Northern Clay Center: Functional Redesign

NORTHERN CLAY CENTER

Functional Redesign

Functional ReDesign

Director’s Foreword

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Sarah Millfelt

Functional ReDesign Exhibition dates: March 9 – April 29, 2012

Unless otherwise noted, all dimensions: height precedes width precedes depth.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Cover: Lenneke Wispelwey Cup “Mister Right” h. 2 x diameter 3.25”

For more information: Northern Clay Center 2424 Franklin Avenue East Minneapolis, MN 55406 612.339.8007 www.northernclaycenter.org

Carafe “Mister Right” 9.5 x 4.5 x 4.25” slip cast porcelain

Artwork photography: Peter Lee Design: Joseph D.R. OLeary (vetodesign.com) ISBN: 978-1-932706-26-7 ©2012 Northern Clay Center

Northern Clay Center’s exhibitions program is funded, in part, by the arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the Legacy Amendment vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008. For more information, please visit http://www.arts.state.mn.us/grants/support.htm.

Functional ReDesign is underwritten with generous support from Continental Clay Company, George and Frances Reid, and the Windgate Charitable Foundation.

Throughout its 20+ year history, Northern Clay Center has used its exhibition program to highlight various stops along the ceramic spectrum. From pots that pour and store to architectural uses of terra cotta; from sculptural objects to unfired installations of clay — our exhibitions continue to provide our viewers with windows into the world of ceramic art. The occasional visitor can delight in how artists elect to engage with the material; the student or novice can expand his/her understanding of a particular technique; an avid buyer of ceramic art can enrich a growing collection. Not every exhibition produces a visceral response from the viewer (be it good or bad), but all provide a point of departure for a greater conversation about clay or craft or art or design.

The Functional ReDesign exhibition is no exception. In fact, Functional ReDesign was born out of these conversations about ceramic artists and designers and the very definitions of the two identities.

Swapping ideas and opinions about how artists and designers each uniquely engage with industry, the consumer, and the greater ceramics and art communities, the Clay Center’s exhibitions committee slowly developed the blueprint for this show. Almost two years later, Functional ReDesign became a reality. Ceramic artist and exhibition committee member Heather Nameth Bren was a strong voice throughout these exchanges. Her essay about Functional ReDesign follows.

We hope that both the exhibition and this publication provide the viewers with a platform for additional conversation. Thank you for making this particular stop along the ceramic spectrum with us. We hope it was met with the arrival of a little inspiration and some new insights.

As with most of what we do here at NCC, this exhibition and its related activities would not be possible without support from numerous individuals and institutions.

Thank you to the donors whose support has enabled us to grow the scale and scope of our exhibitions program. Specifically, thank you to the Windgate Charitable Foundation, Continental Clay Company, and George and Francis Reid for support of Functional ReDesign and the various artist presentations held in conjunction with this exhibition.

Additional support was provided by the arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the Legacy Amendment vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

A special thanks to Heather Nameth Bren and NCC’s very talented exhibitions committee for their ideas and conversations that helped bring this show to life. Thanks also to Theresa Downing, NCC’s exhibitions director and curator, and to Margeaux Claude and Adam Gruetzmacher for their wonderful installation of the exhibition.

Preface Theresa Downing

funCtional redesign This is a time when artists actively forge new artistic genres, stretching and dissolving pre-existing boundaries of how we define art, craft, and design. To this end, many artists eschew labels to keep from being limited by expectations of what they may produce, what their work means, and who they can be. In synch with the rebirth of the handmade movement and the increasing appreciation for small-scale production, it is not surprising that ceramicists—in concert with artists of all media–engage in unconventional practices and defy traditional concepts of the studio artist.

In this context, “functional redesign” means to redesign the physical form of the functional object.

Coupled with this reconsideration of the object is the redesign of identity. A significant term in art criticism in recent years, identity manifests itself in still newer variations as artists’ production and marketing methods change. In our ideas-driven economy, a flexibility of roles is required, if not also desired, by individuals who need to embrace a hyphenated career. (Read: I am a ceramic artist-designer-entrepreneur.) For all their clean lines and absence of the “hand,” contemporary slip-cast ceramics embody the complex identity of their makers and reveal to us an innovative reintroduction to functional ware.

