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An honest picture of N American ceramic art

Beautiful pottery with an American twist is on show in Yingge. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE YINGGE CERAMICS MUSEUM

The Yingge Ceramics Museum(鶯歌陶瓷博物館) in Taipei County is presenting for the first time one of the largest displays of contemporary ceramic artworks from North America. The National Council of Education for the Ceramic Art (NCECA) has lent the museum 125 pieces from 67 North American contemporary ceramic artists. The exhibition, titled Diverse Domain: Contemporary North American Ceramic Art,(複調多音北美當代陶藝展) will run until Oct. 2.

The exhibitions spans three floors of the museum, with the works of each artist placed in no particular order.

The curator, Michele Conroy said, "The NCECA's purpose is to reflect a true and honest picture of North American ceramic art, which is diversified instead of being unified. Diversity and pluralism are central to contemporary American society and culture. Each work speaks of its own and no one overriding principle. We aim for each individual artist's personal expression, not just the popular style."

Visitors to the exhibition can find many North American porcelain, stoneware and earthenware pieces, with influences drawn from a variety of sources, including nature, society, and history.

To create an accurate portrayal of North American ceramic art the art show is intended to "include artists representing a full range of aesthetic and stylistic approaches, from utilitarian pottery to installation sculpture, early career artists as well as established artists, an equal representation of female and male artists, and artists somewhat evenly dispersed geographically," Conroy said.

According to Kuo Yih-wen (郭義文), a professor of ceramics from the University of Northern Illinois and an abstract ceramic sculpture artist, contemporary ceramics can be categorized into two groups. The first group is studio pottery, which includes both handmade production pottery and one-of-a-kind vessel making. The second group is ceramic sculpture, which can also be divided into two subgroups -- representational and abstract. Representational sculptures consist of forms from nature, whereas abstract sculptures aim for geometric, organic or architectonic shapes.

The exhibition consists of representational sculptures from artists such as Tom Bartel's Death and Life Figure, with somber-faced figures eerily staring, while Justin Novak's Disfigurines has figures slicing themselves open with scissors or licking blood from wounds. Esther Shimazu's bald, rotund, naked stoneware women smile alongside youngsters playing ping-pong.

The NCECA, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is an organization comprised of over 5,000 members from 25 countries. Dedicated to promoting ceramics since its formation in 1966, its annual conference is the world's largest event devoted to ceramic arts. Susan Filley, NCECA's president, hopes that this exhibition will foster national differences.

The NCECA has also contributed to exhibits in China and South Korea and has awarded prizes to ceramic artists. A statement made by the museum's projector coordinator Chen Miao-feng (陳妙鳳) best shows the spirit of Diverse Domain.

This exhibition, she said, uses Diverse Domain as "the topic to interpret the independence of North American artists' creative consciousness and the diversities of the styles of the works.... Every exhibitor can speak in his or her own voice while coexisting in this diversified age."

Performance notes:

Where: The Yingge Ceramics Museum at 200 Wenhua Rd, Yingge Township, Taipei County (台北縣鶯歌鎮文化路200號).
What: Diverse Domain -- Contemporary North American Ceramic Art
When: Now until Oct. 2.
Time: 9:30am to 5pm on weekdays and 9:30am to 6pm on weekends. The museum is closed on Mondays.
General admission: NT$100.
For more information, call (02) 8677 2727, or visit http://www.ceramics.tpc.gov.tw
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