Tony Marsh

American, b. 1954

Untitled
1995

Porcelain
5 x 14.75 x 14.75 in.
Gift of Richard W. Gold from the Arthur J. Williams Collection
2024.12.33

The Light and Space artist James Turrell led Marsh to challenge the materiality of clay and inspired his Perforated Series. He writes ⁠"There is something ironic about taking a material like clay which is dense, opaque and ruled by gravity, creating eggshell thin forms and then removing as much material as possible one hole at a time without collapsing the form and replacing material with light. It is addition by subtraction." Starting in the late 80s, Marsh perforated his unfired works using a corded Makita drill with the trigger duct taped for a constant speed. After eight years he bought a jeweler’s flex shaft Dremel at a garage sale which let him decrease the hole size, perforate in tighter patterns, and make larger more complex forms. These holes provide fragile windows into this pieces. Marsh's white earthenware baskets and simple forms, are sprayed with an engobe (a clay-based slurry) and refired four times slowly building the surface to strengthen and soften the mechanical nature of a drilled hole.

Tony Marsh was born in New York and lives and works in Long Beach, California. Both his parents were in the arts; his father was a writer, and his mother was a ballerina and painter. Marsh received a BFA in 1978 from California State University Long Beach (CSULB). From 1978 to 1981, he studied as an apprentice under Japanese Living Tatsuzō Shimaoka. After leaving Japan, he earned his MFA in 1988 from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. He began teaching in 1989 at CSULB, becoming a professor of art and head of the ceramics department and has recently retired.

Billie Sessions, PhD.

---

This object has the following keywords:

• platters - Large, shallow dishes, usually oval and having a ledge and a well, used for carrying other dishes.
• shapes
• white