Oregon Potters Association: 30 Years of Best in Show

In honor of both the 30th and 75th anniversaries of the Oregon Potters Association’s Ceramic Showcase and the Museum of Contemporary Craft respectively, the Museum will display a selection of works from its collection that have been gifted by OPA over the past three decades.

Since 1982, the Oregon Potters Association (OPA) has annually held the Ceramic Showcase, an art show and educational event that has grown not only into the largest clay show in the country, but also the only one of its kind. Since 1984, OPA has generously given their Best in Show award-winning piece to the collection of Museum of Contemporary Craft. This collaboration exemplifies the progressive relationship between this guild of local makers and a museum that documents work by regional communities for future generations.

On view to the public together for the first time in the Museum’s current location, the works demonstrate a range of styles and techniques coming out of Oregon ceramic studios over the past several decades. 30 Years of Best in Show will be on display in The Lab, the community partnership and programming space on the second floor, from May 1 to August 18, 2012.

— Posted on 02/08 at 11:33 AM

Don’t Miss the Final Brain Food Lab on February 18

Check out the multitude of creative expressions present in The Lab. Saturday February 18 marks the final Brain Food Lab event. This event, in conjunction with Studio H: Design. Build. Transform, turns The Lab into a laboratory for experimentation and the creative process.

— Posted on 02/07 at 03:16 PM

Anne Crumpacker

FIRST WEDNESDAY RECEPTION February 1, 6-8 pm

Anne Crumpacker’s work interweaves scale and proportion—thin, medium and thick crosscut bamboo sections, the interplay of light and shadow—to create living topographies. Her long immersion in Japanese aesthetics guides her as she works intuitively, following a path of discovery.

In developing the crosscut bamboo technique, she is contributing a new approach to a venerable material. Deconstructing bamboo into crosscut slices reveals its cellular makeup and illuminates its natural beauty and strength. Assembling the pieces allows patterns and rhythms to emerge that reflect the interconnection of forces in nature, from microscopic life to wave movement.

Crumpacker has been a student of Ikebana for over 15 years. Her passion for travel, exploration and learning has taken her throughout Asia, Europe, Africa and South America. She credits experiences in Japan as a profound influence on her art and life. Crumpacker’s work interweaves scale and proportion-thin, medium and thick crosscut bamboo sections, the interplay of light and shadow-to create living topographies. Her long immersion in Japanese aesthetics guides her work intuitively, following a path of discovery. To learn more about Anne Crumpacker and see more images of her bamboo sculpture, please visit her website. 


Anne holds a bachelor of arts from Scripps College and a master of arts in liberal studies from Reed College, as well as a teaching credential from University of California, Berkeley. She is a member of the first graduating class of the MFA program in Applied Craft and Design from Oregon College of Art and Craft + Pacific Northwest College of Art.

— Posted on 02/01 at 10:14 AM

Remembering Ray Grimm

Museum of Contemporary Craft will greatly miss artist Ray Grimm who passed away on Sunday at age 87.

Grimm founded the ceramics program at Portland State University and taught pottery, jewelry-making, and art education until he retired in 1988. Grimm and his wife Jere played an important role at Museum of Contemporary Craft when it was still known as the Contemporary Crafts Gallery and Museum.

“Ray and Jere are two of the most delightful people I’ve had the opportunity to work with at the Museum,” says curator Namita Gupta Wiggers. “The two of them have always been dynamic supporters of this institution and the broader modern craft community in Portland.”

Ray and Jere met while studying art at Washington University in St. Louis. They participated in a workshop with ceramic artist F.Carlton Ball in Carbondale, Illinois which stoked the young married couple’s interest in what was to be their medium of choice for decades. Grimm also studied glass-blowing at the Toledo Art Museum with Harvey Littleton, the father of the modern glass art movement. And in 1968 he founded the Glass Shack workshop in Portland.

Grimm’s work is in the permanent collection of Museum of Contemporary Craft and many other collections.

