A comprehensive and lavishly illustrated monograph of one of the most important American ceramic artists

"The Best of New Ceramic Art features the 100 winning entries - chosen from almost 1,000 submissions - for the Monarch National Ceramic Competition, North America's premiere showcase for new ceramic art. The book serves as an exhibition on paper, showcasing a splendid collection of diverse objects that are a testament to the strength of ceramic art as a modern art form." "The superb illustrations are a rich source of inspiration as well as a permanent reference. This book will be welcomed by practicing artists throughout the world, along with those who find pleasure in looking at and collecting ceramics."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Dark Light is the first book on the ceramics of the great Navajo ceramist Christine Nofchissey McHorse and features her award-winning sculptural black series begun in 1998. Authors Clark and Del Vecchio, the two foremost experts on international contemporary ceramics, give respect to the artist's Native roots while also exploring her art in a mainstream context, a breakthrough in evaluating Indian pottery today. Dark Light refers to the mica-rich clay McHorse uses in her vessels. When fired, the mica glows and shimmers against the black of the reduction-fired surfaces, advancing and receding, giving McHorse's elegant, matt-black biomorphic shapes a retinal vibrance and a sensual life.

New Wave Clay unpicks the zeitgeist and aesthetic of an exciting discipline with intelligence, insight and indulgence. Against the backdrop of the digital age and shiny screens, a whole new generation of craftspeople, designers and artists are realizing the pleasure of working with clay and bringing a fresh perspective to the material. Today, there is a lively crossover between craft, design, sculpture and technology that is rethinking ceramics: what you can make with it, what it looks like and who makes it. New Wave Clay is a global survey of 55 imaginative ceramicists that are leading this craft revival. They include classically trained potters who create design-led pieces, product designers who use clay as a means of creative expression, as well as fine artists, architects, decorators, illustrators, sculptors and graphic designers. Their collective output goes far beyond pots into ceramic furniture, sculpture, murals, wall reliefs, small-scale architecture and 3D printing. The book is divided into four thematic sections and features special contributions from Edmund de Waal, Hella Jongerius, Grayson Perry, Martin Brudnizki and Sarah Griffin discussing craft, industry, ornament, decorating and collecting. New Wave Clay is an image-led, dynamic study of the exciting new generation jumpstarting this age-old art. Features - A 296-page survey of 55 international ceramicists who bridge the worlds of product design, interiors, fine art and luxury craftsmanship. - Four thematic chapters are accompanied by interviews and written contributions on the subject from designers, decorators and collectors. - Richly illustrated, New Wave Clay is an image-led, dynamic book that aims to demonstrate the contemporary condition of this age-old art. - Instead of focusing on traditional craft ware and functional pieces, this title focuses on the community of ceramicists who create design-led works.

Tracing the artistic development of renowned potter Toshiko Takaezu (1922-2011), this masterful study celebrates and analyzes an artist who held a significant place in the post-World War II craft movement in America. Born in Hawaii of Japanese descent in 1922, Takaezu worked actively in clay, fiber, and bronze for over sixty years. Influenced by midcentury modernism, her work transformed from functional vessels to abstract sculptural forms and installations. Over the years, continued to draw on a combination of Eastern and Western techniques and aesthetics, as well as her love of the natural world. In particular, Takaezu's vertical closed forms became a symbol of her work, created through a combination of wheel-throwing and hand-building techniques that allowed her to grow her vessels vertically and eased the circular restrictions of the wheel. In addition to her art, Takaezu was renowned for her teaching, including twenty years at Princeton University. This beautifully illustrated book offers the first scholarly analysis of Takaezu's life work and includes essays by Paul Smith, director emeritus of the American Craft Museum, and Janet Koplos, former senior editor of Art in America. Jack Lenor Larsen, a textile designer, author, collector, and advocate of traditional and contemporary craftsmanship, provides a foreword.

Under the guidance of Master Potter and National Living Treasure Tatsuzo Shimaoka, Ken Matsuzaki has emerged as a leading figure in modern Japanese ceramics. Matsuzaki’s work reflects the heritage of traditional Japanese folk pottery while showcasing the artist’s creativity, intuition, and skill. Grounding his pieces in the Mingei pottery tradition, which emphasizes that the beauty of an object is found in its use, Matsuzaki has developed an individual style that honors tradition and builds on it in in new directions. This volume, which includes an in-depth interview with the artist, an essay by Professor Andrew Maske, and full-color illustrations, will introduce the reader to both the history and the future of Japanese ceramics.

Sloppy Craft: Postdisciplinarity and the Crafts brings together leading international artists and critics to explore the possibilities and limitations of the idea of 'sloppy craft' – craft that is messy or unfinished looking in its execution or appearance, or both. The contributors address 'sloppiness' in contemporary art and craft practices including painting, weaving, sewing and ceramics, consider the importance of traditional concepts of skill, and the implications of sloppiness for a new 21st century emphasis on inter- and postdisciplinarity, as well as for activist, performance, queer and Aboriginal practices. In addition to critical essays, the book includes a 'conversation' section in which contemporary artists and practitioners discuss challenges and opportunities of 'sloppy craft' in their practice and teaching, and an afterword by Glenn Adamson.