August@AMOCA
We are keeping busy here at the museum! AMOCA’s recent Family Day event brought children and families into the museum for hands-on fun, exploring pattern-making with clay and watercolor. In the studio, Eunbi Cho dropped by to lead a stellar one-day workshop, and summer classes—including wheel throwing and hand building classes for both beginning and intermediate students—are in full swing.
Our woodfire exhibitions, Peter Callas: An Enduring Legacy and 50 Bowls, 50 States, 50 Woodfires, came down this past week, but there’s still so much to see! Don’t miss Connected Spaces: Cheryl Ann Thomas + Michael F. Rohde, an assembly of ceramic sculptures and woven tapestries created through a year-long artistic exchange, on view in Gallery B, and Blooop by Alina Hayes, a series of “joyful objects full of childlike wonder” in the Vault Gallery. Downstairs, you can explore selected works from the Robert D. and Collette D. Wilson Villeroy and Boch Collection in The Artists of Mettlach. The museum is open for visitors Friday-Sunday 11-4, and admission can be reserved online or purchased at the door.
First Fridays, our monthly pay what you can event is coming up this Friday, August 5. Choose your own ticket prices at AMOCA! Reserve here for your August 5 visit.
Don’t forget, AMOCA members always visit for free. The Museum is open exclusively for members on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11 AM to 4 PM for a quieter gallery experience. Member Day reservations can be booked online, by calling the Museum at (909) 865-3146, or by emailing membership@amoca.org.
In August, members are invited to join a special tour of Connected Spaces with Executive Director Beth Ann Gerstein on Wednesday, August 17. Need to renew or update your membership? It’s easy to purchase or renew online.
The back-to-school season is almost upon us, and we are accepting application for the Teen Council program. Teen Council members are high school students who meet weekly at AMOCA, get access to exclusive museum areas and events, develop their college resumes, meet artists, and make art! Council membership is free, and council terms are aligned with the academic school year. Applications for Teen Council are open through September 16, 2022.
Our Artist in Residence (AIR) program in the Ceramic Studio continues to impress. On Saturday, July 23, Colby Charpentier gave a virtual artist talk to share art and reflections from his yearlong residency at AMOCA; a recording of Colby’s talk is now available. Nick Vest, our 2022-2023 long-term resident, arrived this past month to begin his twelve-month Studio residency. We invite you to attend Nick’s virtual artist talk on Tuesday, August 23 to learn more about Nick’s work and hear about his residency plans.
Our six-week fall studio classes will be announced soon! In the meantime, you can join an Introductory Class on August 13. Our 60-minute hands-on introductory sessions will introduce you to the Studio and teach you the basics of throwing on the potters wheel. If you successfully create a bowl, staff will glaze it with an oatmeal glaze and fire it after the class is completed.
Behind the scenes, we’ve been getting ready for a new exhibition, Breaking Ground: Women in California Clay, which will open September 10. Breaking Ground celebrates singular acts of women ceramists and their breakthrough moments, which have altered the course of ceramics; the exhibition presents 126 objects by 44 artists who have defined—and redefined—ceramics over the past 100 years. Save the date! You are invited to join us for a reception on Saturday, September 10 to celebrate the opening of Breaking Ground.
Please note that AMOCA will be closed to visitors August 22-September 9, while we complete installation for Breaking Ground. This exhibition, which is the first to chronologize the evolution of ceramics in California solely through the work of women artists, is also the first exhibition to be presented across all three of AMOCA’s ground-floor galleries.
Thank you for being a partner in AMOCA’s mission to champion the ceramic arts! We look forward to welcoming you to the museum Friday through Sunday, from 11 AM through 4 PM; you can make reservations online.
Hope to see you soon,
Genevieve Kaplan
Associate Director of Communications & Stewardship
August Programs and Events
First Fridays at AMOCA
Friday, August 5 • 11 AM–4 PM • In-person
Thanks to generous support from AMOCA’s Board of Directors, Museum admission for First Fridays at AMOCA is pay what you can (while tickets last). Each month, visit the Museum and choose your own ticket prices!
