One of the cool things about LA is there are tons of smaller museums. So I was thrilled one day to stumble across the American Museum of Ceramic Arts which is only about an hour away from where we are staying. Since pottery has been such a big part of the last few months I wanted to get some inspiration from museum quality pieces and Lee was kind enough to come along with me.
As museum’s go it is relatively small but the staff is great and they are making use of their space including a beautiful gift shop with pieces for sale from resident potters. They also offer classes and residencies at the location which is a great multi use purpose for the space.
When you walk in there is a gorgeous gallery I spent lots of time looking at several pieces. It’s hard to tell from the pictures but the level of detail is extraordinary and I know enough now to realize how hard these pieces would be to make,
The pieces ranged from very large to very small and were made from all types of base clay. A variety of techniques were used as well and the signs next to each piece detailed not only the artist but the techniques which I really appreciated.
The coolest thing about pottery is almost every culture has a form of it and it has existed for thousands of years. The possibilities are endless and the artistic expressions vary as much as each individual potter. The fact that there is no right way or wrong way really appeals to me.
Some of these you may be thinking what’s that doing in a museum, but I didn’t think that once while I was there. In fact I loved that they showed different styles including this artist who is known for his less structures approach. Since I started with glass blowing I like the idea of letting the clay do what it wants and this art in particular encouraged me to not worry so much about throwing the “perfect” piece.
Along with the standard gallery they had a space in the basement with a collection of steins which was interesting. I never really thought about the fact that old steins were pottery pieces. They also had a separate area with a collection of LGBTQ artists that was pretty interesting as the medium was used to express some pretty interesting concepts.
I am so glad we went and highly recommend it if you are a big fan of pottery. As you can see below I had a great time
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