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Functional ReDesign

Nicholas Bivins

“When an individual uses my work, the simultaneous attention of the user on the objects and the objects on the user reveal the unique nature of personal production for personal use.�

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Originally from the California Bay Area, Nicholas Bivins holds a BFA in ceramics and a BA in interdisciplinary visual art from the University of Washington, and an MFA in ceramics from Ohio University. Bivins has been an artist-in-residence at Red Lodge Clay Center, Montana, and he is currently a long-term resident at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, Montana, where he received the Matsutani Fellowship. Bivins was a 2012 National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Emerging Artist for the Seattle, Washington conference. Bivins has exhibited his ceramics in numerous national shows and his pieces have been featured in several publications including American Craft and Ceramic Arts Daily.

8 Nicholas Bivins Coffee (2) 11 x 18 x 13� slip cast porcelain with glaze and decals. Tray: manufactured wood with automotive paint and rubber

Functional ReDesign

Nicholas Bivins

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Functional ReDesign

Nicholas Bivins

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Nicholas Bivins Flask 5.5 x 4 x 2” Shot Cup 2.5 x 1.75 x 1.75” slip cast porcelain with glaze

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Functional ReDesign

Nicholas Bivins Large Bowl (left) 3 x 6.5 x 6.5�

Medium Bowl (right) 3 x 5.5 x 5.5� slip cast porcelain with glaze

Nicholas Bivins

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Functional ReDesign

Nicholas Bivins

Nicholas Bivins Pitcher 10.5 x 9 x 4.75� slip cast porcelain with glaze and decals

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Functional ReDesign

Ryan Fletcher

“I try to engage the user by creating a moment where they must stop and rethink how they will interact with the object.”

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Ryan Fletcher holds a BFA in ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri. His interest in functional ceramics began more than ten years ago when he was first introduced to clay in high school.

Fletcher’s interest in product design came through studying Bauhaus philosophies and writings. He has designed porcelain serve-ware, “Tapas Micros,” in conjunction with Kansas City chefs for their restaurants.

In 2011, Fletcher was an invited artist to the 35th Annual International Ceramics Symposium “Porcelain Another Way” in Wrocław, Poland. Fletcher is currently artistin-residence at Red Star Studios in Kansas City, Missouri.

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Functional ReDesign

Ryan Fletcher

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Ryan Fletcher Pierogi Variation #2 4.25 x 15.5 x 8.5� slip cast porcelain from Kristof Porcelain Factory, fast-fired in tunnel kiln

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Functional ReDesign

Ryan Fletcher

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Ryan Fletcher Slant Cups, “Tapas Micros” Series 3.25 x 3.25 x 2.5” slip cast porcelain

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Functional ReDesign

Ryan Fletcher

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Ryan Fletcher Stretched Skin Vessel #4 4 x 8.5 x 6.5� slip cast porcelain

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Ryan Fletcher The Spoon, “Tapas Micros” Series .5 x 7.25 x 1.25” slip cast porcelain

Functional ReDesign

Ryan Fletcher

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Functional ReDesign

Andrew Gilliatt

“I am fascinated with how we personalize and define ourselves through the objects we use and accumulate.”

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Andrew Gilliatt is currently artist-inresidence at Red Lodge Clay Center, Montana. He has been a past resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana, and at Red Star Studios in Kansas City, Missouri. Gilliatt earned an MFA in ceramics in 2011 from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, and a BFA in graphic design from Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, in 2003. This past year alone Gilliatt’s ceramics have been exhibited nationwide in shows from Florida to Washington. His wares and slip casting techniques have been featured in many publications including American Craft and Pottery Making Illustrated.

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Functional ReDesign

Andrew Gilliatt

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Andrew Gilliatt Leaf (mug) 4 x 5 x 4� slip cast porcelain with decals

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Functional ReDesign

Andrew Gilliatt Lost and Found (mug set of 4) 4 x 5 x 4� slip cast porcelain with decals

Andrew Gilliatt

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Functional ReDesign

Andrew Gilliatt

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Andrew Gilliatt Sunflower (tumbler set of 5) 6 x 3 x 3� slip cast porcelain with decals

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Andrew Gilliatt Wiener (serving bowl) 4 x 12.5 x 8� slip cast porcelain with decals

Functional ReDesign

Andrew Gilliatt

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Functional ReDesign

Hiroe Hanazono

“My desire as an artist is to create pots that serve not only as a vehicle for the fine taste of food, but also to transcend visual pleasure and to stimulate appetite. The work I make is a pedestal for food.”

