Boundaries and Borders, Vol. 45 No. 2

Summer/Fall 2017

Studio Potter is pleased to present its 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. This issue features fourteen authors’ deep explorations of the “borders and boundaries” that ceramics imposes and offers. Topics range from gender identity to mental health to the power of social media to contemporary and historical Inuit culture to West African Vodu traditions to a start-up studio-gallery in rural Georgia, to a provocative discussion of art and politics with curator and scholar, Wendy Gers, and more!

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Articles

Boundaries and Borders

By Martina Lantin

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.

A Norwegian Potter's Perspective: Studio Pottery Practices in Norway and the Impact of Social Media

By Elisa Helland-Hansen

Forty years ago, I had access to a limited number of photos of ceramic work. Today I am constantly exposed to images of pottery through social media. How does this affect our work and thinking? Can we have too many influences? My answer is no.

Limbo

By Adam Chau

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.

An Interview with Wendy Gers

By Wendy Gers

Wendy Gers is a curator and arts administrator who seeks to push the social, political, and technological boundaries of ceramics. The following conversation addresses curating on an international stage, and her "Post-Colonialism?" project at the Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Centre in Israel.

Hand Up, I'm Addicted to Social Media

By Adriana Christianson

I joined Instagram in 2012, and I was immediately excited by the speed with which communities formed. This aligned perfectly with my instinct to bring people together, and thus, the idea of The Cup Collaboration was born.

Ploughing a New Path

By Mark Errol

This is how it all starts. Wherever it is. It starts with people opening doors, with taking the chance to find a place and put an “open” sign in the window. Our job is to make the place where we live more aware, more vibrant through art.

From Arkansas to Ghana, The Clay is Still Red

By Dr. Samuel Nortey, By Adam Posnak

This article is a collaborative effort, reflecting Dr. Samuel Nortey and Adam Posnak’s shared experience of international exchange.

Bridge Art with a Huge Bandwidth

By Mireille Perron

Artist Shary Boyle used the concept of “bridge art” to frame Earthlings, an exhibition at the Esker Foundation, to highlight her collaborations with seven Inuit artists: Roger Aksadjuak, Shuvinai Ashoona, Pierre Aupilardjuk, Jessie Kenalogak, John Kurok, and Leo Napayok.

Crossing Borders, Breaking Boundaries

By Paul Leathers

A kind of adventure, artist residencies are exceedingly valuable periods of time when, by taking a perpendicular stance to one’s studio routines, one can develop one’s practice in new and often unexpected directions.

The Transformative Geographies of Murmuration

By Lauren Sandler

As communities, we can criminalize, stigmatize, and incarcerate, erect rigid confines, and designate borders. Or, through collective endeavor, we can provide access, allow movement, and foster an interdependent web of supportive resources.

We're All Students Here

By Michael McCarthy

I teach ceramics at the Austen Riggs Center, a small private psychiatric hospital and residential treatment center. I teach these students as I would anyone, anywhere. I don’t know why my students have been admitted to the hospital; this is an important boundary.

Blending Genre Boundaries

By Nick Geankoplis

In 2013, I moved to Beijing to teach ceramic design at the Central Academy of Fine Art (CAFA). As I conclude my four years of teaching at CAFA, I am reflecting upon how I’ve restructured and redefined my understanding of the roles and boundaries of art, craft, and design.

Just Across the Border: Opportunity!

By Mary Ann Steggles

Whether it was being made in urban or rural communities, ceramics provided the framework for a new lifestyle during a resurgence of crafts in Canada. Regardless of where they lived or the intent of their practice, each expatriate added, in their own way, to the Canadian cultural landscape.

Trans-Action Art

By Saba Stovall

In discussions of social reform, there is a point at which words can no longer educate listeners. Art intervenes where words cannot. 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.

"Why Figures?"

By Teresa Larrabee

In high school, I was insistent about making figures that looked as realistic as possible. I began sculpting figures that told short narratives, such as a life-size elderly couple falling asleep while playing chess, or a man sneezing milk out of his nose (I thought I was hilarious).

The New Kilns in Town

By Linda Crowe

In 2016, Noah Hughey-Commers and Kevin Crowe, my husband, were in the process of completing the construction of their new anagama kilns. This is the account of the first firings of the new kilns in town.

In Memoriam

Three exceptional ceramists, John P. Glick (1938-2017), Robin Hopper (1939-2017), and Paulus Berensohn (1933-2017), are lovingly remembered in essays by Jay Dion, Cathi Jefferson, and Skip Sensbach, respectively.

Letters

By Elenor Wilson

Several people wrote in to express their opinions and concerns about the previous issue, or about Studio Potter journal in general.

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Boundaries and Borders, Vol. 45 No. 2

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