Unearthed | 1950s and 1960s
The ethos of experimentation and hands-on learning embraced during the 1930s and 40s laid the foundation for ceramics to flourish in the West during the 1950s and 60s. California, due to its well-established academic programs and bounty of natural materials became the central hub of ceramics production in the American West.
Voulkos sits at the center of a crucial debate in American ceramics of the ‘50s and 60s. Tensions grew between potters working in the vessel tradition and those, like Voulkos, who began playfully deconstructing the traditional norms of vessel making. For this rule-breaking avant-garde, the gestural possibilities of handbuilding with clay embraced the principles of Abstract Expressionism.
The 1960s marks a definitive break within the identity of the American ceramist. While many makers continue to adhere to the vessel tradition and identify as potters, the emerging younger generation invested in the sculptural possibilities of clay became artist-craftsman—signaling a push away from traditional crafts and toward fine art that would dominate future decades.
Showing 1 to 12 of 47 Records |
Bottle
Shoji Hamada
Stoneware
Bottle
Vase With Open Center and Silken Giraffe With Palm
Howard Pierce
Porcelain
Vase
Untitled
Ellice T. Johnston (aka Ellice Tarbet)
stoneware
Sculpture
Jar
Fannie Nampeyo
Earthenware
Native American Jar
Olla
Fannie Nampeyo
Earthenware
Native American Olla
Jar
Fannie Nampeyo
Earthenware
Native American Jar
Bowl
Bertha Tungovia
Earthenware
Native American Bowl
Bottle
Richard Fairbanks
Stoneware
Bottle
Jar
Marguerite Wildenhain
Stoneware
Jar
Plate
Shoji Hamada
Stoneware
Plate
Bowl
Viola Frey
Stoneware
Bowl
Semideity
Adaline Kent
Ceramic
Sculpture