WORKS BY CERAMICS MASTER FEATURED AT UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY

The celebrated work of Marguerite Wildenhain, who made many ripples in the ceramics world through her devotion to function and form, will be exhibited at Utah State University, said Vicky Rowe, education curator at Utah State‚s Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art.

The exhibition, “RIPPLES: Marguerite Wildenhain and her Pond Farm Students,” opens at the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum May 28, and remains through July. Organized by the Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum at California State University, San Bernardino, this exhibition honors Bauhaus-trained master potter Wildenhain (1896-1985) and her students.

“We are privileged to own a stoneware jar created by Wildenhain that epitomizes the teachings of the Bauhaus masters,” said Rowe. “This exhibit is very significant for the museum in that it enhances and augments our renown ceramics collection.”

This exhibit, which includes more than 60 Wildenhain artworks and more than 50 works by her Pond Farm students, is a commemoration and celebration of Wildenhain‚s contribution to the ceramic world.

The Fullerton museum‚s Billie Sessions, who completed her undergraduate work at Utah State University, is the curator for the Wildenhain exhibit.

“Wildenhain had an intense relationship with her craft, an extreme clarity about life, a critical eye regarding form and a deep and abiding relationship with her students,” Sessions said.

Trained in Europe at the Bauhaus under master potter Max Krehan and sculptor Gerhard Marcks, Wildenhain eventually founded Pond Farm Pottery near Guerneville, Calif., where she trained 20 students each summer for 30 years. At her Pond Farm school she demonstrated her philosophy that art should be the integration of life and work, honest expression and integrity of form.

“This exhibit brings attention to Wildenhain‚s work, and it literally demonstrates how the philosophical and aesthetic foundation she purported have reverberated throughout the ceramics world,” said Sessions.

An introduction to the exhibit will be given by Sessions Wednesday, May 29, with a reception following. Activities begin at 5 p.m. at the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum.

“Wildenhain was a pioneer in her time and a master teacher,” said Rowe. “This exhibit is a wonderful way to celebrate Wildenhain‚s truly great contribution to the world of ceramics as well as recognize many of her outstanding students.”

For more information contact Vicky Rowe at (435) 797-0165 or visit www.hass.usu.edu/~museum.