Results from UC, Rookwood Partnership Included in Prestigious International Exhibit

Historic ceramics molds from the archives of The Rookwood Pottery Company, molds perhaps not used for nearly 100 years, are part of the mix of old and new going into an unusual exhibit.

That exhibit, titled “The Living Room,” will show locally at the Contemporary Arts Center (opened May 17) and showing to an international audience at the prestigious International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York May 18-21.

Slightly varying versions of “The Living Room” are exhibiting in each venue. The work at the CAC is the result of collective efforts by University of Cincinnati faculty artists (

Katie Parker

, assistant professor of fine arts, and Guy Michael Davis, adjunct instructor of fine arts); UC design alums with a firm in Over-the-Rhine (Alex Aeschbury, Zach Darmanan-Harris and Mike Nauman, all with the firm,

Such + Such

); and local print makers (Terence Hammonds and Paul Coors).

The version to show at the ICFF is the result of collaboration between UC’s Parker and Davis with local print maker Hammonds, an artist working at Rookwood for almost two years now.

These teams’ collective version of “The Living Room” is just that – a setting complete with furniture pieces and elements but where many of those pieces and elements are made from or feature ceramics made from historic Rookwood molds (vases and bears) and Rookwood tiles and architectural forms that mix old patterns and motifs with new elements that reflect Cincinnati today.

For instance, Rookwood tiles comprise much of the colorful interest set within, above and below a clay mantel. Modern-day Rookwood tiles above the mantel echo a 15th century tapestry from the Indian subcontinent; however, set amid the deer and cheetah that would be found in the original tapestry are now figures of dogs, pigeons and rodents seen every day in Over-the-Rhine. Other tiles incorporated into the center of the fireplace or down its side portray individuals important to the history of Rookwood and ceramics, including Rookwood’s founder Maria Longworth Nichols Storer and artists Russell Wright, Josiah Wedgwood, Eva Zeisel and others. Their portraits are set against a pattern inspired by Victorian wallpaper and Islamic tiling. This mantel and the Rookwood tiles associated with it are included in both the exhibit at the CAC and the ICFF.

Other pieces within “The Living Room” include

• A chandelier, in both the CAC and ICFF exhibits, with ceramic elements in the shape of a bears’ heads integrated with neon lights. These elements echo ceramic statuary in the work that depicts bears, including a honey bear from a 1946 Rookwood mold. (The neon lights are made with assistance from artists at the American Sign Museum.)

• A coffee table, in the CAC exhibit, sports porcelain legs and ceramic cups and a six-foot-long bear “rug” cut and crafted of walnut at Such + Such’s Over-the-Rhine studio.

• A tree house and sofa, both in the CAC exhibit, for the public to use (inhabit or sit on) during the exhibit. The tree house, behind the main living room of “The Living Room,” is a wooden structure, while the sofa is made of Styrofoam. Both elements are made by the designers at Such + Such, with the addition (on the sofa) of silk screen pillows by Hammonds.

• Silk screen wall paper, in both the CAC and ICFF exhibits, by Hammonds.

• A video work, by Coors, in the CAC exhibit.

• A dining area, also for use by museum visitors, is also included in the CAC exhibit.

According to Katie Parker, UC assistant professor of fine arts and one of the team of artists and designers involved in the project, “The work shows the range and quality of work that can be produced at Rookwood in a variety of processes not available to most studio artists and designers. In addition, the partnership displays the creativity that can be achieved in their collaborations with artists and designers.”

Working as part of the “The Living Room” collaboration:

• Guy Michael Davis, adjunct instructor of fine arts
• Katie Parker, assistant professor of fine arts
• Terence Hammonds, Rookwood artist and print maker
• Paul Coors, curator, graphic designer and print maker
• Alex Aeschbury, UC design alum and partner in Over-the-Rhine design firm, Such + Such
• Zach Darmanan-Harris, UC design alum and partner in Such + Such
• Mike Nauman, UC design alum and partner in Such + Such
  

With their support, the current owners of Rookwood Pottery, Martin and Marilyn Wade, have mad both exhibits possible.