Materiality: The Miller Ceramic Art Collection

Book / Arnoldsche Collecting Ceramic

Published: 28.10.2019

Materiality: The Miller Ceramic Art Collection.

Wayne Higby

Editor:: Arnoldsche Art Publishers

Text by:: Wayne Higby, Sequoia Miller, Meghen Jones, Michael MacKinnell

Edited by:: Arnoldsche Art Publishers

Edited at:: Stuttgart

Edited on:: 2019

Technical data:: Hardcover with dust Jacket. 304 pages, 24 x 30,5 cm, 243 ills. English.

ISBN / ISSN:: 978-3-89790-504-7

Price:: from 38 €

Order:: Arnoldsche Art Publishers
Order:: 20% Discount for Klimt02 members

Inner pages of the book.

The Miller Ceramic Art Collection is among the most significant private collections of contemporary studio ceramics in the international context, bringing together more than two hundred works by ninety-five ceramic artists from across the globe. Bringing its focus to bear on US positions such as Robert Turner, Peter Voulkos, Anne Currier or Wayne Higby, the collection delivers a comprehensive overview of the various artistic approaches in the USA since the mid-twentieth century. In addition, it contains outstanding examples of European and Japanese ceramic art of the same period – by Lucie Rie, Hans Coper, Hamada Shōji or Kitamura Junko, for instance.

Despite the significant differences among the individual objects, the collection runs along with two central themes: the notion of the vessel as an abstract art form and the incredible diversity of artistic methods. Impressive works by up-and-coming ceramicists of a younger generation are found repeatedly among the very big names since selection for the collection followed aesthetic and artistic criteria at all times.

Miller’s profound understanding of the material has its origin in the field of ceramic engineering. For an extensive period, he held a management role within one of North America’s biggest brick companies, with the consequence that, as the Miller Collection grew, Miller’s pronounced interest in contemporary architecture also unfolded.

For the first time, the Miller Ceramic Art Collection is published to mark its exhibition at the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum. Full-page reproductions of Brian Oglesbee’s photographs of objects and architecture vividly show how ceramics transcend the boundaries to freestanding sculpture and, in the form of large installations, interact with the surrounding architecture.

Edited by ceramics icon Wayne Higby, Director and Chief Curator of the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum and former Vice President of the IAC (International Academy of Ceramics), the book comprises articles by renowned experts. Sequoia Miller situates the collection within the international context and Meghen Jones cultivates a wholly new perspective on the artistic inspiration behind the Japanese ceramics.

With the Miller Ceramic Art Collection, one of the most distinguished private collections of ceramics is made accessible to a wider public for the first time: a new standard work in the field of contemporary studio ceramics.

Exhibition:
Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, Alfred, NY (US) 26 September until 29 December 2019.