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Hiroe Hanazono, a native of Japan, received her MFA from Ohio University in 2008 and a BA in spatial art from California State University–Hayward. A past artist-inresidence at Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts and Worcester Center for Crafts, Hanazono has also worked and studied at various artist communities including Peters Valley Craft Center and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Her work has been shown both nationally and internationally, and she was the recipient of the 2008–2009 Evelyn Shapiro Foundation Fellowship at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she currently maintains a studio.

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Functional ReDesign

Hiroe Hanazono Wave Bud Vase tallest: 4.5 x 1.5 x 1.5� slip cast porcelain with glaze and gloss accents

Hiroe Hanazono

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Functional ReDesign

Hiroe Hanazono

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Hiroe Hanazono Condiment Dish with Three Spoons 2 x 3.5 x 10� slip cast porcelain with glaze

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Hiroe Hanazono Condiment Dish with Two Spoons 2 x 3.5 x 10� slip cast porcelain with glaze

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Hiroe Hanazono

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Functional ReDesign

Hiroe Hanazono

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Hiroe Hanazono Appetizer Dish with Spoon 1.5 x 3 x 3� slip cast porcelain with glaze

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Functional ReDesign

Jason Miller

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“I am interested in making things that feel comfortable and foreign at the same time.”

Jason Miller Studio was founded in 2001.

Miller has exhibited internationally, including solo shows from Tokyo to Istanbul to Milan. The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum included Miller in Design Life Now, The National Design Triennial (2006). He has been featured in numerous publications including ELLE Décor and World of Interiors.

In 2007, Wallpaper magazine named him one of the “Best Breakthrough Designers,” and in 2010, the Brooklyn Museum awarded him “Designer of the Year.” His work is in the collections of the Museum of Arts and Design, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Brooklyn Museum. Miller recently founded Roll & Hill, a contemporary lighting company producing work by a select group of designers. Miller is the Creative Director and CEO. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

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Functional ReDesign

Jason Miller

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Jason Miller Seconds – Cups (set of 4) cup diameter: 3.25” saucer diameter: 6.25” porcelain

Jason Miller Large Ogel Vase 11 x 4.25 x 4.25” slip cast stoneware

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Functional ReDesign

Jason Miller Seconds – Dinner Plates (set of 4) diameter: 10.75� porcelain

Jason Miller

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Jason Miller Ropes - Place Setting (4 pieces) large plate: h. 1.5 x diameter 11.75” dinner plate: h. 1.25 x diameter 10.5” large bowl: h. 2 x diameter 9” cup: h. 3.75 x diameter 3.5” porcelain

Functional ReDesign

Jason Miller

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Functional ReDesign

Lenneke Wispelwey

“[I have an] aesthetic way of looking at things; I make families of objects, adding more siblings to the collection and growing the brand they represent.�

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Lenneke Wispelwey founded her ceramics design studio in 2008 in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Her low-tech design methods result in pastel-colored porcelain objects with geometric patterns. Lenneke finds a simple approach to techniques and materials very important to communicate her vision. Her work is known for the use of different shades of one color, and for playing with the contrast between bisqued and glazed porcelain. She creates honest and harmonious designs, inspired by her memories and antiques. Wispelwey’s designs have been shown throughout the Netherlands and featured in numerous Dutch design publications.

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Functional ReDesign

Lenneke Wispelwey

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Lenneke Wispelwey Cup “Petit Four” 2.75 x 2 x 2” slip cast porcelain

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Lenneke Wispelwey (left to right) Vase “Pineapple” 5.75 x 4.5 x 4.5” Vase “Daisy” 2.5 x 3 x 3” Vase “Star” 3.75 x 2.75 x 2.75” slip cast porcelain

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Lenneke Wispelwey

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Lenneke Wispelwey

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Lenneke Wispelwey Vase “First Prize” 4.5 x 4.5 x 4.5” slip cast porcelain with gold lustre

Lenneke Wispelwey Bottle “Twist” h. 8 x diameter 4.25” slip cast porcelain

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Functional ReDesign

Essay

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Heather Nameth Bren Edited by Theresa Downing

ReDefining Identities Functional ReDesign presents limitededition utilitarian objects created with the industrial-inspired processes of prototyping and slip casting. In understanding the nature of slip casting and its tendency toward mass production, the maker can explore his or her own identity as an artist or as a designer, and isolate markets for distributing work accordingly. For these reasons, the objects in this exhibition reflect dialogue on contemporary mass production and consumption as they relate to identity.

