The NCECA 2002 Invitational Exhibition, "Material Speculations," was hosted by the H&R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute, February 1 - April 3. The curators of the Invitational were NCECA Exhibitions director, Michel Conroy and the Artspace Director, Raechell Smith. To expand the impact of the exhibition and to encourage a critical dialog, Ms. Smith led a panel discussion by participating artists at the 2002 conference.

The concept for the Invitational was influenced by remarks made by Donald Kuspit in his closing address at the 1987 NCECA conference, "Ceramic Considerations."

Certainly the first thing one is aware of when one thinks of a ceramic object is the material it is made of. It is blindly recognized, as it were–implicitly acknowledged as a mute but insistent factor in the work. It is the unconscious of the consciously made work, inevitably there, making itself felt in the most finished work. The raw medium is never simply a neutral material, but charged with all kinds of unconscious feelings.

This exhibition began by asking if we are we now in the midst of a shift in artists’ approach to the materiality of clay and conception of the potential of the ceramic process. The works featured in "Material Speculations" are not about touch or clay’s classic qualities of plasticity and impressionability. They do not aspire to the expressive materiality that was the hallmark of the last major revolution in ceramic art launched by Voulkos and the "Otis group" artists.

Gallery of Invitational artwork coming soon!

The NCECA 2002 Invitational featured work by nine U.S. artists:

Walter McConnell, Alfred, New York
Francis Whitehead, Chicago, Illinois
Jamie Walker, Seattle, Washington
Annabeth Rosen, Davis, California
Jim Melchert, Oakland, California
Mary Jo Bole, Columbus, Ohio
Jeanne Quinn Boulder, Colorado
Deborah Sigel Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Sadashi Inuzuka Ann Arbor, Michigan


Critics Donald Kuspit, SUNY Stonybrook, and Glen Brown, Kansas State University, contributed essays for the exhibition catalog. A copy of the 2002 Invitational catalog may be ordered from the NCECA office. Click here to download the PDF file and print a copy of NCECA’s Publications Order Form.