Lamont Gallery shows ceramic artists

How did the Lamont Gallery land the first ever shared exhibit of two iconic artists who have helped change the way ceramics are seen as an art form?

“Serendipity,” says Karen Burgess Smith, director of the gallery at Phillips Exeter Academy.
The exhibit’s guest curator, Curtis Fontaine, is a graduate of the Academy’s class of 2004. He contacted the gallery during his junior year at Skidmore College, while he was apprenticing with ceramic artist Toshiko Takaezu. She was interested in showing at the school and hoped that her friend Jun Kaneko would do the same.

Turns out, Smith was a studio intern for Kaneko when he spent one year in the ceramics department at the University of New Hampshire. She maintained contact with the artist and had managed a solo exhibit of his work for a different gallery.

And so the Lamont Gallery in Exeter is now presenting “Generations: Works by Jun Kaneko and Toshiko Takaezu,” through Dec. 6. The title reflects the connection between all the artists involved in making the show possible. Smith called the collaboration “a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Known for his large, hand-built ceramic forms, Jun Kaneko was born in Japan in 1942. He studied painting by day and completed his high school requirements in night school, then continued his art education in the United States. He became part of what is now called the “contemporary ceramics movement.”

Kaneko has taught at several leading art institutions. Since 1986, he has been based in Omaha, Nebraska, where he established a studio. He has worked around the world and is regarded as a highly prolific artist who works not only in ceramics, but other media, as well.
Some of Kaneko’s paintings are on display at the Lamont Gallery. These are all untitled, like many other works in the exhibit, but are recognizable or designated as a series. He splashed oil slick on thick, textured Korean rice paper with a tattered edge. The black oil permeates the white paper, while small, gold squares in Sumi ink float on the surface. The lone, neat shapes create a striking contrast to the relatively chaotic oil spills.    

Contrasting or complementary patterns and shapes are also common on Kaneko’s ceramics. This adds visual interest and curiosity along with the various sizes and shapes of the forms. Inevitably, viewers wonder how the sculptures in this exhibit were made. Also novel is the notion that this pottery is all about form and has nothing to do with function. This is the living legacy of these two artists: ceramics as fine art and skilled craft, nothing more or less.   

Kaneko’s ceramics feature bold glazes and dramatic patterns, often with a rounded form he calls “Dango,” derived from the Japanese word for dumpling. These abstract forms are made with large amounts of clay, slowly built by hand using the slab technique. He builds them in groups, drying each for months before firing.

Kaneko’s work is in the collections of close to 50 museums and numerous public art commissions around the world. One of his more recent exhibits, from June to November, was the installation of three large “Head” sculptures in New York City, called “Kaneko on Park Avenue.” These bodiless heads with calm, closed eyes are more than eight feet tall and are part of his most definitive work.

Toshiko Takaezu was born in Hawaii in 1922 to Japanese immigrant parents. After studying art in college, she spent eight months in Japan studying its culture, traditional pottery and Buddhism. While teaching ceramics, she began experimenting with traditional functional forms and slowly began to close them where a vase would be left open on top. This has become a signature component of her work.

The result is handmade pottery that seems to defy gravity and perception. While her forms appear more familiar, often with potter’s grooves and grainy surfaces, the wholeness of the shape is all new. The shapes and sizes vary from delicate, fruit-sized spheres to the imposing, womanly Three Graces.

The colors and applications of Takaezu’s glazes are more natural looking than some of Kaneko’s. In her “Ocean’s Edge” series, for instance, there is a sky blue, cobalt blue and sandy color. She creates a beautiful balance between purposeful color combinations with painterly application and intuitive creativity.    

Takaezu taught ceramics at Princeton University for 25 years. She later moved her studio to Quakertown, N.J., where she works today. Her works are in numerous collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian and the Philadelphia Museum. She has been the recipient of a variety of awards, including the Gold Medal of the American Craft Council and several honorary doctorate degrees.

While at Phillips Exeter, guest curator Fontaine was a top student of ceramic artist and former art faculty member Ron Burke. Presently a senior at Skidmore College, he served as Takaezu’s apprentice last school year.

The Lamont Gallery is in the Frederick R. Mayer Art Center at 11 Tan Lane, Exeter. The exhibit is free and open to the public. Hours are Monday, 1-5 p.m., and Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 603-777-3461.