The topic of identity, within the context of Functional ReDesign, is a topic that each artist has at one time undoubtedly considered. And, in this case, identity is a significant label. Are you an artist or are you a designer? Each of these labels informs decisions about audience, concept, and material processes in uniquely different ways. Due to the integrated nature of art and design, however, the label becomes a sticking point. For example, Ryan Fletcher’s pedigree is that of a studio artist who received his BFA in ceramics from Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri. While visiting the Kristof Porcelain ceramic factory in Wałbrzych, Poland, a year later, he was strongly affected by the emphasis on product design and the level of production

he encountered there. More specifically, Fletcher had a brush with a distinctly continental European outlook on the medium.

American ceramics education as we know it today has developed out of the artist’s studio practice. It is part of a pedagogical attitude in ceramics that has been heavily influenced by the mid-twentieth-century pottery movement inspired by artists Bernard Leach and Warren MacKenzie, and also by postmodern thought injected into the field by ceramic sculptor Peter Voulkos and the resulting California 1960s and 1970s Funk Movement.1 The approach to ceramics and the mode of ceramic object production that Fletcher witnessed in Poland were not the result of this kind of studio practice or conceptual dialogue. Rather, what he observed in the factory was the epitome of efficiency in industrial ceramic production. Like any assembly line, the late nineteenth-century European ceramic factory benefitted from a division of labor: designer, technician, and surface designer/artist. These ingrained identities born of the manufacturing sector continue to influence education and making sensibility throughout Europe,

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where the role of designer is idealized.2 Fletcher experienced the European ceramic factory through his lens as a trained American studio artist, yet understood an alternative approach to ceramics, noticed an opportunity for design inspiration and artistic dialogue, and observed a proficient means for producing wares. The title of Fletcher’s new website, “Ryan Fletcher Design: Ceramic Design & Sculpture” reflects his reaction to the American and European approaches to ceramics, which have shaped his creative path, and his resulting necessity to identify as both artist and designer.3 Curiously, Fletcher does not stand alone in the art/design identity crisis. Brooklyn-based designer, Jason Miller has had professional experiences that include working as a studio assistant to American art star Jeff Koons and as a designer for world-renowned industrial designer Karim Rashid.4 Even more intriguing are the objects that Miller produces: domestic items like lighting, seating, and dinnerware that are consistently seemingly irreverent and trashy-chic, yet they retain serious commentary on consumption and identity. Something smells like art …

It seems necessary that if there is a distinction to be drawn between the two

Functional ReDesign

Essay

terms — artist and designer — the meanings of both must first be examined. The Webster’s Dictionary characterizes an artist as, “one who professes and practices an imaginative art; a person skilled in one of the fine arts,”5 while a designer is categorized as, “one who creates and manufactures a new product style.”6 The definition of designer implies the communication of a detailed plan to the manufacturer who then produces the object. The actual making of the product exists outside of this limiting classification of a designer. The definition of artist indicates both skill and hand in the process, as well as output of imaginative ideas.

definitions help to clarify the differences between designer and artist by indicating that design is a plan while art is a dialogue.

However, the inadequacy of these definitions becomes apparent when one considers what almost every artist and designer knows: you cannot have one without the other. The consideration of what appeals aesthetically is essential to the design dialogue, and to plan, choose, and designate are all contained within the conceptual exploration of materials. Therefore, design and art inhere within the other’s definition.

Undoubtedly, this muddles the designer versus artist label.

The deconstruction of artist and designer to art and design allows deeper insight into the subtle, yet formative lines, which distinguish the two. In Design Basics: 2D and 3D, an art and design foundations primer

by Stephen Pentak, Richard Roth and David A. Lauer, design7 is defined as, “a planned arrangement of visual elements to construct an organized visual pattern or structure”.8 By contrast, the authors interpret art to be “a conceptual dialogue with materials; the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.”9 In some ways, these

Although process links art and design, artist and designer have taken on differing roles and attitudes, one of which is connected to the interaction with materials. In The History of Modern Design, David Raizman attempts to distinguish between artists and designers by referring to the actions of each as making and designing, respectively, delineating between an intimacy with materials.10 He and other scholars name the birth of the Industrial Revolution as the origin of this distinction, dividing individuals into either art/craft or design.11 “The separation of designing from making thus allowed for comparison of design with a respected

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professional activity,” Raizman explains, “rather than with a less prestigious manual activity.”12 Indeed, the action of the hand endures as a distinguishing attribute that dissociates artists from designers.

