Building a Collection: Ceramics from the Weisman Art Museum

Ceramics are an integral part of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum’s growing collection. Pots and platters and sculptural objects combine at the museum to form one of the strongest collections of its kind in the upper Midwest. The museum has been amassing this collection since its earliest days in the 1930s. More recently, purchase funds and the donation of artworks have allowed the cache to grow dramatically. Opening January 29 and running through April 30, 2000 the Weisman puts on view a sweeping display of the riches of its ceramics collection. Building a Collection: Ceramics from the Weisman Art Museum–an exhibition of some 180 works–represents the largest display of this facet of the Weisman holdings since the new Frank Gehry building opened in 1993.

The assortment on display cuts across time, geography, technical consideration, philosophical approach, and questions of style. Asian vases, Native American bowls, ancient Greek vases, and Persian vessels occupy cases with modern and contemporary ceramics by European and American artists. The mix suggests the ways that precedents inform new work; certain forms are eagerly repeated and renewed; and a global raiding of sources can produce daring art. The earliest work dates from about 500 B. C., while the most recent is essentially fresh from the kiln. The Weisman’s curatorial staff has consciously chosen works to demonstrate the incredible range and depth of this Midwestern resource.

The museum has been exceptionally fortunate to acquire many new works in recent years, and these are featured beside older gems from the collection. New works by such contemporary artists as Robert Brady, Jun Kaneko, Paul Soldner, Patti Warashina, and Betty Woodman wonderfully complement older works by modern artists including Hans Coper, Gertrud and Otto Natzler, Lucie Rie, and Marguerite Wildenhain. These pieces run the gamut from sculptural to functional, philosophical to whimsical, large to miniscule. They include life-size figures, platters, cups, bowls, pitchers, jugs, wall-mounted reliefs, and all matter of objects in-between.

Warren MacKenzie has been a tremendous ally in the Weisman’s collecting efforts in ceramics over the years. A longtime member of the University of Minnesota faculty and an international leader in the 20th-century renaissance of functional pottery, Warren received the McKnight Foundation’s Distinguished Artist Award in 1999. Gifts from Warren and his wife Nancy over the years have enabled the museum to establish a ceramics purchase fund, named in their honor. This year the MacKenzies again demonstrated their unparalleled commitment and generosity to the Weisman by donating some 140 of Warren’s works. Building a Collection features highlights from the remarkable cache of MacKenzie’s work as one small tribute to the role he has played in nurturing this important repository and study center for ceramics.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services supports the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota. Additional support is provided by the General Mills Foundation, the Colleagues of the Weisman Art Museum, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and the University of Minnesota.