“Collective Identity: The Legacy of Apprenticeship Under Toshiko Takaezu” Exhibition
Williamsburg Art & Historical Center
This event has ended.
Installation Curated by Leslie Ferst
Works by Toshiko Takaezu
The WAH Center (Williamsburg Art and Historical Center) presents Collective Identity: The Legacy of Apprenticeship Under Toshiko Takaezu. Toshiko Takaezu (1922-2011), a Japanese-American ceramic artist known for her closed vessels, became internationally influential by presenting her pots as sculpture. She is celebrated as a formidable modernist whose style is epitomized by unrestrained brush strokes and splashes of glaze over her signature ceramic forms.
The impact of Toshiko Takaezu on the field of ceramics and contemporary art is well documented, yet her role as mentor – equally important to her – is too often overlooked. From the mid-1970’s until the last year of her life, Takaezu chose one apprentice each year to live and work at her home and studio in Quakertown, NJ. An integral part of that apprenticeship was the biannual open-house in which Takaezu presented the work of the current apprentice throughout her studio and grounds.
Featuring work by 20 of her former apprentices and committed disciples and curated by Leslie Ferst, Collective Identity celebrates Toshiko’s dedication to mentorship and helps communicate her excellence as a maker and educator. The breadth of Toshiko’s influence can be recognized through the variety of personal vision of her students’ work throughout the exhibition.
Leslie Ferst is an internationally collected and exhibited artist who resides in New York. She received her MFA from Boston University and her BA in Art History from Skidmore College where she was Assistant Professor of Ceramics in the Art Department from 1993-2012. A native of Atlanta, Leslie has participated in artist residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation, the Ossabaw Island Foundation, and the Watershed Center of which she was a founding board member.
Media
Schedule
from March 17, 2018 to April 08, 2018
Opening Reception on 2018-03-17 from 16:00 to 18:00