Further, Raizman proposes that higher education plays a formative separating role between artists and designers.13 Because artist-focused Studio Arts degree programs are by nature more open-ended (or seemingly so, as creativity is also openended, with no pre-determined or necessary actions), then the resulting perception is that the pursuit of the artistic cannot be measured. If then, the pursuit of creativity in art making cannot be measured, it must not be academic, or so the assumption goes.

On the other hand, many individuals within academia respect the study of design as an academic discipline considerably more than that of art. The study of design includes the esteemed fields of architecture and industrial design. Both of these areas involve an investigation of the sciences, like physics or engineering, and must, therefore, be academic at their core. This partitioning of less-academic and more-academic studies has aided in the mistaken viewpoint that art and design are autonomous entities.14

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A more insidious misperception stemming from the educational argument is that some individuals in the design world view art as the product of genius or the genius artist. This sounds great, genius artist, but it implies a product of the savant, the socially disabled, and it alludes to other deficiencies such as not being as accessible, lucrative, or tangible as other “successful” people.15 The stereotype persists; many consider artists to be less thoughtful in planning and a bit aloof, seemingly not grounded in reality. In contrast, some individuals in the art world view designers as too constrictive, linear, didactic, and, frankly, as sell-outs. There exists a notion that designers cannot make art, that it is beyond them. Of course, both of these opinions ring false because art and design are mutually dependent: art needs design to function, and design needs art to have substance. Further, an artist cannot say that a good designer does not make art; likewise a designer cannot deny that a good artist is also a good designer.

But can artists and designers make such claims? Art necessitates a dialogue — it is in the very definition. We know an artist’s method includes dialogue because art is the result of thinking and learning. The motivating force behind making art — the

Functional ReDesign

act of which includes concept, content, and communication — is dialogue. Certainly, a designer’s work also incorporates dialogue: line, shape, color, form, value, texture, space. Beyond a consideration of these formal elements, a designer is concerned with interfacing, interacting, integrating, and the list goes on. Conceptually, each of the above-mentioned aspects of the design dialogue is a valid intellectual undertaking for both the designer and the artist. If this is the case that both artists and designers utilize dialogue in the creative act, is the argument instead about the source of dialogue? Ultimately, is it about who is served — the client or the self? This is the twenty-dollar question that can be best satisfied with an answer that allows for some gray area. This range of behaviors describes the relationship of the artist and/or designer to the client: • fulfilling the client’s whims/wants/needs • telling the client what they want/need while inserting the designer’s own whims • producing inspired objects/lines of objects that the client chooses • making self-inspired objects that a buyer might desire • fulfilling commissions based on one’s previous works

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• making for the pursuit of dialogue and learning independent of a consumer The objects exhibited in Functional ReDesign result from the efforts of artists and designers who function within the closely related, in-between identities listed in this spectrum.

In the book, Breaking The Mould: New Approaches to Ceramics, essayist and British ceramic artist Claire Twomey offers an explanation and a category for the work produced by individuals who make art/ design that exists in this gray area. Twomey classifies a “new” conceptual approach that has been evolving since the role of the artist/ designer has been engaging with industry.

“In the same way that other material-specific disciplines are breaking from known formats,” Twomey explains, “…artists are borrowing and lending to and from industry, design and craft practice, creating a buoyant and free-flowing environment of hybrid objects in art, design and consumer products.”16 Twomey labels an individual with this fluid practice the “hybrid craft-maker,”17 meaning a discipline-specific artisan who is free to engage the dialogue of objects, the modes of production, and the history from which those objects have evolved. When Twomey’s term

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hybrid craft-maker is applied to the medium of ceramics, the histories of object, process, and production must be derived from both industry and the artist’s studio.

All of the participants — artist, designer, or hybrid — included in the Functional ReDesign exhibition have thoughtfully considered the roles of process and materials as related to their practice. All are transcending traditional ideas of the industry-inspired multiple. Historically, decorative, formal utilitarian ware was typically embellished with complex detail laboriously hand-built by artisans, and it was not easily reproduced.

The introduction of the plaster mold for slip casting in England in the 1800s allowed for effortless ornate, mass-produced elegance.

Since then, exponential advancements in mass production technologies have led to efficiently mass-producing … everything.

Everything comes in every color in every material imaginable.

And this is where today’s culture stands.

Contemporary culture produces everything.

In the atmosphere of readily accessible everything and anything, ceramic artists/ designers/hybrids must question the objects that are produced for the sake of relevance.

The maker must produce an object that is

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self-aware: aware of what it is that it is. Why is it relevant to redesign the iconic tenets: bowl, cup, platter, vase, and mug? What is the history in the object? To what influences does the object point? What is the history of the object within the context of the culture?

