Arts & Entertainment

'Poetics of Clay' an appealing surprise for Valentineis Day

By Uruj Perwaiz
The Daily Cougar

Valentineis Day is creeping around the corner and because itis on a weekend, girls will be expecting guys to have plans arranged for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. As students, we have enough tasks to stress about without having to add Valentineis Day date expenses to the list.

The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft has come to the rescue with its exhibit Poetics of Clay: an International Perspective, running from Feb. 15 to May 3.

Photo courtesy of The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

The exhibit contains over 100 selected ceramic works by world-renowned artists, drawn from numerous private and public collections. Poetics of Clay was organized by Helen W. Drutt English and initiated by the Philadelphia Art Alliance. You and your date can survey the diversity of style and range of ideas in the spectrum of international ceramic art of the post-World War II period. Included in this extraordinary exhibition are vessels, domestic ware, sculpture and an architectural installation.

Works by American artists are at the core of the exhibition, but it will be supported by works by artists from other parts of the globe. You will also notice selected works drawn from the Houston community.

Helen Drutt English will offer a gallery talk at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 14. She has been passionately involved in the modern crafts movement for 40 years and is the founder of her own gallery in Philadelphia. She has also served as curator for the American Craft Museum and the National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, Japan, as well as being the director of the Moore College of Art and Design Gallery from 1978 to i80. English has received two honorary doctorates and numerous awards for her contributions to the field.

Poetics of Clay celebrates the diversity of style and range of ideas established within the history of modern and contemporary ceramics from i50 to the present. The exhibition includes examples of the works well-known artists who are part of 20th-century ceramic history, such as William Daley, Richard DeVore, Stephen DeStaebler, Joseph Fafard, Lazlo Fekete, Jun Kaneko and Betty Woodman.

The Houston Center for Contemporary Craftis major emphasis is on objects of art made primarily of wood, fiber, glass, metal and clay.

Exhibits are free of charge and open to the public. For more information, visit www.crafthouston.org.

Poetics of Clay: an International Perspective

The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

The verdict: A spellbinding example of contemporary art.
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