NEW ORLEANS, LA.- The beauty and innovation of contemporary ceramics are featured at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. “2009 North Carolina Living Treasures: Ceramics by Cynthia Bringle and Norm Schulman,” on view until April 30, 2009, will showcase the works of these two craft icons in ceramics.

Organized by the University of North Carolina/Wilmington, Museum of World Cultures, William Madison Randall Library, this exhibition is part of a traveling show to support the UNCW North Carolina’s biannual “Living Treasures” award, which recognizes master artists who work in traditional arts and crafts in North Carolina. Originated in 1987 by Dr. Gerald Shinn, Professor Emeritus from UNCW, artists are selected whose work is in keeping with the purpose of the award: preserving artistic traditions, promoting art as a viable economic industry, and for representing the best of traditional arts throughout the state of North Carolina. Previous “Living Treasures” artists include: Julian Guthrie (boatwright), Bea Hensley (blacksmith), Harvey Littleton (glass artist), Arval Woody (furniture maker) and Billie Ruth Sudduth (basket weaver).

Cynthia Bringle
Cynthia Bringle was born in 1939 in Memphis, Tenn. She studied painting and pottery at the Memphis Academy of Art, where she earned her bachelor of fine arts. She received her master of fine arts from Alfred University in New York, and today lives in Penland, N.C, where she teaches at the prestigious Penland School of Crafts. Her studio, Bringle Pottery, is nearby. She is a fellow of the American Craft Council and was awarded life membership in the Southern Highland Craft Guild. Her work is in private and public collections, including the Mint Museum of Craft & Design, the High Museum of Art, and the Burlington Art Centre.

Norm Schulman
Norm Schulman was born in New York City in 1924. He attended the Parsons School of Design and received a bachelor of science from New York University and a master of fine arts in ceramics from Alfred University in New York in 1958. Since 1978, Schulman has operated Norman Schulman Studio in Penland, N.C. He is an esteemed ceramic artist and teacher, and his works are in a number of private and public collections, including Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum of Art and Design, and the Mint Museum of Craft & Design.