What is the history in the process? What are the technologies from which an object can be produced?

Integrated into the fabric of society, technologies once exclusive to the manufacturing sector are now naturally employed by artists. The contemporary artist can outsource ideas and create digital prototypes resulting in objects that look identical to that of modern corporate production. Certainly the work of Archie Bray Foundation resident, Nicholas Bivins, demonstrates the fluid incorporation of industry-inspired technology. Bivins’ pursuit of “handmade perfection”18 necessitates the integration of technology borrowed from industrial processes. Using industrial machinery, such as a computer-controlled router, Bivins engineers trays and wallmounted structures out of wood, which he treats with automotive paint; he uses them to display his work. These supports for presenting the work have become an equal component to his wares. Both the ceramic

Functional ReDesign

work and the fabricated supports exemplify a serious pursuit of materials and process.

Complementing his concepts related to “handmade perfection,” Bivins incorporates geometry and the grid to inform his ceramic pieces. His proportions are smart both in the balancing of his forms and in the application of color blocking on his glaze surfaces.

Similarly, Andrew Gilliatt is a hybrid craft maker who borrows from industry, while engaging in the dialogue of objects and their history. He prototypes and produces his handmade forms while retaining a level of social commentary about identity and consumption through his choice of decoration.19 Using the utilitarian ceramic form as canvas and vehicle for dialogue, Gilliatt punctuates his forms with generic, sometimes lowbrow symbols of identity.

Fastfood French fries, obnoxious smiley faces, high-heeled shoes, cassette tapes, 90s-inspired dinosaur motifs, and cuss words comprise just a few of the pop cultural references that overwhelm the surface design of his objects. His Smile!

Mug seems to shout at its user like a bad, but effective Billy Mays infomercial, and, indeed, all of Gilliatt’s motifs appear to be an advertisement about the identity of the maker and/or user of the objects.

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Ceramic artist Hiroe Hanazono’s designs are inspired by the sensory experience that complements dining. It is Hanazono’s belief, derived from her Japanese heritage, that the aesthetic presentation of a meal is as important as the taste of the food. To her, presentation is crucial. As testament to her culinary-merged-with-ceramic-artist philosophy, she states, “I love eating and cooking, and that is why I make pots.”20 Hanazono describes the process of making pottery as similar to the process of making a meal. To her, both food and serving pieces become integrated in the ritual: prepare, share, and eat.

In an effort to marry this concept of the ritual of food to the aesthetics of the serving object, Hanazono employs forms that are minimal, precise, and elegant. She designs the ceramic forms to be visually complete with the addition of the color and texture of food items. The objects are playful in irregular curves, proportions, color palette, and subtle surface design motifs.

Hanazono’s ceramic serving pieces reflect ease and whimsy, but in a sophisticated manner. The serious, yet soft curvilinearinspired forms frame the dining experience for the consumer.

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Though Hanazono makes meticulously designed work, she functions much like an artist in her marketing. Hanazono is interested in the domestic conversation.

Toward that end, she has subscribed to the path of the studio ceramicist in order to market her wares. She creates pieces, enters shows, sells in ceramic galleries, and participates in exhibitions. All of these opportunities function both as the platform for marketing and the doorway into the domestic realm.

Jason Miller, on the other hand, has decided not to be bound by the traditional roles of artist or designer. Historically, the designer followed the muse of the client rather than his or her own. Instead — much like a studio artist — Miller creates his designs to his own taste/concepts and solicits his clients postprototype, post-creation. But things change, and Miller’s approach is one that has permeated design culture. Even though he is an established designer, Miller functions like many contemporary artists do. That is, Miller’s work is concept driven. According to his website, “Jason’s designs often draw on everyday aspects of contemporary American culture to create objects that are sometimes as much conceptual art as they are contemporary design.”21

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Miller’s playfulness with materials provides conceptual fodder and transcends the media he chooses to employ. The objects he creates are born out an investigation of materials, out of the designer’s quest to make “good design,” and out of the dialogue, which the materials provide. Legos, duct tape, and empty plastic milk jugs are just a few of the common materials that provoke Miller’s transformation of traditional utilitarian objects like vases, chairs, and planters. This manipulation of materials provides contrasting commentary on status and value: not only does Miller create high-end designer objects that are inspired by and made from everyday detritus, but by sourcing the familiar he also fashions these high-end designer objects to be approachable to the average person.

