DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
STUDENTS QUESTION STUDENTS
Our volunteers are responsible for developing "Students Question Students". These questions/topics are geared towards advanced high school and university level students to promote indepth discussion and for possible use within the classroom setting. For archived QUESTIONS click here
Full & Spare: Ceramics in the 21st Century
Critical thinking questions authored by students to challenge fellow students to thoughtfully engage with the artwork presented in the exhibition.
By: Ashley Hickman, Kelly Paul and Jenna Mulberry
Click here for a printable PDF [pdf]
- In ancient and pre-modern times ceramic arts were intended and designed for usefulness. The Greeks decorated vases and pots according to their purpose. This exhibition concentrates on the non-utilitarian aspect of ceramic arts. How does this change your perception of ceramics as a medium? What kind of utilitarian purposes continue to be suggested in the artwork despite their isolation from functional use?
- How does the idea of seventeenth-century Baroque decoration come into play in the works of the exhibition? Consider elements of organic decoration and the interplay between decorative, natural, and theatrical roles of artwork. How does such decorative art convey meaning? Specifically consider the artworks of Susan Beiner.
Susan Beiner, Rather Than - Kitsch concepts work their way into ceramic arts. The work of Wendy Walgate specifically manipulates the idea of kitsch to comment on industrialization and mass-production. What exactly does “kitsch” mean? Why would ceramics be an interesting arena for kitsch objects? What is the relationship between the concept of kitsch and function in ceramics?
- Many of the artists in the exhibition, including Jeremy Hatch, Jennifer Holt and Wendy Walgate, evoke aspects of memory to engage the viewer. What kind of memories do these pieces seem to evoke? How do these memories change the viewer’s relationship with the artwork? Do personal memories make the piece seem more authentic? Why is this so?
Wendy Walgate, Bye Bye Bunting - Holly Hanessian juxtaposes word and form to create her pieces. She specifically questions the progression of life—what gets us to where we end up? How does she unite words with ceramic form to evoke life experience? Critics note that both words and clay can be molded. Does this relationship affect the meaning of her work? Name other ways Hanessian shows the multiplicity of meaning in the relationship between words and her forms?
- In her work, Annabeth Rosen explores the Japanese idea of letting the materials (clay and glazes) speak to her throughout her artistic process. This yields works that seem to show little artistic intervention on her part. How is this idea revealed in her work? Determine the individual characteristics of her various pieces? How might these characteristics relate to the original state of the materials?
- Jeanne Quinn states that people in Medieval times believed in a perfect world of symmetry. She creates contemporary, monumental, but delicate, installations that seem to go unnoticed at first but then capture the viewers attention upon visual recognition. How does her work reflect the medieval and the contemporary? What kind of symmetry does she use? How does the moment of visual recognition alter the original perception of the piece?
Jeanne Quinn, Where I Live This is What the Sky Looks Like - The conception of industrialized yet organic and often hybridized forms, specifically in relation with their natural counterparts, becomes a point of interest for several of the artists including Nancy Blum, Cynthia Giachetti, and Ying-Yueh Chuang. How does the juxtaposition of hybrid forms with organic forms create both tension and harmony in the ceramic pieces of these artists? What about the combination of two different types of organic forms—terrestrial and aquatic? Do these pieces still seem familiar to the viewer? What does this familiarity say about the affect of artificial production and combination on society today?
- In his work, Jason Briggs creates pieces that challenge the viewer to search for new meaning. But Briggs expects the viewer to begin building that meaning from personal knowledge. Briggs wants viewers to explore his objects with a child-like openness. How does this approach affect the viewer’s relationship with the artwork? Do viewers always bring preconceptions to each piece they encounter?
- In Julie York’s work she focuses on the dichotomy between absolute and abstract, specifically concentrating on how perceptions can be distorted. What kind of familiar forms can be derived from her pieces? How does she manipulate these forms to challenge her viewer?