Ima Hogg Ceramic Circle

As artists, we build on the history of our medium. Sometimes there is
a reverent homage to the past, and other times the connection is a
"stretch". However, we are constantly influenced by our current
surroundings juxtaposed to historical references. With reference to
the extensive ceramics collection at the MFAH , I will discuss
a few currently producing ceramic artists who are infusing imagery of
historical ceramics into a new direction based on their cultural
backgrounds. Do the past and the present merge or collide? See what
you think.

TBA

Why is a punch bowl like a pamphlet? Curator Amanda Isaac explores the persuasive powers of punch bowls as she investigates the origins and later travels of two important Chinese porcelain examples.

For ALL IHCC Members: Bayou Bend will have an open house ceramics tour on Friday, October 20, 2023. Ceramics Specialists will be stationed throughout the House from 1:30—3:15 P.M. This program is part of continuing education for Bayou Bend docents, but because the Museum is always open on Friday afternoons for self-guided tours (admission $12.50), members of the IHCC, who are not members of the BBDO, are ALSO welcome to attend this event for the cost of admission.
For IHCC members that are ALSO members of the BBDO, please wear your nametag and follow the instructions below.
Last Name A—K: House Tour 1:30—2:15 P.M.; Enter via Folk Art Porch
Last Name L—Z: House Tour 2:30—3:15 P.M.; Enter via Webster Porch
We look forward to seeing you on Friday, October 20th!

Ron Fuchs II, Co-editor of Ceramics in America will explore the global history of one of the earliest pieces of Chinese porcelain to reach the US- a blue and white dish broken and thrown away by June 1610 in Jamestown, Virginia.

Presented by Robert Aronson, fifth generation owner of Aronson Antiquairs. Delftware has been a national symbol of Holland for almost 400 years. Initiated by the demand for the waning importation of Asian porcelain from the 1640s, Delftware quickly became an iconic national product and one of the greatest Dutch achievements.
Robert’s lecture will give a global perspective of the circumstances under which the city of Delft became the center of European ceramics production and will show many beautiful objects that were produced in the two following centuries. He is pleased to speak to the IHCC members and answer any questions you have.
This is a IHCC members only event. Please mark your calendar. As an aside, this will follow the scheduled Friday Focus from 1:30-2:30.

Benjamin Miller will share how the latter part of the 19th century saw a furious exchange of commerce and aesthetics between America and Asia. Nowhere was this more influential than in the decorative arts, where visual vocabulary and technical abilities rapidly proliferated between continents. In America, craftspeople wasted no time incorporating these fresh ideas into their practice, leading to an explosion of creativity and innovation.

William R. Sargent will discuss how Western attitudes towards Chinese ceramics can be discerned through their representation in visual art, from their first appearance in Europe to modern times. Paintings and prints are a rich resource of information, helping to identify markets for Chinese ceramics, their uses, and lending credence to dating. They are a record of the past that cannot be recreated by shipping documents, estate inventories, auction records, journals, or diaries. Using these visual records, which reflect changes of taste, interior design, display, and collecting habits, we can trace the impact of Chinese export ceramics on Western culture.

Marion Oettinger Jr. will give a concise overview of Latin American ceramic through time and space, from pre-Columbian times to the modern era, concentrating on form as well a function.

A bus has been arranged to take people to the Delores Martin's home. Use Sign up Genius to reserve a place on the bus. Cost $20. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0A4DACAF2BA7F94-48308842-ihcc
Car Pools are also being arranged. Contact Andy Fossler with questions. [email protected]

A. Brandt Zipp will introduce Thomas W. Commeraw, one of the most well-known African-American craftsmen of his day. A stoneware potter working in the earliest decades of the new United States, he and his fellow New York City stoneware manufacturers were looked to as the gold standard of their craft, shipping large amounts of ware up and down the eastern seaboard.
Thomas W. Commeraw was completely forgotten by American society in the wake of his death. This presentation will tell Commeraw’s fascinating story from the perspective of the person who serendipitously rediscovered him in the twenty-first century and then brought his story back to life.

Colleen Gold will discuss the tradition of pottery making in American Pueblo Indian life which is one of their most enduring traditions. What was once considered Folk Art by many has become recognized as Fine Art today and is avidly collected by many. Ima Hogg was an early collector, and her pieces are in the collection at MFAH. Traditionally made primarily by women in matriarchal societies spread across New Mexico and Arizona, these objects reflect both their personal innovations and a solid grounding in a 2,000-year-old tradition which influences the composition, form, and decoration of the pots to this day.