The Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis

Located easily on Franklin Street in southeast Minneapolis, the Northern Clay Center was on my list of places to see in town. In one gallery there was a show by the impressive artist and craftsman, Adrian Saxe.

There was some more current work, but I preferred his ampersand vessels and some odd goblets from years ago. His workmanship is flawless. I could surely use some tips on hand-building from Adrian Saxe.

Community Heirloom Project:
the Boy and the Bottle, Shenny Cruces

In the Main Gallery was a show called, "A Gilded Age," focusing on modern work that features gold as a major surface treatment. That connected very well to Saxe's work because he too gravitates to the metallic and golden.

Love Shack, Chris Antemannn

Dick Nixon I am Lt. John Stulett Vase,
Jane Irish

While there I decided to loosen my purse strings and buy an item in the Northern Clay Center's shop. Most work was Midwestern, though not all, and many were reasonably priced.

The piece I chose was by Adam Gruetzmacher and I pictured it in a particular spot in my home. That didn't work out, but the vase is displayed prominantly and contrasts nicely on a shelf with the Lalique vase, "Bacchantes."



















I bought one more piece to squeeze into my luggage, but it was purchased in Two Harbors, Minnesota from the Agate Shop. This is a mug by the local potter, Allen Omarzu. Nothing weird, just a hearty and pleasantly decorated vessel.

Clay in Minneapolis

WAM was one of the places where I found work by ceramics artists in Minneapolis. Inside the building you wouldn't know you were in an aluminum can, fortunately.

The Leo and Doris Hodroff Gallery in the museum, was entirely ceramics. I was excited to see, inside glass cases, some of my favorite artists' work; Lucie Rie, Mary and Edwin Scheier, and Maija Grotell for example,  along with other historically significant work from ancient times to modern. The glass made these un-photographable, but a few pieces outside the glass were worth recording.

Warren MacKensie

They are all large pieces, including these platters by the influential U of Minnesota professor and potter, Warren Mackenzie. Obviously, the decoration here is the important part, though his chunky forms were innovative at the time (1956 for the bottom one, 1988 for the top). He was influenced by Korean and other Asian pottery.

"Peasant Woman," Akio Takamori

Here are some other works that impressed me at WAM.

"Sleeping woman," Akio Takamori

"Vessel," Karen Karnes

I don't think there were any openings for this vessel, just the shallow hollows in the immense form.

"Dance Hall," Rudy Autio

from the "Fremont Project," Dango Series, Jun Taneko

This super large sculpture was in the current show
at the museum, not in the ceramics gallery. The informative label is worth quoting.


"The pieces weigh about one thousand pounds each and are very complicated to make. The artist hand-builds them over many months from thick slabs of clay inside large kilns in Omaha, Nebraska, where he lives. he leaves them to air dry for up to six weeks. In the final stage of production, only two or three pieces actually survive from a group of ten."

other side, with my Aiti

What is a "dango?" I must look it up, but it reminds me of a hindu lingam. Definitely primordial.
















Next post: the Northern Clay Center.

Minneapolis in 3D

Of course I looked for ceramics in Minneapolis, and I found some. But first, the largest 3D creations to be seen in the city - the architecture.

 

Together in this image are the Guthrie Theater on the left with the remains of the Gold Medal Flour Mill, at one time the largest flour mill in the world, on the right.

The Guthrie has an outdoor porch that juts out over the river parkway and has splendid views of the stone bridge and Mississippi. Variously shaped windows frame the view from inside the building.

We saw a play there. Oddly enough, though our seats were near the front right, we were required to enter at the top and descend many steep stairs to arrive at our seats, a treacherous journey for my aged Mama. The architect of the Guthrie appears to enjoy challenging height phobias.

view from the Guthrie open air porch

The Mill City Museum enables you to get inside the ruins of the mill and experience a multi media history lesson inside a moving elevator.
Interesting fact: the vacuum cleaner was an idea "sparked" by a catastrophic fire caused by combusting flour dust in the old mill.

Across the river, welcome to WAM, the art museum on the campus of the University of Minnesota. Can you guess who the architect is of this absurdly complex structure?

If it reminds you of some other aluminum clad buildings by the famous architect, then you know it is a Frank Gehry. This is an older one, built in 1993, and it is beginning to look like this can has been rattled around a bit by the seasonal extremes of Minnesota weather.

Another art museum, The Walker Art Center features contemporary art. Now in mid June, not much was happening, except for an Edward Hopper show and an artist designed attempt at mini-golf (they tried).






The spaces are large, and the windows an array of shapes and sizes. I think the outdoor expanses were the best part for me. Below ground, on the sloping western lawn was an installation by the amazing artist of light, James Turrell.  If you didn't know it was there, you'd miss it.

Sit on the stone bench and lean back. Breath. Look through the opening in the ceiling and see the sky. That's all it is. Beautiful.