michelle erickson

General information

THE LAST DROP: INTOXICATING POTTERY, PAST AND PRESENT PROJECT
Exhibition Dates: December 9, 2017 - April 7, 2018

For thousands of years, potters have fashioned clay vessels for the ritual consumption of fermented and distilled beverages. These vessels not only reflect the technological and stylistic concerns of their time and place, but also a wide variety of cultural celebrations as well as proscriptions related to the making, distribution, ceremonial usage, and consumption of alcoholic drinks.

We've invited fifteen leading contemporary potters, from North Carolina and around the United States, to create new ceramic work that will be inspired by specific English (with the exception of one German piece) drinking vessels from the 17th or 18th century. We are not seeking a reproduction or a facsimile necessarily, but an interpretive or conceptually based object that reflects upon historic materials, designs, and processes interpreted through the lens of cultural commentary, societal views on alcohol consumption, and the ongoing role of fired clay in alcohol-related wares.

Our participating artists are: Kim Ellington (NC), Dan Finnegan (VA), Bruce Gholson & Samantha Henneke (NC), Mark Hewitt (NC), Fred Johnston & Carol Gentithes (NC), Roberto Lugo (PA), Senora Lynch (NC), Ibrahim Said (NC), Malcolm Mobunto Smith (IN), Akira Satake (NC), Virginia Scotchie (SC), Mark Shapiro (MA), Richard Zane Smith (OK), Michael Gates (NC), and Kate Johnston (NC).

Each of the participating potters has selected a ceramic masterwork drawn from the Chipstone Foundation’s world-renowned collection of 17th and 18th-century English pottery. We can't wait to see how they are inspired by those early drinking vessels and what they create. It promises to be both informative and thought-provoking.

Robert Hunter, Editor of Ceramics in America, is serving as the curator for this exhibition, supported by an advisory panel of Mark Hewitt, David Stuempfle, Michelle Erickson, Lindsey Lambert, Jon Prown, and Sarah Carter.