In contrast to Miller’s design ethos, designer/artist Ryan Fletcher engages input from his clients to inform his making.

Carving out a niche client, Fletcher seeks to design for the restaurant experience. He is rethinking the functional object for the entire restaurant experience from the perspective of each the chef, the server, and the patron.22 The dynamic structures that Fletcher invents for commercial food service cater to the creative, visual aspect of food presentation

Functional ReDesign

summoning the chef to collaborate as a fellow sculptor. The resulting small bites sculptures are served to the patron inviting a tantalizing culinary and artistic experience.

Though Fletcher engages with his client much like that of the traditional designer, his objects are anything but traditional design.

Fletcher’s forms are gestural, dynamic, and sculptural. They engage the food like paint and canvas engage each other.

Dutch designer and entrepreneur Lenneke Wispelwey makes lovely objects to adorn the home. She appropriates design motifs from vintage objects that she collects from flea markets and antique stores. Using the low-technology technique of assemblage, Wispelwey generates her prototypes by combining molds taken from geometric patterns of cut glassware with those of minimal forms, which she creates on a plaster wheel. This results in a line, or “family” to use Wispelwey’s term, of sugarsweet faceted vases and other high-end novelty service items for entertaining and home decorating.

Wispelwey is inspired by the memories of her childhood experiences in her grandmother’s convivial kitchen where time seemed to stand still. She describes

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her grandmother’s hospitality with a Dutch phrase, de zoete inval, which roughly translates to “the sweet invasion,” a practice whereby everyone is warmly welcomed.23 This idea of hospitality casts obligation aside for the appreciated incursion of guests, and it influences Wispelwey’s feminine, vintage, yet highly contemporary forms.

Wispelwey’s design education is that of a product designer. She is not overly concerned with the notion of being a ceramic chemist or technician for she is a by-product of a European education influenced by division of labor. As a result, immediately after graduation, she opened a showroom and studio space where she focused on creating a brand and identity.

Wispelwey sells her work in the Netherlands and throughout Europe, and has just begun exploring the American market.

In the end, whether one is a studio artist dedicated to utilitarian ceramics, or a designer who creates high-end ceramic objects for the living space, three essential factors consistently surface in the work: a keen understanding of materials and processes; a concept that is perceptive and self-aware; and a finished product with a target audience. The work of Bivins, Fletcher,

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Gilliatt, Hanazono, Miller, and Wispelwey successfully demonstrates each of these.

Studio artist Nicholas Bivins’ grid-inspired modern dinnerware exemplifies a serious pursuit of materials and process. Fletcher simultaneously creates objects of sculpture and high design using low technology processes. Gilliatt makes modern-inspired forms with contemporary pop imagery using carefully handcrafted prototypes and laser printed decals. Hanazono produces exquisitely crafted, playful and delicate utilitarian ware, which celebrates the experience of food. Miller manufactures witty, self-described “not art” Ogel Vases (“Ogel” is the product name “Lego” backwards). Wispelwey designs, produces, and markets her charming domestic objects as an entrepreneur.

Whether you pledge, “I, the designer, the idealist, the dreamer, will produce a line of wares marketed to attract suitors who have both the finances and distribution power to land me in Target or some swank boutique until checks roll in;” or, “I, the studio artist, the romantic, the dreamer, pledge to toil away creating art objects in substantially shorter runs and substantially more designs than any factory can imagine (all the while functioning as both financier and

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distributor), functioning on consignment, and while maintaining a deep conceptual dialogue in hopes that someday checks roll in;” or better still, “I, the hybrid, the best of both worlds, creator of art and design, maintain freedom from hang-ups and self abuse, am able to make great objects

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and market them however I see fit, vow to break the formula, define the new, and make cool objects until someone buys them and I see checks roll in;” it matters not. The end result is similar: thoughtfully produced objects for public consumption.

Endnotes

1. Garth Clark, “Meaning and Memory: The Roots of Postmodern Ceramics, 1960–1980,” in Postmodern ceramics,

by Mark Del Vecchio (New York, N.Y.: Thames & Hudson, 2001), 8–25.

2. Art and design education in European universities are separate. The autonomy of the programs cultivates focused and specific curriculum, nuance-filled dialogue, and strong support structures for the student.

This autonomy, therefore, creates an effectual foundation for both artists and designers in their formative years.

3. Ryan Fletcher, “Ryan Fletcher Design | Ceramic Design and Sculpture,” Ryan Fletcher, http://ryanfletcherdesign. com/ (accessed March 11, 2012).

