Ceramics Art + Perception #110 October 2018 USD $20 EUR €18 CAD $27 AUD $27 GBP £15 ART Karen Koblitz: Art Ambassador Across Cultures Written by Jo Lauria WWW.MANSFIELDCERAMICS.COM he artistic career of American During her successive return trips to ceramist Karen Koblitz has been Deruta, Koblitz spent time becoming fluent in driven, and defined, by wanderlust. the language and culture of the Italian people Unlike the casual traveler, Koblitz’s with whom she worked and communed. She globe-trekking has not centered also made several trips to nearby Florence to Ton the greatest hits of tourist destinations but research the prominent collections of historical rather, pointedly and deliberately, in pursuit ceramics in museums and the Renaissance of enriching her worldview and enhancing her terracotta sculptures of the Della Robbia art knowledge. Cultural Diplomacy, a one- workshop installed above altars and within person exhibition in 2018, presented work of the chapels in many Florentine churches. This last twenty-seven years, primarily pieces that research directly impacted the direction of Koblitz created in response to her international Koblitz’s work; she embarked upon the Italian journeys. A close study of several individual Column and the Italian Lunette Series. pieces featured in the show reveal the profound The ubiquitous Italian marble pedestals that multicultural connections Koblitz has forged elevate portrait busts of luminaries were during these experiences. Koblitz’s template for the column series, but characteristically, the artist appropriated the Ephemeral and memorable, the unglazed white porcelain sculptures had a ghostly materiality, seeming to provide a portal to the contemplative space where memories roam and unfold. Della Robbia Still Charting the Influences:Italian Life in the Garden concept and fabricated a sculptural still life of-Eden, 1990, 23 x 42 x Renaissance Ceramics of her own vivid imagination. Koblitz’s glazed 7 in. (58 x 106 x 18 cm). Images courtesy In 1970 a junior college year abroad in earthenware Italian Column #6 exalted an of the author. Florence, Italy, ignited a fiery curiosity in the elegant pouring pitcher of Greco-Roman shape, young artist to study the history of Italian art. jauntily positioned on a faux decorated cloth. Koblitzs’ continued exploration of Italy’s art, The whole ceramic affair was a riot of delicious architecture and culture led to her eventual color and pattern, echoing the Persian/Turkish/ return almost two decades later. From 1989 Spanish influences that made their mark on through 2003 Koblitz secured a position early Italian pottery. as a designer of maiolica dinnerware at the The lunettes presented a greater challenge renowned Grazia Factory in Deruta. She spent for the artist due to the compressed space of her summers developing patterns based on the the relief. The religious-themed demi-Lune town’s centuries-old ceramic heritage and hand sculptures of Madonna and Child and the Holy painting these designs on a variety of serving Family, popularized by the Della Robbia family pieces. Deruta, with its more than 200 ceramic during the Italian Renaissance, were indeed the workshops, is known for producing brightly stimuli for Koblitz's semi-circular sculptures. colored, highly decorative wares with Islamic Her large-scale, crescent-shaped ceramic and Moorish design influences. Building on vignettes, with dimensional still-life elements this artistic tradition, Koblitz’s dinnerware floating within the framework, did indeed designs for the Grazia Factory drew from the borrow the format from the Della Robbia family vibrant colors of the Umbrian countryside and but presented a domestic, secular, scene. the geometric motifs common to the tin-glazed In place of religious figures, a parade of historical patterns of Hispano Moresque pottery. household artifacts, layered with chromatic In addition, Koblitz merged unique biomorphic designs and textures, related the personal flourishes and floral abstractions to create a (perhaps autobiographical?) tale of a vessel- line of signature designs. This interplay of maker and painter. One’s eyes were guided historical and contemporary ornamentation set transversely from object to object until settling Koblitz’s work apart, and her Grazia dinnerware on the long handle and bristles of a paintbrush— and accessories were well received and the symbol of the artist’s handiwork. Koblitz commercially successful. added the lunette to her repertoire of ceramic 18—19 ART Left: Column #6 Italian. Image courtesy of the author. Opposite: Chinese Cabinet, Objects of Memory series, 2015-2017, 62.5 x 40 x 16.25 in. (158 x 102 x 41 cm), porcelain, pine and mixed media Image credit: Ruben Diaz. WWW.MANSFIELDCERAMICS.COM 20—21 ART The whole ceramic affair was a riot of delicious color and