GIFFORD MYERS: MADE IN ITALY, A SURVEY OF WORK, 1995-2001
JANUARY 19 - MARCH 16, 2003
Jay Belloli, coordinator

Gifford Myers is one of the most respected California artists working in clay. His earlier ceramic work evoked the residential and public architecture and flora of Southern California, with its Spanish style, palm trees and pools. In the 1990s, Myers began to work in ceramic factories in Italy, one of the world centers for this medium. The existing Italian ceramic traditions, and the materials and mass-produced objects at these factories, inspired him and transformed his work. His experience in Italy led him into themes and materials he had not explored before, including hats, maps, palettes, leaning towers and tornadoes.

Some of these factories were located in the city of Faenza, the location of the International Museum of Ceramics which organized this exhibition. This is the only presentation of this exhibition in California.

"Myers transforms the reality that surrounds him through his wit, free spirit and strong capacity for observation," writes Dante Stefani in the introduction of the exhibition's catalogue. "The result provides a complete panorama, surprising for its variety, freedom and imagination: from large works to small objects, a form of self-portrait from the imagination of a unique artist that both surprises and draws the viewer in through the strength of expressive ideas."