— Posted on 01/26 at 03:31 PM

The Brain Food Lab

You’’ve seen in the exhibition Studio H: Design. Build. Transform. how the creative process can transform learning, develop critical thinking skills, and connect students to their environment in exciting and bold ways. The Brain Food Lab is a real-life, hands-on demonstration of these concepts. Please help us by experimenting in our working laboratory.

This project is inspired by Brain Food, a set of DIY activities conceived by the local arts education partnership The Right Brain Initiative to engage children and adults in imaginative, exploratory learning experiences. Brain Food activities integrate an artistic approach with other school subject areas, modeling the kind of learning that Right Brain brings to over 11,000 students and nearly 600 teachers in the Portland metropolitan region.

AIGA Portland, the local professional association for design, and The Right Brain Initiative are now joined in a unique partnership to expand the Brain Food activities into a physical card deck that will be available in 2012 to Right Brain teachers and on sale to the public.

The Brain Food Lab happens on the following dates:
January 7, 2-4 pm
January 21, 2-4 pm
February 4, 2-4 pm
February 18, 2-4pm

— Posted on 01/04 at 12:45 PM

Phloem Studio

FIRST WEDNESDAY RECEPTION January 4, 6-8 pm

Phloem Studio, a design studio that builds custom furniture and cabinets for residential and commercial spaces, is a Gallery feature this month.

Phloem Studio, located in Portland, Oregon, designs and builds custom furniture and cabinets for residential and commercial spaces. The studio believes good design should be elegant and timeless and loves to work with people who value quality craftsmanship that will last far into the future.

In 2009, Designer/craftsman Ben Klebba formed Phloem Studio, located at 2710 N Interstate Ave in Portland, Oregon. Requiring too much coffee, large tools, and an acute attention to detail, Phloem Studio can build a simple refined chair for a desk or an entire kitchen that will undoubtedly reflect Ben’s admiration of clean, simple lines.

“Lately I’ve been exploring straight tapering angles and parallel sides. I’m just as influenced by Hans Wegner as much as by Aphex Twin or John Coltrane. Function and beauty are both equal and inseparable in design. A chair should support the back, sit well, and please the eye. I believe that the most gorgeous things in life are also simple and unique. I strive to achieve that balance.” says Klebba.

— Posted on 01/02 at 04:26 PM

Studio H on Think Out Loud

Studio H Founder Emily Pilloton was a guest on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Think Out Loud where she spoke on the design/build experience. Downloading the podcast here.

— Posted on 12/16 at 06:39 PM

Hand-Felting with LeBrie Rich

Gallery artist and local “Duchess of Felt” LeBrie Rich leads a hands-on demonstration, allowing visitors to drop in and learn the technique of hand-felting from a master felter. Free and open to the public.

— Posted on 12/16 at 06:30 PM

Give Local. Give Craft.

This year, give local, give craft. The Gallery at Museum of Contemporary Craft represents artists working in ceramics, glass, jewelry, wood, metal, fiber and mixed media. Highlights from Portland-based artists include elegant functional ceramics by Jason Russell and David Piper, extraordinary glass sculptures and bell jars by Andy Paiko, and architectural jewelry by Ben Neubauer. As always, museum members enjoy a 10% savings on purchases.

— Posted on 12/09 at 12:49 PM

IMLS grant for $61,000

Museum of Contemporary Craft (MoCC) has been awarded a $61,000 Museums for America Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The grant supports the development of Generations: Betty Feves, a retrospective exhibition of work by this major Oregon ceramicist. Part of the Museum’s 75th Anniversary celebration, the exhibition highlights the strong history of ceramics at the Museum and in the Northwest and celebrates the crucial role of women in the history of contemporary art. The exhibition opens March 15, 2012 and will travel to the Pendleton Art Center in Pendleton, Oregon. The IMLS grant matches major support for this exhibition from the Whiteman Foundation, The Collins Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, and individual donors.

— Posted on 11/10 at 06:01 PM