pattern, echoing the Persian/Turkish/Spanish influences that made their mark on early Italian pottery. WWW.MANSFIELDCERAMICS.COM shapes as it allowed her “to explore the botanicals. Highlighted in the center relief juxtaposition of a variety of forms and their of the sculpture was a pair of convex vessels, surface patterning” within a prescribed each containing inscriptions from the famous architectural structure.1 Azerbaijani romantic novel, Ali and Nino written by Kurban Said (1937). The ceramic Artists as Ambassadors: Russian wall sculpture deftly illustrated the essence and Azerbaijani Inspirations of Kurban Said’s story and also demonstrated The United States Department of State Koblitz’s sensitive grasp of the blended launched the Art in Embassies Program in 2002 decorative traditions of Islam, Turkey, and as a cultural initiative. Its mission: to send Russia – a relevant and timely piece to include in American artists around the globe to engage in her exhibition Cultural Diplomacy. Cultural Diplomacy, cross-cultural dialogue and encourage shared Perhaps the most off topic grouping in the 2015, 13 x 16.5 x 12.5 in. (33 x 42 x 32 cm), experiences through the visual arts. Koblitz exhibition was Koblitz’s most recent series stoneware, soda fired. was honored with the designation of Art Objects of Memory (2015 – 2017). The hand- Images courtesy of the author. Ambassador in 2002 and invited as a guest of sculpted, unglazed porcelain pieces were the American Ambassador posted in Moscow. modeled to represent the housewares and In 2006 she was awarded a Culture Connect accessories that had once graced Koblitz’s family Endnotes Envoy Grant for travel to Azerbaijan, sponsored home, and were placed on furniture to appear 1. http://www. 2 karenkoblitz.com/ by the U.S. Embassy in Baku. These short-term as if viewed in situ. Having recently relocated italian-lunette/ but intense expeditions provided Koblitz the their aging mother to a small apartment in 2. Farnaz Sabet was contracted to build the opportunity to explore the intersectional a retirement complex, it became necessary furniture to Koblitz’s nature of visual culture and art practices of for the children to disburse of most of her specifications. 3. http://www. Russia, and the intertwined Eurasian aesthetics household contents as the new residence could karenkoblitz.com/ of Azerbaijan. As a workshop participant and not accommodate them. Koblitz decided to recent-work and various discussions with the guest of both ceramic factories and applied art document the distinct objects that defined her artist during July 2018. schools in Moscow, Koblitz was introduced to parents’ home through sketches and memory. the deep history of Russian ceramics and folk As the artist explains, the objects represent “a arts. Further, visits to Russian museums and recollection of items accumulated over a lifetime exchanges with fellow artists led to a greater under the keen eye of my mother. I recall understanding of the early twentieth-century growing up surrounded by beautifully crafted Constructivist and Supremacist avant-garde things…they present an ephemeral snapshot artists and their bearing on international of the past.”3 art movements. Ephemeral and memorable, the unglazed A memorable journey through the exotic white porcelain sculptures had a ghostly crossroads of Azerbaijan – tracing the steps materiality, seeming to provide a portal to where Asian and European merchants mingled the contemplative space where memories and traded – led Koblitz to an appreciation of roam and unfold. Staged in domestic settings, the cultural heritages of east and west, and the they constructed convincing vignettes of confluences that defined the art, architecture, memorialized objects, functioning as memory and literature of the region. Upon her return imprints, of things that became animate with from Azerbaijan, Koblitz spent a year designing her mother’s selection, attention, and touch. textile wall-hangings and creating ceramic It is understandable why Koblitz insisted upon sculptures (the textiles were woven by their inclusion, as Objects of Memory expressed Azerbaijani weaver, Abilova Qanira.) Several the strong power that crafted objects exerted pieces from this series, East Meets West, were on her decision to become an artist. In this included in her 2018 mid-career survey. way, works in Cultural Diplomacy represent All terracotta wall sculptures were homage Koblitz’s travels around the globe but also close to the multi-ethnic city of Baku. Among them the circle by directing her gaze and creativity was the wall piece Shirvan Shahs Delight, the back to hearth and home. n background featuring the replicated patterns of the ornamentally carved limestone façade of Shirvan Shahs Palace, and in cartouches, the delicately painted lush scenes of birds and 22—23.