ADRIAN SAXE (1943 - )
A native of southern California, still working and teaching there, Adrian Saxe describes himself as a “global potter,” reflecting his embrace of the many traditions of ceramic art. Early commissions allowed him to pursue this interest, particularly in Baroque and Rococo European ceramics, and to evolve his own direction, exploring the functional piece as an expression of aesthetics and at the same time incorporating his “take” on the world, both serious and ironic. His work continues to push the edge, incorporating a variety of materials in his exquisitely ornate vessels. The superb technical skill and mastery that he brings to his pieces have brought him acclaim not only from the field of ceramic art but also from art critics who regularly overlook the craft media.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT – ADRIAN SAXE
“Through my work I want to initiate, interpret and critique social and cultural conventions surrounding ceramics as an art practice. Clay is a material; ceramics is a venerated locus of art.”1
“My ceramic work explores the possibilities of a meaningful and significant traditional art, open to all of its manifestations and implications in a rapidly changing postmodern global cultural arena. I make work that aggressively projects my sensibilities and formal interests while extending and critiquing the intellectual and formal traditions of art. I am the „village potter‟ – for the global village.”2
1. http://www.flintridgefoundation.org/visualarts/recipients20012002_adriansaxe.html
2. http://www.flintridgefoundation.org/visualarts/catalog20012002_14_AdrianSaxe.pdf
RESUME – ADRIAN SAXE
1943 Born, Glendale, CA
1965-69 Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA
1974 B.F.A, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
1973-present Professor, Department of Art, University of California, Los Angeles
1983 Atelier Expérimental de Récherche de Création, Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres, Centre National des Arts Plastiques, France. Artist fellowship.
1986 National Endowment for the Arts, Artist fellowship
2001 Flintridge Foundation Visual Artists Award, 2001-2002
2002 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship
ADRIAN SAXE – BIOGRAPHY
Adrian Saxe is a native Californian, a product of the southern California art scene in the 1950‟s and 1960‟s, yet his art transcends both his geographical boundaries as well as his place in time.
Born in 1943 in Glendale, CA, Saxe was exposed to art from the beginning. His mother, Dorothy, was a cel colorist for Walt Disney Studio in Burbank, and his father, a part-time embalmer, was a photographer who later made photography his career. From his parents he learned both a respect for craft techniques and a love of handmade objects. His first exposure to ceramics was the clay he found in his own backyard. In recognition of his talents, he was offered a scholarship to the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles in the summer of 1957. His plan was to study drawing, but as that was not offered at his level, he took ceramics instead. He continued to pursue his interest in art, winning a regional contest with a sculptural work in 1960.
Saxe did well in school, particularly science, and when the family moved to Hawaii in 1960 he attended the state university there, majoring in inorganic chemistry and minoring in art. Within a year, he decided art was his interest and changed his major. In 1962 Saxe, along with Orville Clay, a former teacher, made the move back to California where they set up a ceramics studio in Costa Mesa. Saxe helped to meet expenses by making throwing wheels which cost about half what commercially made ones did. Clay and Saxe made functional pottery – mugs, tableware, lamp bases – and exhibited in a few local galleries. When Clay returned to Hawaii, Saxe planned to join the group established by Peter Voulkos in Berkeley. Severe injuries in an auto accident ended that plan, and after recovering Saxe enrolled at Los Angeles City College to continue his education.
In 1965 Saxe entered Chouinard Art School, studying under Ralph Bacerra and others, and working as a lab assistant. A few years later he returned to Chouinard, now the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, and received a B.F.A. in 1974.
At this time the Funk movement was taking hold in Davis and while the use of visual and verbal puns showed up in Saxe‟s work, his passion to explore all aspects of artistic expression led him to explore other techniques and styles including the “fetish finish style” in Los Angeles and traditional Chinese vessels. His embracing of the diverse styles and techniques of art became his hallmark.
His work in the early1970‟s dealt mainly with site-specific sculptures incorporating modular ceramic elements. His works were shown at the Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, and the Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto. Saxe continued making functional ware to support his art career, making mugs and bowls that also doubled as test tiles for glazes and decorative elements. He found that he could sell pieces made of porcelain for far more than the same pieces in earthenware and began using porcelain exclusively. He furthered his interest in historical vessels and techniques during visits to the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery in San Marino, CA, where there was a fine collection of eighteenth-century court porcelain. Not coincidentally his future wife, Constance Dienz, was also working there as a gardening assistant. In 1971 the Huntington asked Saxe to design jardinières for the galleries, one of his first major commissions, and in the process he furthered his study of Chinese, English, and other ceramic ware, incorporating aspects of each into his own work. Forms and themes from these early years are returned to again and again, as new techniques are tried out, new experiments made.
In 1973 Saxe was asked to substitute at the University of California, Los Angeles, for a ceramics professor on leave. It became a full-time position and he continues today as a professor in the art department as well as a studio artist.
In the fall of 1983 Saxe received a fellowship and six-month residency as a visiting artist at L‟Atelier Experimental de Récherche et de Création de la Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres in France. This residency allowed Saxe to work with the noted soft-paste porcelain and to study firsthand the historical techniques. In addition he furthered his study of mold making and gilding and was able to experience a culture quite different from southern California.
On his return to California his work took on a more ornamental look with applied surface decoration - clay and other media; press-molded forms; and the use of organic materials to make direct mold impressions. As always, his pieces crossed all boundaries, both in technique and style. He continues his evolution and exploration, pushing the edge of the ceramic experience, using contrast and oppositions to bring a new way of thinking about ceramic arts.
