Object Focus: The Bowl

Learning from the Portland craft scene & Alma Chocolate | studioriley

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:30:42 -0700

Learning from the Portland craft scene & Alma Chocolate | studioriley:

Sarah Hart, participant in Portland Selects, is all about the craft of chocolatey confections. Read about her business, Alma Chocolate, and visit MoCC to visit her bowl, on view in Object Focus: The Bowl, Engage + Use.

5:30pm, Wednesday May 15

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:31:03 -0700

The video documentation of Craft Mystery Cult’s performance on the roof of Museum of Contemporary Craft arrives at the museum, freshly burned onto a disc by MoCC videographer, Peter Faasse, PNCA ‘15. To give you a hint: the performance involved ritualistically imbibing a mysterious herbal liquor inspired by the constellation Leo, concocted by Portland Apothecary.

I have to admit that I had a nip of the CMC koolaid, and it spectacular. Visitors will have to be satisfied by viewing and smelling the residuum, and using their imaginations.

4pm, Wednesday May 15

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:02:12 -0700

Nicole Nathan, Curator of Collections, queues up Transference, a collaboration of glass artist Andy Paiko and sound artist Ethan Rose, that explores the potential of the bowl as an object that projects rather than contains. Visit MoCC to see this installation of five singing glass bowls, on view in Object Focus: The Bowl, Engage + Use.

12noon, Wednesday May 15

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:15:45 -0700

Artist and activist Michael J. Strand, (Fargo, ND), meets the urban farmers and artists of Project Grow, an organization that participated in Bowls Around Town, a community-driven project launched in conjunction with Object Focus: The Bowl, Engage + Use. See the photos and ephemera generated by Project Grow, on view through September 21.

Participate in Bowls Around Town by visiting the Multnomah County Library to request and check out one of Michael J. Strand’s kits of your own!

10:30am, Wednesday May 15

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:12:29 -0700

Ayumi Horie tweaks the arrangement of Circulate, an installation of bowls on loan from 18 artists that Museum visitors are welcome to touch, hold, consider, and even take home and use. Experience it for yourself beginning tomorrow at MoCC!

9:30am, Wednesday May 15

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:52:07 -0700

We begin our press preview of Object Focus: The Bowl, Engage and Use, and Soundforge.

Don’t be too jealous— the exhibitions open to the public tomorrow morning at 11am, and don’t forget about the curatorial walkthrough, Friday May 17, 11am.

Portland Selects

Fri, 10 May 2013 14:21:52 -0700

A preview of what’s to come…

Artist Kris Paul’s unfired ceramic bowls on their way to the kiln. Once finished, these bowls will be delivered to Park Kitchen, where chef and owner Scott Dolich will be using them to serve a seasonal menu item beginning June 1st.

Portland Selects at Museum of Contemporary Craft brings together ceramic and culinary artists in unique collaborative projects. Learn more in Object Focus: The Bowl, Engage + Use, on view starting May 16.

Image courtesy of Kris Paul, http://krispaulceramics.com/.

The Bowl’s Blessing.

Tue, 07 May 2013 12:01:00 -0700

Written by Gloria Gerace

My love affair with bowls began many, many years ago on my first trip to Europe. Breakfast in a cheap pensione included coffee and milk, served in bowls, not cups. Raising the simple ceramic filled with strong coffee and foamy milk to my lips, I marveled at the mundane act transformed into a blessing. That bowl warmed my hands, captured my heart, and prompted a life’s passion.

The bowl evokes in us the most profound of human gestures: a bowl cradled in two hands; both arms extending out to offer or to receive; a head bowed to drink. A bowl summons one of most intimate relationships with the human body.

I now collect bowls of all kinds and materials—hand made and mass produced; glass, wood and ceramic; small and large—and use them in ways both intended and unexpected. I visit exhibitions of ancient Greek drinking vessels and imagine the fun when the wine was finished and the drawing at the bottom of the bowl was spied. At contemporary ceramic studios, I thrill at the feel of bowls with inventive shapes. At Japanese tea parlors, I lose myself in the complexities of the colors and finishes. And, each time I hold a bowl in my hands, I am aware of a blessing given and received.