August Introductory Ceramics Sessions
Saturday, August 13 • 5:30 –6:30 PM • In-person • $45
Saturday, August 13 • 7:30 –8:30 PM • In-person • $45
Learn the basics of throwing on the potters wheel! Complimentary access to the Museum galleries is included.
The perfect way to get your hands dirty, relax, and have fun! In this one-hour introductory class, you’ll learn the basics of throwing on the potters wheel. If you successfully create a bowl, staff will glaze it with an oatmeal glaze and fire it after the class is completed – all included in the price. If you’d like to take the piece home with you, you can come back and pick it up.
Member Bonus Days
Wednesdays and Thursdays • 11 AM–4 PM • In-person
Members can now book tickets to visit Museum galleries on Wednesdays and Thursdays. A fun way to enjoy the galleries to yourself!
Connected Spaces Members Tour
Wednesday, August 17 • 12 – 1 PM • In-person
Join us for a tour of the exhibition Connected Spaces: Cheryl Ann Thomas + Michael F. Rohde, exclusively for members. Need to renew or update your membership? Renew online today.
Virtual Artist Talk with Nick Vest
Tuesday, August 23, 2022 • 12 PM –1 PM (PST) • Online
Join us for a virtual artist talk with Artist in Residence Nick Vest. This talk marks the opening event of his 2022-2023 residency in the AMOCA Studio.
In Case You Missed It
Virtual Artist Talk with Colby Charpentier
Presented and recorded on Saturday, July 23, 2022
Artist in Residence Colby Charpentier presented an artist talk to share new work and reflect on his 2021-2022 residency in the AMOCA Studio.
Artist Talk: Blooop by Alina Hayes
Presented and recorded on Thursday, June 23, 2022
A recording of the virtual artist talk with artist Alina Hayes to celebrate the exhibition Blooop by Alina Hayes.
One Clay at a Time: Episode 2
Recorded on Friday, July 15, 2022
Episode two of One Clay at a Time features Josh Cloud, a Los Angeles-based artist who just graduated from CalArts and invited us over to his solo exhibition at South Willard, The Only Way Out is Through. Tune in as Cloud, Aliaga, and Solórzano talk about embracing cracks, loving anime and how driving with ceramics becomes everyone’s problem.
Virtual Artist Talk with Kirstin Willders
Presented and recorded on Saturday, June 11, 2022
Artist in Residence Kirstin Willders presented an artist talk to share new work and reflect on her 2021-2022 residency in the AMOCA Studio.
Exhibitions on View
Visit Friday–Sunday, 11 AM–4 PM by purchasing tickets online.
Blooop by Alina Hayes
In my studio practice, the work moves between form and function as I think about fluidity of materials, process and time. Drawing on parallels between the unpredictability of the ceramic process and the shortcomings I often feel as an immigrant, woman, wife, mother and educator. Obsessed with succeeding, becoming something of value and the connectedness as I sit and shape intricate clay objects. . . . The Blooop series emerged as I regained control by making joyful objects full of childlike wonder. With feeling of play, without judgment, the work is loud, unapologetic; mine.
-Alina Hayes
On view May 14 through August 21, 2022.
Connected Spaces: Cheryl Ann Thomas + Michael F. Rohde
On view through August 21, 2022, Connected Spaces presents nearly 50 artworks by California-based artists Michael F. Rohde and Cheryl Ann Thomas. This assembly of ceramic sculptures and woven tapestries is focused on a recent series created by the artists through a year-long artistic exchange in 2020-2021. The exhibition also includes pieces by both artists beyond the series to provide context.
Connected Spaces: Cheryl Ann Thomas + Michael F. Rohde is curated by Jo Lauria, Adjunct Curator.
The Artists of Mettlach
This ongoing exhibition presents a selection of works from the Villeroy and Boch Mettlach Collection (donated by Robert D. And Colette D. Wilson). It features original research on notable artists involved in the production of this historic works.