May 10, 2011
May 2, 2011
Party this Friday, Sale All Weekend!
We’re kicking off our Mother’s Day weekend at Fourth & Clay Studios with a very special party this Friday night, in conjunction with our Vase Invitational Show and Seconds Sale this Saturday and Sunday (details below). Come out for the fun and live music Friday night, featuring the fabulous antics of our house band, FrontJunk. Hope to see you all there!
December 2, 2010
HOLIDAY PARTY! Thursday, Dec. 9, 7-11pm
it’s that time, my friends – time to party with us at Fourth & Clay for the holidays! there will be food and festive drinks, live music with Front Junk and special guests, plus john’s video art and our much anticipated cup invitational show! bring a friend and get ready to kick off your holiday shopping with some spiked ‘nog in hand…details below:
November 26, 2010
You know it, You love it, it’s LA MESA @ Santa Fe Clay!
Back by popular demand, and now with an extra *bonus* location and more shopping days AND the holidays to justify your spending…it’s the best tableware show in the biz: La Mesa
details here!
October 29, 2010
Christa Assad: SOFA Chicago Solo Booth
I’m excited about having my own booth at SOFA Chicago this year — under the protective wing of mothership, Ferrin Gallery, of course! If any of you out there in cyber space make it over to Chicago’s Navy Pier next weekend (Nov. 5-7) come say hi to me at booth #924…I think I may even be smack dab in the middle of the pier, conveniently located near the bar. I’ll be all dressed up and no studio clothes in sight. See you there!
September 8, 2010
FERRIN GALLERY solo show: Vestigial Tales
FERRIN GALLERY EXHIBITION, RECEPTION AND RELATED EVENTS
Location: Ferrin Gallery www.FerrinGallery.com
437 North Street info@FerrinGallery.com
Pittsfield, MA 01201 413-442-1622
CHRISTA ASSAD: Vestigial Tales
Solo show of sculptural objects
DATES:
Exhibition: September 16 – October 16
Reception: Saturday, September 25 from 4-6pm
Meet the Artist and Preview: 3rd Thursday, September 16, 6-8:00
SOFA CHICAGO: SOLO November 5 – 8, 2010
HOURS:
11 – 5:00 Wednesday – Saturday and by appointment
FERRIN GALLERY, Pittsfield, MA – Christa Assad’s solo exhibition, Vestigial Tales, opens at Ferrin Gallery with preview on Thursday, September 16 and public reception on Saturday, September 25th.
Vestigial Tales, a series of sculptural forms based on objects and architecture is Assad’s first solo at the gallery. Designed and produced in her San Francisco studio, Assad’s work pays homage to American industry in transition. Assad explains, “Whether architectural, biological, or mechanical in origin, vestigial objects and their history of use both perplex and attract me.”
The origin of this show began when Assad visited Pittsfield, MA during the summer of 2009. Inspired by the rapidly changing city, she sought out a single object to interpret for her upcoming solo show. Her search produced image from the Smithsonian’s archives of a transformer manufactured by General Electric in Pittsfield. Seeking additional information, she discovered how it symbolized the transitions taking place in the region and by extension, the world. The image of the large transformer from the 50′s became became the starting point for her show of sculptural forms based on vestigial buildings and objects.
For Assad, an artist whose first career aspirations were aerospace engineering, the “transformer” is symbolic of the transition taking place from creativity in industry to creative industries. The electrical transformer was invented in Pittsfield by William Stanley and produced by General Electric. These objects literally “transformed” high voltage current to low voltage thus delivering useable electricity. Except for the plastics division which is owned by SABIC, the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, the GE plant is now closed and in the process of being disassembled. The city and the region are still recovering from the loss of GE, other manufacturing companies and the aftereffects of their closing on local employment and the environment. With Pittsfield and the Berkshires transitioning into a broader based economy – specifically, the creative economy, the concept for Assad’s show also represents a transformation in her own career. Starting her studies in aerospace engineering, she soon realized her capacity for three-dimensional design was coupled with an equal interest in building and transitioned into the more physical realm of making art. She has spent the last 20 years working in the studio primarily as a utilitarian potter; her solo show, Vestigial Tales is the first to explore conceptually based ceramic sculpture.
Assad’s original Transformer Teapot, produced in spring 2010 and exhibited by Ferrin Gallery in “ReObjectification” was acquired by The Kamm Teapot Foundation.
A resident of San Francisco, California, Assad is a teacher, traveler and full-time ceramicist. With a MFA from Indiana University, Assad’s work is in the permanent collections of The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, The Ceramic Research Center at Arizona State University Museum, and The Penn State Fulbright Scholar Collection, and numerous private collections.
In conjunction with Assad’s show at Ferrin Gallery, her visit includes a full schedule of research, talks, workshops and demonstrations taking place at Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA; IS183 Art School, Stockbridge, MA; Simon’s Rock College, Great Barrington, MA and the Harvard Ceramics, Allston, MA.
September 16, Thursday, 6-8:00 p.m.
Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA
Meet the Artist, Preview “Vestigial Tales” 3rd Thursday
www.FerrinGallery.com
September 18 – 19 Saturday – Sunday, Weekend Workshop
Ceramics Program, Office of the Arts at Harvard, Allston, MA
Saturday: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm, 6:30 pm slide presentation
Sunday: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Contact: 617-495-8680; panepint@fas.harvard.edu
www.ofa.fas.harvard.edu/ceramics
September 22 , Wednesday
Slide Presentation: 6:00 pm
Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Great Barrington, MA
Clark Auditorium, Fisher Science and Academic Center
Info: Ceramic Department, Ben Krupka, 413-528-7413; benkrupka@gmail.com
September 24 – 25; Friday – Saturday
IS183 Art School, Stockbridge, MA
Featured Artist: LOCALLY THROWN/LOCALLY GROWN:
Dinner: Friday, September 24, 7:00 pm
Demo: Saturday, September 25, 10:00 am-12:00 pm
at IS183 Art School, Stockbridge, MA
RSVP: 413.298.5252; www.is183.org
September 25; Saturday
Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA
Vestigial Tales: Solo Show
Reception: 4 – 6:00 pm
Photo Caption: (left) Wood Burner Teapot (Vancouver, British Columbia), 2010, 8 x 10 x 8”; (right)Woodburner Teapot II (Nubieber, California), 2010, 9.5 x 9 x 7”; stoneware, oxides, glaze
Photo: Tom Story
Photo Caption: Lemon Grenade, 2010, 9.5 x 8.5 x 6”, stoneware, oxides, glaze.
Photo: Tom Story
Photo Caption: Transformer Teapot, 2010, 14 x 11.5 x 4.25”, stoneware, oxides, glaze.
Photo: Tom Story
Portrait: Christa Assad
Photo: Robert Schlatter
August 19, 2010
Summer 2010 Highlights
Just got back from my eight and a half week ceramic world tour – yes, I’m still in reverse-culture-shock, and no, I’m not ready to come back to reality! Here are just a few photo-journal highlights of my travels…boy, it was hard to pick just a few photos out of the HUNDREDS i took. Big thanks to everyone I met along the way who made this summer the best one of my life!
Travis, me & Anna cuddle up to the ancient Lion of Kea (Greece)
some amazing Greek pots!
"Linen", 1913, by Russian artist Natalya Goncharova
Jurassic Coast, Southern England
20 year best friends from the Leeds Uni days!
cactus love!
Tel Aviv, Israel!
amazing BFA piece at Bezalel Academy of Art & Design
the ceramic work of Varda Yatom
can you find my teabowl here? we saw this show in Israel and boy was i surprised...
ancient ruins and modern power, Caesaria, Israel
i threw black clay at Givat-Haviva -- WOWZA!
our gang: Avner, Dirk, Ami, Sana, Ori & Mihal...
amazing pots by Hannah Zuntz (Mihal's mother!), a contemporary of Lucie Rie and Hans Coper
Jerusalem...simply awesome
the grand finale was my birthday party at Haystack- thanks to my fabulous class!
April 26, 2010
SPRING SALE @ Fourth & Clay!
hope to see you this weekend…we’ll have lots of new and some “must go” pieces from undisclosed times and places! Whitney Smith will be joining us, and we’ll have snacks and our usual selection of bevies…plus great Indian chat next door at Vik’s!
xo, christa
April 22, 2010
SOFA New York, 2010, in a nutshell
Just got back from an amazing week in NYC – - living by my mantra of “Just Show Up” (come and get it, Nike!), I flew to the Big Apple last wednesday, just in time for the V.I.P. opening for SOFA New York on thursday eve. Represented by Ferrin Gallery, of Pittsfield, Mass., I was excited to have a brand-new series of about 7 teapots debuting. Leslie Ferrin and Donald Clark, co-owners of Ferrin Gallery, did an absolutely stellar job of showcasing 19 nationally renowned artists’ work, as well as personally standing there at the (beautiful) Armory building for five days straight, connecting with collectors and curious New Yorkers and making things happen. With the best location in the show – - the very first booth to see upon entering the enormous room – - it was impossible to miss Ferrin Gallery’s diverse booth of 2D and 3D works.
My Transformer Teapot, above, sold on Thursday to Sonny Kamm of the notorious Kamm Collection (some 6,000+ teapots and counting!) and was reviewed, albeit briefly – but hey, I’m not complaining, in ARTINFO. Yeah! Great excuse to buy a new dress (okay, okay – so I’d already pre-bought the one above in anticipation) AND a new leather bag (spotted on Facebook)…all in all, I couldn’t have had a better time. Got to see some fabulous, much-missed friends…Rebecca, Claire, Josh, Paul, and Jake — AND make some new ones (Gerit Grimm is RAAAAAD!)…thanks to all of you for painting the town red (dots!) with me!!!
p.s. the in-studio shots of the two teapots above were taken by the talented Tom Story, of Emeryville, CA – thanks, Tom! Rebecca Bazell caught the candid…
February 20, 2010
TRAX 5+5 Show Opens TONIGHT!
