Infinite Place: The Ceramic Art of Wayne Higby: October 4, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Wayne Higby, Temple's Gate Pass, 1988, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of KPMG Peat Marwick © 1988, Wayne Higby

Infinite Place: The Ceramic Art of Wayne Higby

1st floor, Renwick Gallery (Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street N.W.)
October 4, 2013 – December 8, 2013

Free Public Programs
A series of free, public programs will be presented at the museum in conjunction with the exhibition. Several programs will be webcast; a schedule is available online.

Saturday, October 5, 2 p.m., Opening talk with Wayne Higby and curator Peter Held

Sunday, October 20, 2 p.m.,"Learning from Higby" artist panel 

Tuesday, November 5, noon, Infinite Place Gallery Talk 

Thursday, November 21, 7 p.m., "Landscapes and Containers: A Conversation" 

The exhibition will feature more than sixty ceramic objects and drawings from the Arizona State University Art Museum’s collection, the artist’s holdings, and other private and public collections. Since the early 1970s, Higby has explored the fusion of form and surface decoration through panoramic western vistas. These scenic forms are imaginative reinterpretations of the austere Colorado landscape of his childhood. The landscape imagery covers the interior as well as the exterior of the object, creating the illusion of depth. After visiting China in 1991, Higby began using porcelain with celadon glazes and creating thick “rocks” that alluded to the natural environment. During the last decade, Higby has undertaken several ambitious large-scale mural projects. These will be part of the exhibition through photo documentation along with maquettes of these commissions.

Credit
Infinite Place: The Ceramic Art of Wayne Higby is organized by the Arizona State University Art Museum Ceramics Research Center, Tempe, Arizona, and curated by Curator of Ceramics Peter Held. Major funding is provided by the Windgate Charitable Foundation; with additional support from the Marlin Miller Jr. Family Foundation; The Robert C. Turner Chair Endowment Fund, Alfred University; and the Friends of Contemporary Ceramics. The James Renwick Alliance supports the presentation at the Renwick Gallery.