How the West Was Molded : From the Potter’s Wheel to Fine Arts Galleries, a History of California Ceramics in 2 Exhibits

The textures of ceramics’ past and the shape of things to come are the subjects of exhibits at two Southern California galleries this month, both of which illustrate the development of the West Coast movement in clay.

The joint exhibit at the Palos Verdes Art Center’s Beckstrom Gallery and at the FHP Hippodrome Gallery in Long Beach boasts more than 100 pieces from 32 of California’s better known ceramic artists. “California Legacy: Concepts in Clay” offers a history of the technical side of ceramics and the growth and effect different schools and artists had on the development of the art.

“What is great about this exhibit is that not only is the development of the medium seen, with the impact of the better kilns and wheels, but also the influences the artists had on each other, on their students, and even the students on their teachers,” said Dee Dee Rechtin, program director of the Palos Verdes Art Center.

“It is really incredible to have such early pieces from so many masters along with their more recent work and alongside that of their students,” Rechtin said.

The shows, which run through April 25, are divided into two sections. The early period of the West Coast movement in the 1930s up through 1980 is on display at the Palos Verdes Art Center, where advances in technology and the integration of expressiveness can be seen in examples of work by such artists as Peter Voulkos and Helen Rechter Watson.

The explosion of ceramics into a fine art, however, is the predominant theme at the Hippodrome Gallery, where clay as art is no longer expressed in only vessel form.

Pieces such as the 1992 “Head” by Ralph Bacerra show off the smooth lines and intricate design and color of the fine art influence and what is known as the “finish-fetish”--a focus on refined glazes and finishes--developed by Bacerra while he was head of the ceramics department at Chouinard Art Institute.

His influence on his students can also be seen in the works of Adrian Saxe and Mineo Mizuno, which are among those on display at the Hippodrome.

Saxe’s highly polished but whimsical porcelain pieces include the 1989 untitled Ampersand; Mizuno uses strips of clay and dramatic glazing to create two-dimensional wall art.

Newer pieces by Voulkos and Watson are also at the Hippodrome, illustrating their continuing use of the vessel form but with a much heavier influence of fine art, said Cynthia MacMullin, director of the Hippodrome Gallery.

“You can see where the artist is becoming much more aware of the fine-art market and how ceramics has really moved from a craft to an art form with expression and design found previously only in sculpture and fine art,” she said.

What: “California Legacy: Concepts in Clay,” a joint exhibit at the Palos Verdes Art Center Beckstrom Gallery and the FHP Hippodrome Gallery.

When: Through April 25. Beckstrom Gallery is open 1 to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday; Hippodrome, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Where: Beckstrom Gallery, 5545 W. Crestridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes; Hippodrome, 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach.

Whereabouts: Beckstrom: Harbor (110) Freeway south to Pacific Coast Highway west. Left on Crenshaw Boulevard, then right on Crestridge. Hippodrome: San Diego (405) Freeway north to Atlantic Avenue south. Left on 7th Street, right on Alamitos.

Wherewithal: Both exhibits are free.

Where to call: Beckstrom Gallery, (310) 541-2479; Hippodrome Gallery, (310) 432-8431.