Gloria Gerace is based in Los Angeles, CA. This submission came to us via: curatorial@museumofcontemporarycraft.org

Written by Romy Northover I set up my studio ‘No.’ at the Japanese run Togei...

Fri, 03 May 2013 17:40:57 -0700

Written by Romy Northover

I set up my studio ‘No.’ at the Japanese run Togei Kyoshitsu in Manhattan. I feel connected to the earth at the basest level in the busiest city I’ve ever lived in. I recently joined with my good friend from Togei, Shino Takeda, to form KATAKANA NY - A side project to explore and expand our ceramic design through supper clubs, to feel the season both in and on the bowl.

The tiny pink bowl I am submitting is from my ‘Cherry Blossom Hi’ spring collection. This collection was made in connection the first Cherry Blossom Festival “Hanami” at Randall’s Island NYC. Shino and I had a mission to make Cherry Blossom Salt ‘Sakurajio’ out of the “Sakura” Blossom in NYC - we were lucky enough to be able to do it at Randalls Island - 100% organic!

Ceramics does something to/for you ~ the bowl is ultimately so powerful - we potters just cant get over it!

Romy Northover is an artist from New York. This submission came to us via: curatorial@museumofcontemporarycraft.org

Michael J. Strand's Bowls Around Town premieres at MoCC in Object Focus: The Bowl, Engage + Use

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:23:04 -0700

Michael J. Strand's Bowls Around Town premieres at MoCC in Object Focus: The Bowl, Engage + Use:

Michael J. Strand (michaeljstrand.com) working with the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, OR launches “The Bowls Around Town Project” as part of the …

Mario Petrirena Sorrows Beyond Measure, 2011 Clay 2.5 x 19 x 9 inches Mario Petrirena is a...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:30:58 -0700

Mario Petrirena

Sorrows Beyond Measure, 2011

Clay

2.5 x 19 x 9 inches

Mario Petrirena is a potter from Decatur, Georgia. This submission came to us via: curatorial@museumofcontemporarycraft.org

The Oregon Potters Association Bowl Poll!

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:31:00 -0700

At the Oregon Potters Association Annual Showcase this weekend, MoCC presented the Bowl Poll, a seemingly benign contest that evolved into a hotly contested fracas. The premise was simple: we asked OPA visitors to vote for one of 15 spectacular bowls currently on view in Object Focus: The Bowl, Reflect + Respond.

No evil lurking here… Only Lucie Rie, Laura Andreson, Bob Stocksdale, Glen Lukens, the Natzlers, Peter Voulkos, and a handful of other craft rock stars past and present.

Well, the final tally is in, and the results are surprising to say the least! Despite the undeniable preference for clay among the OPA crowd, glass artist Lino Tagliapietra took the lead with a commanding 24 votes. Second place went to Lukens with 14 votes, and just barley in third was Erik Gronborg with 13. I should mention that we did receive one write in vote for a Rin Tin Tin plastic bowl that, unfortunately, could not be counted since it’s not included in the exhibition. (I would like to personally invite this voter to submit an image and any reminiscence about said Rin Tin Tin bowl to this blog by emailing: curatorial@museumofcontemporarycraft.org.)

Hand-blown glass rocking OPA’s collective socks? By an astounding 10 votes?! Bowl Poll commissioners were stunned, particularly after the stream of viewers who looked at Tagliapietra’s bowl and asked: is that glass?!, confounded by seeing it, along with Bob Stocksdale’s turned wood bowls, among their ceramic cohorts. My takeaway: Always anticipate the unforeseen plot twist, especially when dealing with one of Oregon’s most robust craft guilds.

We’d like to thank the many ceramics enthusiasts who came out to support OPA this weekend, and who took the time to participate in MoCC’s poll. Also, for those of you who missed us at at the annual mash-up, you can still weigh in on your favorite bowl by giving a shout by email: curatorial@museumofcontemporarycraft.org

Written by Mich Conklin As a window into the daily ritual of dinnertime, this bowl, generously...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 09:31:03 -0700

Written by Mich Conklin

As a window into the daily ritual of dinnertime, this bowl, generously given to me by my mother-in-law, is also a beloved portrait of a life well lived and a family well reared. Salad with mayonnaise dressing is what my husband recalls coming forth from this bowl to the four siblings sitting around the table. Dinners were never quiet or tense. A quickly mumbled grace by dad with the familiar up and down cadence as hands joined served like a starting pistol at a racetrack for the anxiously hungry. It is easy to imagine this mid century family enjoying another favorite dish or the occasional experiment gleaned from a recipe book or stack of collected 3x5 cards neatly penned and organized. I treasure this bowl as I do the mother-in-law who so lovingly filled it with happy dinnertime memories.

