Earth & Alchemy
September 24 – December 24, 2012
Stephen D. Paine Gallery
Reception: Monday, September 24, 6:00-8:00PM
Panel Discussion: Wednesday, November 14, 6:00PM
With artists Syd Carpenter, Annabeth Rosen, Paul Swenbeck, and MFA curator Emily Zilber
621 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 
Participating artists: Yo
Akiyama, Syd Carpenter, Sam Chung, Mark Cooper, Laurent Craste, Bean
Finneran, Klara Kristalova, Kate MacDowell, Warren Mather, Naoko
Matsumoto, Megumi Naitoh, J.J. McCracken, Valéria Nascimento, Kamio
Ogata, Elizabeth Orleans, Annabeth Rosen, Takayuki Sakiyama, Linda
Swanson, Paul Swenbeck, Akio Takamori, Xavier Toubes, Eugene Von
Bruenchenhein, Jason Walker
Earth & Alchemy celebrates
contemporary ceramic sculpture and showcases a cross-generational
selection of nearly two dozen influential artists. Exploring a range of
ideas encompassing conceptualism, social activism, materiality, and
humor, this exhibition presents a survey of approaches to ceramics that
often push the boundaries of one of the world’s oldest media. Whether
through expansive sculptures, extraterrestrial installations, or
fantastical vessels, the artists included in the exhibition have
developed novel techniques—such as using oven-baked backyard clay
covered with house paints, layering slip over glaze to create richly
textured and encrusted surfaces, or silk-screening digital imagery onto
porcelain. Earth & Alchemyexamines the depth and range of ceramic practice today—a macrocosm of clay.