52 for 150: What’s So Special About Ken Ferguson?

5 Comments / Kenneth Ferguson /

Follow us!
Facebook –
Twitter –
Instagram –
Pinterest –
Website –

For week 16 of our Kansas sesquicentennial series, we're focusing on ceramist Ken Ferguson (1938-2004), former Professor and Chair of the ceramics department at Kansas City Art Institute for over thirty years.

"In 1981 Ferguson was voted one of the twelve greatest living potters in a readers' survey by Ceramics Monthly magazine. His students included many successful contemporary ceramists including Richard Notkin" [1], our juror for this year's Topeka Competition 30. "As a graduate student at Alfred University, resident potter and studio manager at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana, and through years of teaching, Ferguson mastered the craft of functional pottery, developing formidable skills on the wheel and in handling glazes that integrally informed his work." [2]

Every object has a story, and stories build history. To celebrate 150 years of Kansas statehood we're featuring 52 objects (or collections of related objects)—something new each week throughout the year—from the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library's 130-year-old special, and permanent collections, that represent our collective state history and cultural diversity.

Our collections are available for teachers, students, researchers and general interest, and we hope this online video program will provide insight into what's so "special" about Special Collections. Your library's commitment to collecting art and preserving local history makes it possible for users today and in the future to have immediate access to invaluable research material and cultural artifacts.

To make an appointment to see work by Ken Ferguson, or get help finding books and videos related to him and his work, call or stop by the Sabatini Gallery (785-580-4515). We're located on your right just beyond the Library rotunda entrance.

[1]
[2]

Subscribe! –

Ferguson

6 Comments / Kenneth Ferguson /

Rare film of Ken Ferguson in his studio in Wyoming. Footage of him at work and audio of his musings on his work and the nature of being a potter and educator.

FEATURED WORKS at Tweed Museum of Art

1 Comment / Ruth Duckworth /

FEATURED WORKS : Ruth Duckworth, Untitled, (Sphere with Blade), 2001
Presented by Bill Shipley – Tweed Museum Educator

Ruth Duckworth, (German, 1919-2009)
Untitled, (Sphere with Blade), 2001
Unglazed porcelain
Collection Tweed Museum of Art, UMD
Marguerite L. Gilmore Charitable Foundation Fund

A VISIT TO CLAYTON BAILEY

Leave a Comment / Clayton Bailey /

California Artist, Clayton Bailey is a well known ceramic and sculpting artist whose studio and museum are located in Port Costa, CA. In 2012, Jim Spitzer (fellow artist and graduate of the University of Wisconsin –as is Bailey) and I visited Bailey's Wonderful World. It is worth a visit and a viewing here as well.

Clayton Bailey

1 Comment / Clayton Bailey /

Clayton Bailey was one of the most important Bay Area sculptors who founded the Funk Art Movement. He was the first major artist who used objects to create robot art during the 60s, which resulted in a revolution of contemporary assemblage art throughout the United States.

In the first video of our new series, John Natsoulas and art historian and painter Jerry DeCamp reflect on the life and works of Clayton Bailey, who recently passed away in June.

Based on the book, 'Clayton Bailey: Happenings in the Circus of Life', this video includes a lecture by Bailey at the California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art, followed by a brief demonstration of performance raku.

This series aims to showcase some of the greatest Californian and American artists of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. In our next video, we will be discussing the life works of David Gilhooly, a leading advocate of funk art who challenged the seriousness of the art world by focusing on absurd images of everyday objects.

Find the book here:

Recorded and edited by Judd Takai.