Mich Conklin is a regular Museum of Contemporary Craft visitor from Lake Oswego, OR. This submission came to us via: curatorial@museumofcontemporarycraft.org

Wooden Salad Bowl, A wedding gift to my in-laws 67 years ago, (both of whom are alive and well at 90++ years!)

11 x 10 ½ x 3 inches

PNCA illustration student Zoe McGuire is inspired by Object Focus: The Bowl, Reflect + Respond

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 09:30:44 -0700

PNCA illustration student Zoe McGuire is inspired by Object Focus: The Bowl, Reflect + Respond

PNCA illustration student Taylor Smith is inspired by Object Focus: The Bowl, Reflect + Respond

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:30:38 -0700

PNCA illustration student Taylor Smith is inspired by Object Focus: The Bowl, Reflect + Respond

PNCA illustration student Molly Mendoza is inspired by Object Focus: The Bowl, Reflect +...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 09:30:44 -0700

PNCA illustration student Molly Mendoza is inspired by Object Focus: The Bowl, Reflect + Respond

PNCA illustration student Michelle Fraczek’s rendering of bowls featured in Object Focus: The...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:30:45 -0700

PNCA illustration student Michelle Fraczek’s rendering of bowls featured in Object Focus: The Bowl, Reflect + Respond.

PNCA illustration student Ben Vanderwerff is inspired by Shelia Fournier’s stoneware bowl,...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:30:48 -0700

PNCA illustration student Ben Vanderwerff is inspired by Shelia Fournier’s stoneware bowl, (top), and Bob Stocksdale’s turned wood bowl, (bottom), on view in Object Focus: The Bowl, Reflect + Respond

Written by Dan Anderson Approximately ten years ago, I fired this stoneware bowl—with a white...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 09:30:57 -0700

Written by Dan Anderson

Approximately ten years ago, I fired this stoneware bowl—with a white feldspathic glaze on it—in my Edwardsville, Illinois, “Mounds” anagama wood kiln. The creator of the bowl, my long-time close friend, Robert W. Archambeau from Winnipeg, Manitoba, recognized my magnetic pull to his bowl the moment I un-stacked it from the wood firing. Robert gave it to me on the spot! It is one of approximately 150 bowls in our house.

In my humble opinion, Robert is one of the, if not the, leading crockery makers in all of Canada. This bowl was fired upside down on a hand-made clay trivet with a seashell, (filled with sawdust impregnated clay wadding), on each of the three prongs. The triangular trivet changed the shape of the bowl at the high temperature, (2,350 F), of the wood firing, from a perfectly symmetrical bowl to a triangulated form. Sometimes, when I look at the bowl from across the room it reminds me of a bicycle seat! If I had to, I could speak about this bowl for over an hour. Suffice it to say, at the moment, it contains preserved flowers from my wife’s garden, as well as beach detritus from a favored summer vacation location. Quite often, it contains pasta el dente.

Dan Anderson is an artist based in Edwardsville, IL. This submission came to us via: curatorial@museumofcontemporarycraft.org

I hold you each one in my hands unknown to me but felt in the world present now gone this bowl a...

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 09:30:44 -0700

I hold you
each one
in my hands

unknown to me
but felt in the world
present

now gone

this bowl a reminder
of you
of us

and we carry
each other
without
and within.

Naomi J. Falk is an artist and educator based in Williamsburg, VA.
Image: Naomi J. Falk, Swallow(ed), installation view, 2006, porcelain, saltwater, reclaimed wood, 240 inches diameter overall; Courtesy of the artist
Each palm-sized bowl in “Swallow(ed)”, filled with saltwater, representing
the ocean, as well as tears, paid tribute to individuals affected by 2004’s
tsunami in Southeast Asia, and continued with the hurricanes in the Gulf
Coast.