Blog

Based in Los Angeles, Adrian Saxe combines traditional materials with unconventional or personal iconography to create technically brilliant sculptures that often contain subtle elements of humor. Inspired by the history of ceramics, contemporary culture, and his fellow West Coast-based ceramic artists, Saxe sculpts, carves, and molds ceramics that addresses the complex relationships between decorative arts, crafts, and fine art. By adapting methods traditionally used on decorative works, Saxe subverts expectations and creates self-reflective ceramics that both reference and question the history of the medium. Read More

Based in New York City and Allentown, Pennsylvania, Angela Fraleigh co-opts the techniques and styles of European Old Masters to create works that explore social constructs of gender, power, and identity. Weaving together elements of realism and abstraction, Fraleigh recasts marginalized female figures from male-dominated sources as daring protagonists within newly constructed narratives. While she typically creates intimate and monumental figure paintings, Fraleigh sculpted several works in clay for her exhibition Between Tongue and Teeth at the Everson in 2016, including Gleam through like heaven through a needle. Read More

Born to a wealthy family in New York City, Gifford Beal (1879-1956) began studying painting at the age of twelve with American artist William Merritt Chase. Beal’s tutelage under Chase, who established the first school of plein air painting in the United States, inspired a life-long commitment to painting his surroundings. Beal continued his education at Princeton University and the Art Students League, where he studied with Frank Vincent DuMond and George Bridgeman, two extremely influential teachers in the twentieth century. Over the course of his long career, Beal encountered numerous artistic influences, but his style remained distinct due to his profound interest in revealing the beauty of both urban and non-urban settings. Read More

John Sloan (1871-1951) began his career as an illustrator for Philadelphia newspapers before moving to New York City in 1904, where he joined a group of artist friends who, together, made a significant impact on early twentieth century American painting. In 1908, Sloan and seven of his peers organized an exhibition of their work as a protest against the stringent policies of the National Academy of Design, which was the driving force behind modern art tastes in the United States. Dubbed The Eight, these artists broke free from academic traditions and European-centric styles of painting. Several of The Eight, including Sloan, also belonged to the Ashcan School, a group of painters known for depicting gritty scenes of everyday life in New York City. The Ashcan artists typically painted residents of the city’s poorer neighborhoods, showing what life was like for a large portion of the population. Read More

Coille McLaughlin Hooven was born into an important pottery heritage. Hooven’s great aunt Mary Louise McLaughlin was instrumental to the American art pottery movement as one of the first studio potters in the United States. McLaughlin wrote the first manual on china painting in the US, helped to found the Cincinnati Pottery Club, and was the first American artist to develop an underglaze technique for decorating ceramics at a time when few others in the world had the ability. While Hooven never had the opportunity to converse with her great aunt about ceramics—McLaughlin died in 1939, the same year Hooven was born—she feels deeply connected to her ancestor and carries her legacy of innovation and skill into the twenty-first century. Read More