80th Scripps College Ceramic Annual

About

 Fred Marer, a math professor at Los Angeles City College, collected more than 1,500 contemporary works that span six decades. In Northern California, Forrest L. Merril amassed more than 4,000 pieces. The exhibition explores how Marer and Merrill’s collections document a shift from vessels to sculptural forms and demonstrate key moments in West Coast ceramics.

Guest curated by ceramic historian, author, and educator Nancy M. Servis, In the Hands of the Collector features over one hundred works representing more than sixty artists, including Laura Andreson, Robert Arneson, Ralph Bacerra, Michael and Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, David Gilhooly, Shoji Hamada, Jun Kaneko, Glen Lukens, Harrison McIntosh, Otto and Gertrud Natzler, Antonio Prieto, Lucie Rie, Paul Soldner, Goro Suzuki, Henry Takemoto, Marguerite Wildenhain, Toshiko Takaezu, Peter Voulkos, and Beatrice Wood.

The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalog featuring essays by Servis; Carol Sauvion, producer and director of the PBS documentary series Craft in America; Rody N. Lopez, executive director of Craft Contemporary; gallerist Mike Holmes; and Kirk Delman, registrar and collections manager at the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery.

In the Hands of the Collector, its companion publication, and related programs have been made possible through the generous support of Bill and Francine Baker, Francine Tolkin Cooper; Kirk and Dana Delman; Pasadena Art Alliance; Skutt Ceramic Products, Inc.; The Fred and Estelle Marer Ceramics Endowment; The Joan and David Lincoln Endowment for Ceramic Art, and The Paul Soldner Endowment.