American Ceramics & Ceramic National Exhibition Archive

Exhibit Date

1972 - 1972 (canceled)
April 8 1987 - June 28 1987 (temporary)
July 31 1987 - November 15 1989 (circuit)

Exhibit Description

Coming off of the exhibition, "Ceramics 70, Plus Woven Forms" [unofficially the 26th Ceramic National Exhibition], and the cancellation of the official Ceramic National Exhibition cycle, the Ceramic National Exhibition resumed as the 27th Ceramic International Exhibition in 1972. The exhibition encouraged submissions from the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Mexico. After resuming the exhibition cycle, the 1972 jury decided that most of submitted object slides were not what they were looking for to represent the current trends of ceramic art. To avoid a complete cancellation of the exhibition, a new exhibition format was adopted. The new format included historical and new talent in ceramics. The new talent included objects that were considered the most interesting of the submitted object slides. The adoption of this new format lead to a growing concern over the controversial content of exhibitions and programming at the museum. Ultimately, the 1972 Ceramic International Exhibition was canceled. In 1987, the Ceramic National Exhibition cycle resumed as the 27th Ceramic National Exhibition rather than moving on to the 28th. The final list of artists included artists that were nominated and invited to participate and artists that were chosen through the traditional, juried process. Selected objects were chosen to eventually be a part of an international circuit that would go through sites in Europe and Asia such as, Barcelona, Spain and Seoul, South Korea. It is unclear if the proposed international circuit came to fruition, though selected works may have appeared in the "East-West Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition" at the Art Center of the Korean Culture and Arts Foundation in Seoul, South Korea, in conjunction with the 1988 Summer Olympic Games.