Saxe‟s work has been the subject of a number of exhibitions, both solo and group, including the retrospective “The Clay Art of Adrian Saxe,” organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1994; “Departures: Eleven Artists at the Getty,” for which he was commissioned to create a major work for the first exhibition of contemporary art at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles; and “USA Clay,” at the Renwick Gallery in Washington D.C. Among his awards are a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in 2002; a Flintridge Foundation Visual Artists Award for 2001-2002; a United States/France Exchange Fellowship in 1987; and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1986. Among the museums whose collections include his work are the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Cooper- Hewitt Museum; Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki, Japan; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Musée du Louvre, Paris; and The White House, Washington, D.C.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY – ADRIAN SAXE
Books and Catalogs
Clark, Garth. American Ceramics: 1876 to the Present. New York: Abbeville Press, 1987.
______. The Artful Teapot. New York: Watson-Guptill, 2001.
Cooper, Emmanuel. Ten Thousand Years of Pottery. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000.
Corrin, Lisa G. and Joaneath Spicer, eds. Going for Baroque: Eighteen Contemporary Artists Fascinated with the Baroque and Rococo. Baltimore: Contemporary Museum; Walters Art Gallery, 1995.
Del Vecchio, Mark. Postmodern Ceramics. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2001.
DeWaal, Edmund. 20th Century Ceramics (World of Art). New York: Thames & Hudson, 2003.
Galusha, Emily, Ed. What’s Clay Got to Do With It? Minneapolis, MN: Northern Clay Center, 1995.
Johnstone, Mark. Contemporary Art in Southern California. Sydney, Australia: Craftsman House: G+B Arts International, 1999.
Knight, Christopher. “Adrian Saxe I” and “Adrian Saxe II” in Last Chance for Eden: Selected Art Criticism of Christopher Knight, ed. by Malin Wilson. Los Angeles: Art Issues Press, 1995.
Lauria, Jo and Steve Fenton. Craft in America: Celebrating Two Centuries of Artists and Objects. New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2007.
Lynn, Martha Drexler. The Clay Art of Adrian Saxe. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1993.
Lyons, Lisa. Departures: 11 Artists at the Getty. Los Angeles, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2000.
Martin, Andrew. The Definitive Guide to Mold Making and Slip Casting. Ashville, N.C.: Lark Books, 2007.
Perrone, Jeff, and Peter Schjehldahl. Adrian Saxe. Kansas City, MO: University of Missouri-Kansas City, Gallery, 1987.
Periodicals and Reviews
Allan, Lois. “‟Departures: 11 Artists at the Getty‟ at the J. Paul Getty Museum.” Artweek 31, no. 5 (May 2000): 18-19.
Bennett, Pat. “Putting in the Boot.” Ceramic Review, no. 165 (May/June 1997): 33-35.
Colling, Amy Fine. “Adrian Saxe at Garth Clark.” Art in America 76 (March 1988): 148- 149.
DeWaal, Edmund. “Identity Crisis.” Ceramic Review, no. 204 (November/December 2003.): 29-31.
Dietz, Ulysses Grant. “Great Pots: A Landmark Exhibition at the Newark Museum.” Ceramics Monthly 51, no. 2 (February 2003): 36-41.
“The First Conversational Session.” Studio Potter 24 (December 1995): 2-6.
Freudenheim, Betty. “Craft; Ceramic Vessels in a Myriad of Forms.” The New York Times, September 18, 1994.
Haines, Gordon. Adrian Saxe.” Art Issues, no. 52 (March/April 1998): 36.
Huntingford, John. “The Critic‟s Eye.” Crafts (London, England), no. 101 (November/December 1989): 20-21.
Levin, Elaine. “Adrian Saxe: a Ceramics Monthly Portfolio.” Ceramics Monthly 41 (October 1993): 37-43.
Mays, John Bentley. “Stylistic Ensembles.” American Craft 47 (October/November 1987): 42-49.
Melrod, George. “Adrian Saxe.” American Ceramics 14, no. 4 (2004):40-41.
Meltzer, Phyllis. “Occupational Profile: An Interview with Adrian Saxe.” Journal of Occupational Science 11, no. 1 (2004).
Pagel, David. “Adrian Saxe‟s Sexy Pots.” Art Issues, no. 26 (January/February 1993): 16-18.
Perrone, Jeff. “Porcelain and Pop.” Arts Magazine 58 (March 1984): 80-82.
Video
”Contemporary American Ceramics.” Teacher Packet by Los Angeles County Museum of Art-Education Department. Includes: 6 slides, bibliography, ceramics glossary, and classroom activities. Artists included are: Laurie Anderson, Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, Martha Levine, Adrian Saxe, and Peter Voulkos TP1998-1.
“Craft in America DVD Complete Series.” PBS, 2007. DVD (1 Disc).
“Revolutions of the Wheel: The Emergence of Clay Art.” Directed and edited by Scott Sterling. Queens Row, 1997. VHS
GALLERY REPRESENTATION – ADRIAN SAXE
Frank Lloyd Gallery, Inc., 2525 Michigan Avenue, B5b, Santa Monica, CA 90404
WEB SITES – ADRIAN SAXE http://www.franklloyd.com/dynamic/artist.asp?ArtistID=25 Selection of works by Adrian Saxe and biography. http://www.queensrow.org/QR-rev4.html Clip from video featuring Adrian Saxe. http://www.art.ucla.edu/faculty/Saxe.html Faculty web site for Adrian Saxe. http://www.nga.gov.au/Exhibition/Transformations/Default.cfm?MnuID=8&GalID=Vid Video of Adrian Saxe discussing his work http://manufacturedesevres.culture.gouv.fr/site.php?type=P&id=64&langue=2 Interesting teapot by Saxe with discussion. http://www.sofaexpo.com/NY/2004/essays/Del%20Vecchio.pdf “What Postmodernism is Not!” Article by Mark Del Vecchio referencing Adrian Saxe.
July, 2007