American Museum of Ceramic Art.

When I discovered such a place existed, I knew the person who would be just as enamored with it me- Julie. So on the first day of my Birthday Month, we met up for a day of discovery.

AMOCA is a massive, beautiful museum that embraces a wide number of topics – all relating to clay. Within this broadly diverse community, it is their goal to increase the aesthetic appreciation of clay as an art form and to assist their audience in unraveling the creative thinking behind the making of ceramic objects. At the same time, AMOCA provides confirmed clay enthusiasts with encouragement, camaraderie, and exhibition opportunity. Fun, right?!
We were here specifically for the second to last day of the current exhibit, Architectural Pottery: Ceramics for a Modern Landscape, a new exhibition exploring the significant impact of mid-twentieth-century architecture and design on artists in California.
In 1945, the Case Study House program was launched by Arts + Architecture magazine. The program commissioned some of architecture’s greatest talents—including Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames, and Eero Saarinen—to study, plan, design, and build houses in anticipation of increased demand for housing at the end of WWII. The Los Angeles-based program created 36 prototype homes with published plans for modern residences that could be easily and inexpensively constructed. These mid-century modern homes are characterized by wide open spaces, expansive walls of glass, and flat roofs, with an emphasis on blending the interior with exterior spaces to erase boundaries between nature and the built environment.
In 1949, Lagardo Tackett (1911-1984), a Los Angeles-based ceramic artist and professor, challenged his students with a design assignment: to create forms that would fit the interior and garden spaces of these new modern homes. The students created simple, reļ¬ned forms to be used as planters and further accentuate indoor and outdoor spaces; they later staged an exhibition at a local nursery. Max and Rita Lawrence (photographed below), who attended the exhibition, became intrigued with the concept.
The Lawrences partnered with two student designers, John Follis and Rex Goode, and founded the Architectural Pottery company in 1950. Within twenty years, the company grew into a vibrant manufactory with a design line of several hundred products, including some of the most enduring forms in mid-century modernism.




The company's minimalist designs signified a transformative moment in garden pottery, seamlessly complementing Modern homes both indoors and outdoors.

Over the following decades, Architectural Pottery evolved by enhancing stoneware production methods, venturing into fiberglass furniture, and enlisting distinguished designers like Paul McCobb, LaGardo Tackett, and David Cressey. All were so unique and so talented. There were a lot of audible oohs and ahs!








What an interesting part of modernism which I hadn't given much thought. This exhibit was eye opening.





Another exhibition, and one quite different was SoCal Critters.
These precious sculptures were the creation of Howard Pierce (1912-1994), a Claremont-based artist who later moved to Joshua Tree to build his own studio and draw inspiration from the desert landscape. He began his ceramic career under the mentorship of William Manker, a ceramicist known for founding a company that produced Mid-Century ceramics. Pierce fully embraced this opportunity to learn and became Production Manager at Manker Ceramics before leaving to serve in WWII.
Each piece makes you smile. I'm going to keep an eye out for these critters. I think I need one.

Definitely different than anything we had yet seen, Currently: Influenced, Artists in Residence, is an exhibition which features new work by three current ceramicists: Stephanie Kim, Reniel Del Rosario, and Michelle Solorzano.
The exhibition presents new work created during each artist’s time in the Studio, from Kim’s large-scale busts, to Del Rosario’s newly developed site-specific installation, to Solarzano’s culturally-imbued decorated figures.


"Clay is a very interesting and fundamental material:
it's earth, it's water, and
- with fire - it takes on form and life."

I thought it was pretty cool that actor Will Ferrell signed one of Reniel Del Rosario's creations. Wild.

I was intrigued by A Traveler’s Guide to Mettlach: Villeroy and Boch. My dishes were my mother-in-law's and they were made by Villeroy and Boch. I had to know more.
The various forms of steins and vases showcase scenes of everyday life in 1800s Mettlach, Germany.
The workers of the Mettlach factory came from diverse backgrounds, including art studios, archives, and museums. The varied backgrounds of the factory workers contributed to the artistic achievements of the Villeroy and Boch company. This collection reflects German cultural experiences, societal interpretations, and mythology.


When I thought I had seen all the wonders I could possibly absorb, I turned a corner and ran into Alfred the Great by Millard Sheets, a glass, ceramic (mosaic) measuring 6' x 4' x 2.5". WOW. This is as close as I have ever been to one of Mr. Sheets fantastic creations. I am a fan (find more here).
It is a fragment of a larger mural originally installed on the interior (theater) of L.A.'s Scottish Rite Masonic Temple (1961).
My Birthday Month has begun excitedly. I might not do something remarkable everyday but I'm certain, by the conclusion, I will be exhaustedly content.

I fully agree with Gilbert K. Chesterton's quote, "The first fact about the celebration of birthdays is that it is a good way of affirming defiantly, and even flamboyantly, that it is a good thing to be alive."

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