4. CasaSugar, “Designer Spotlight: Jason Miller.” Home & Garden | CasaSugar, http://www.casasugar. com/Designer-Spotlight-JasonMiller-1571507 (accessed January 13, 2012).

5. Merriam-Webster, “Artist - Definition and More from the Free MerriamWebster Dictionary,” Dictionary and Thesaurus-Merriam-Webster Online, http://www.merriam-webster.com/ dictionary/artist (accessed January 11, 2012).

Heather Nameth Bren is a studio artist who specializes in ceramic sculpture and installation. Bren received a Master of Fine Arts in ceramics from the University of Kansas in 2003. In 2004, Bren was awarded a Jerome Foundation Artists Project Grant through Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis. Most recently, she was named the 2010 McKnight Foundation Fellow for ceramic artists. In addition to Bren’s studio practice, she is an Assistant Professor of Art and Design at Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

6. Merriam-Webster, “Design Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary,” Dictionary and Thesaurus-Merriam-Webster Online, http://www.merriam-webster. com/dictionary/design (accessed January 11, 2012).

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7. The etymology of design comes from the Latin designare: to mark out, devise, choose, designate, appoint.

Kostas Terzidis, “The Etymology of Design: Pre-Socratic Perspective,” Design Issues 23, no. 4 (Autumn 2007): 69-78, http://www.mitpressjournals. org/doi/abs/10.1162/desi.2007.23.4.69 (accessed February 2, 2012).

8. Stephen Pentak, Richard Roth, and David A. Lauer, “Glossary” in Design Basics: 2D and 3D, 8th ed. (South Melbourne, Vic.: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2013), 478.

9. Pentak, Roth, and Lauer, 478.

10. David Raizman, “Introduction: Thinking About Design,” in History of Modern Design, 2nd ed. (Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2011), 11–13.

11. Raizman, 11–13.

12. Raizman, 11–13.

13. Raizman, 11–13.

14. Raizman, 11–13.

15. N. O’Connor, “THE 1988 JANSSON MEMORIAL LECTURE: The performance of the idiot-savant‘: Implicit and explicit,” International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders 24 (1989): 1–20. doi: 10.3109/13682828909011943.

16. Claire Twomey, “Contemporary Clay,” in Breaking the Mould: New Approaches to Ceramics, by Rob

Barnard, Natasha Daintry, and Claire Twomey (London: Black Dog Publishing, 2007), 30.

17. Twomey, 30.

18. Nicholas Bivins, “Nicholas Bivins: Artist Statement 2012,” Nicholas Bivins, http://www.nicholasbivins. com/artiststatement.html (accessed February 7, 2012).

19. “Layers of Color: Using Different Colors of Casting Slip, Resist Patterns and Decals to Create Graphical Pottery Surfaces,” Pottery Making Illustrated, January/February 2011.

20. Hiroe Hanazono, “Hiroe Hanazono” (lecture, Functional ReDesign Artists’ Workshop, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN, March 11, 2012).

21. Jason Miller Studio, “Jason Miller Studio—Biography,” Jason Miller Studio, http://jasonmiller.us/pages/bio (accessed February 2, 2012).

22. Ryan Fletcher, “Ryan Fletcher” (lecture, Functional ReDesign Artists’ Workshop, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN, March 11, 2012).

23. Lenneke Wispelwey, “Lenneke Wispelwey” (lecture, Functional ReDesign Artists’ Workshop, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN, March 11, 2012).

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Northern Clay Center

Northern Clay Center’s mission is the advancement of the ceramic arts. Its goals are to promote excellence in the work of clay artists, to provide educational opportunities for artists and the community, and to encourage the public’s appreciation and understanding of the ceramic arts.

Staff Sarah Millfelt, Director Theresa Downing, Exhibitions Director and Curator Margeaux Claude & Adam Gruetzmacher, Exhibitions Assistance

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Board of Directors Ellen Watters, Chair Peter Kirihara, Vice Chair Rick Scott, Treasurer Patricia Jacobsen, Secretary Lynne Alpert Philip Burke Sheldon Chester Linda Coffey Debra Cohen Bonita Hill, M.D. Sally Wheaton Hushcha Mark Lellman Bruce Lilly Alan Naylor Mark Pharis Jim Ridenour Teresa Matsui Sanders T Cody Turnquist Honorary Members Andy Boss Kay Erickson Warren MacKenzie Joan Mondale Director Emerita Emily Galusha

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