wayne art center

Ceramic Innovations

Juried Ceramics Exhibition

April 1 – April 29, 2017
Davenport Gallery

This international juried exhibition is dedicated to enhancing the public's awareness of contemporary ceramics while providing a venue for established and emerging artists alike to share their functional and sculptural creative endeavors.

Juror & Co-Juror

Juror – Chris Gustin, Founding Member of the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Newcastle, ME and Owner, Gustin Ceramics Tile Production.

Gustin earned his BFA in ceramics in 1975 from Kansas City Art Institute and then his MFA in 1977 from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. His 20-year teaching career included terms at Parson’s School of Design, Boston University and the Swain School of Design (later Southeastern Massachusetts University, now University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth), where he headed the ceramics program. Along with other ceramicists, Gustin founded the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in 1986, which continues to offer residencies to artists from around the world. He now runs Gustin Ceramics Tile Production and produces large-scale sculptural and studio ceramics.

“I am interested in pottery that makes connections to the human figure. The figurative analogies used to describe pots throughout history all in some way invite touch. The pots that I respond to all speak of a clear, direct sense of the hand. The hand is celebrated in the work by its maker, whether it is that of a fifteenth century rural potter or a nineteenth century court artisan. And it becomes a necessary tool for the user in understanding the relationship of the object to its function, and subsequently, to how that object informs one’s life.”

—Chris Gustin, Juror

Co-Juror of Awards - Jim Lawton, Professor of Ceramics and Chair of the Artisanry Department at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and Trustee of the Board of the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts.

James Lawton earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Constructive Design at Florida State University, Tallahassee in 1976 and MFA in Ceramics at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge in 1980.  

Lawton joined the faculty at the College of Visual and Performing Arts at UMass Dartmouth in 1998 where he is currently Professor of Ceramics and Chair of the Artisanry Department. Prior appointments include the School of the Art Institute of Chicago 1992-98, where he was tenured Professor, as well as visiting professorships at Alfred University, Louisiana State University, and University of Michigan. Additionally, he leads workshops and presents lectures across the country and abroad.

He is on the Board of Trustees of the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, an artist residency located in Newcastle, Maine and has served previously on the Board of Studio Potter Magazine.  

Lawton has received numerous awards, including two National Endowment Visual Arts Fellowships, the South Carolina Artist Fellowship Grant, and academic research grants from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Lawton’s work is in the collections of the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; L.A. County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; the Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC; the Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred, NY; and the Icheon World Ceramic Center, South Korea, among others; and in numerous private collections.

Awards

Juror Chris Gustin and Co-Juror of Awards Jim Lawton awarded over $3,000 in prizes to the most deserving artists and their work.

Participating Artists

Artist Statement Book

Calendar of Events

» Download the PDF

» Full Exhibition Schedule