 5000 works dating from antiquity to the present day. This exhibition features a small and diverse selection of works acquired over the last three years through gifts and purchases. Forty-nine ceramics entered the collection during this period, ranging from functional vessels made by the South American Chavin civilization between the ninth and third centuries BCE to sculptural objects created by contemporary artists across America. Today, the collection continues to grow and evolve as the Everson remains a steady force in shaping ideas, attitudes, and histories within the expanding world of ceramics.
From Funk to Punk: Left Coast Ceramics
On view through April 15, 2018
From Funk to Punk: Left Coast Ceramics surveys the rich continuing history of California, Oregon, and Washington artists working in a wide variety of aesthetics, scale, and conceptual styles. The exhibition provides a survey of iconic works from the Museum’s collection beginning in the 1950s, to work created in today’s dynamic cultural and artistic landscape, capturing the spirit and innovations synonymous with West Coast art over the last six decades.
Related Events
Ceramics Symposium 2017
November 10–12, 2017
Celebrate the opening of our new ceramics exhibition, “From Funk to Punk: Left Coast Ceramics“. Symposium includes a series of conversations, lectures, and gallery tours, discussion about our current dynamic artistic landscape with an emphasis on capturing the spirit and innovation of West Coast art and the Everson’s history of collecting and supporting this cross-continental dialogue.
Docent-Led Tour: From Funk To Punk
November 16, 6:00pm
Free Third Thursday
Lunch And Learn: Lunch And Learn: From Funk To Punk: Left Coast Ceramics
November 29, 12:15 –1:00pm
Pay-what-you-wish-wednesday
Discussion led by Elizabeth Dunbar, Everson Museum Director & CEO
Eighth Annual Ceramic Arts Lecture: Featuring Visiting Artist Roberto Lugo
January 18, 2018
6:30pm | Everson Hosmer Auditorium
Free and open to the public
Presented in conjunction with Syracuse University Department of Art and the CAC Foundation
