CLAREMONT, CA.- The Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery presents The Scripps Ceramic Annual, the country's oldest continuous exhibition of contemporary ceramics. Since 1993 the exhibition has had a guest curator, and this year Tony Marsh, Professor of Ceramics at California State University, Long Beach, will make the selection. Tony has built a dynamic ceramics program at CSU Long Beach, and his teaching has fostered an atmosphere in which experimentration is encouraged and clay is a medium for monumental sculpture. For the 61st Ceramic Annual, he has chosen a diverse group of six artists, several of whom made works for the Annual this summer at CSU Long Beach.

David Hicks creates mysterious objects evoking organs, bodies and tools, suggestive of the monstrous and brutal. These enigmatic forms look like familiar and basic tools, gone awry. Nina Jun projects a Zen text on clay shards, fracturing the image and conveying a sense of both violence and serenity. For her, broken clay becomes both method and metaphor. Hwa Jin Lee's works seem almost to have a gravitational pull of their own, with human bodies and natural forms, squeezed by the compression of their own weight into inseparable solids. Kristen Morgin produces via her usual approach of mixing clay, cement and glue over a framework of wood and wire, a life-size vintage hearse. Vince Palacios' massive mural of decals collaged onto tiles, is a comfounding blur of spirituality and science, technology and nature, ugliness and beauty. Finally, Suo-Koo Yuh's sculptures are elaborate tangles of humanity, culture, history, and myth. Piled high and slathered with vibrant glazes, his cobbled totems are both inspiring and troubling.

This exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue produced by Perpetua Press. The full color catalogue will include an essay by Christopher Miles, Assistant Professor of Art Theory and Criticism, also at CSULB. The catalogue is supported in part by a grant from the Pasadena Art Alliance. Additional support comes from Skutt Ceramic Products, Inc., Francine and William Baker, Sonny and Gloria Kamm, Victor and Barbara Klein, and Diane and Igal Silber. In conjunction with the exhibition, artist and writer James Melchert will give a special lecture at the Scripps Humanities Auditorium, on Saturday, January 22, from 4:00-5:00 p.m.

An opening reception, including live music and refreshments, will be held in the Bixby Courtyard, next to the Gallery, on January 22, from 7-9 p.m.



Sun Koo Yuh

Dave Hicks