Tag Archive "dirt-on-delight"

YOUR LAST CHANCE IS TOMORROW: Dirt on Delight

The Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia If the art world was a High School and the students in it were the mediums in which an artist could work, video, sculpture in general, and installation would currently be vying for the title of coolest kid. Each medium fashionably dressed with a hint of outsider rebellion even though they are firmly aware they fit right in. Screen-printing is the highly amusing social butterfly who fits in with everyone. Painting might be like a head cheerleader or have some position on the football team, drawing/works on paper might be her slightly mousier best ... More » »

Jane Irish’s poem pots at Locks gallery

We’ve told you about Jane Irish’s ceramic vases before (see posts here and here). Now on view at ICA in Dirt on Delight and recently at Locks Gallery, Irish’s pots, with their beautiful designs and colorful paintings embellishing their chunky and earth-bound selves are both beauty and the beast. The beast is the words — poetry — commissioned by Irish or conscripted by her for her subject, that appear on the pots. Angry or questioning, the poems reveal the legacy of the Vietnam War and they feel just right for our equally conflicted feelings about the Iraq war. Jane Irish’s ... More » »

Dirt on Delight at the ICA

[This is part 2 of a 2 part article that first appeared in the March issue of Ceramics Monthly. Click on the Dirt on Delight tag at the bottom of the post to find part 1.] Not everything in the exhibit is explicitly about body and bodily functions. Numerous pieces revel in clay’s historic use as a decorative medium. Jeffry Mitchell, Pickle Jar, 2005, glazed ceramic, 15.5 x 13 x 13 inches, collection Ben and Aileen Krohn

Dirt on Delight at the ICA, for Ceramics Monthly, part 1

[My review of the clay exhibit Dirt on Delight at the ICA was written for Ceramics Monthly, and appears in the March 2009 issue. This is part one of two parts. Roberta also wrote a Weekly Update on the show]. The bitter cold didn’t deter the more than 600 people who attended the opening of a major clay exhibit at the Philadelphia Institute of Contemporary Art. The exhibit, “Dirt on Delight: Impulses that Form Clay” is worth braving the elements–a chance to view a stunning variety of contemporary clay sculptures and some earlier clay sculpture that influenced the more recent ... More » »