Message from the Director

Board of Directors

Financial Summary

Year in Highlights

Exhibitions

Gifts and Donors

Year in Highlights

Exhibitions

During 2021, the Museum presented a program of 10 exhibitions. Four of these exhibitions—The Artists of Mettlach; Making In Between: Contemporary Chinese American Ceramics; Joanne Hayakawa: A Wing and A Prayer II; New Acquisitions from the Julianne and David Armstrong Collection—continued from the previous fiscal year.

Pictured: Don Reitz, Careful What you Wish For, 1988. Vitreous Engobes, Clay. Collection of Julianne and David Armstrong, Jake Welty, Betsy Duenas.

Don Reitz: Life is not a Dress Rehearsal presents, for the first time, over 40 works from the artist’s well-known, but understudied, “Sara Series (1983–91). Broadly recognized as one of the most influential American ceramic artists of the last century, Reitz is primarily known for his prominent role in reviving the salt-fire tradition in American studio ceramics, and for his dedication to wood-firing. The New York Times recognized Reitz as “one of a small cadre of midcentury artisans who expanded the medium to include immense, intellectually provocative works of abstract art” (New York Times, March 30, 2014).

In contrast to the large, wheel-thrown vessels in dark, earthy-tones that made Reitz famous, works from the “Sara Series” feature bright, pastel tones applied with a painterly flourish. Child-like figures and scenes, roughly incised on hand-built forms, complement the vibrant palette and paint a nuanced and more comprehensive picture of the artist.

Research for the exhibition and catalog was supplemented by new oral history interviews with Peter Held, Sara Menzak, Brent Reitz, Donna Reitz, Paula Rice, Ben Roti, and Mat Rude.

Pictured: Arthur Gonzalez, Open Book Series: Book of Thoth (detail), 2008. Ceramic, coral, wood. Collection of the artist.

Beth Ann Gerstein and Jo Lauria continued their curatorial collaborations with MIND+MATTER: Five Bay Area Sculptors, bringing together more than 80 works by five sculptors living in the San Francisco Bay Area: Robert Brady, Arthur Gonzalez, Beverly Mayeri, Nancy Selvin, and Richard Shaw. Each artist has worked in the field for over 30 years and studied at colleges and universities in the region with the luminaries of the 1950s generation: Robert Arneson, Karen Breschi, Viola Frey, Jim Melchert, Ron Nagel, and Peter Voulkos.

Jo Lauria is one of the Southern California’s foremost curators of ceramic arts. A former curator of decorative arts at LACMA where she organized the seminal exhibition Color and Fire: Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics, 1950-2000. Lauria’s past curatorial projects at AMOCA include: Common Ground: Ceramics in Southern California (1945–1975); Honoring the Past, Embracing the Future: AMOCA’s 10th Anniversary; Discovering Saar Ceramics; and Silver Splendor: The Art of Anna Silver.

Keila Medina Villanueva, a summer intern at AMOCA through the Getty Marrow Undergraduate Program, made significant contributions to the development of this exhibition. Her curatorial internship focused on MIND+MATTER: Five Bay Area Sculptors and planning for Breaking Ground: Women in California Clay which will open in 2022. Her energy, enthusiasm, and humor were an incredible asset to the Museum.

Pictured: Tristan Archer, Scholastic Dissolution, Class of 2021. Pelham High School; taught by Taylor Kudalis.

The 2021 Annual High School Ceramics Exhibition featured 100 students from 38 high schools in 17 states—a vibrant sample of the next generation of ceramic talent in the United States. Due to the closure of AMOCA’s galleries through June, 2021, this was the first exhibition presented by AMOCA in an entirely digital format.

Pictured: The artist standing inside the installation. Amy Santoferraro, Two on a Lot, Three on the Tree (detail), 2021.

The first exhibition to open in AMOCA’s Vault Gallery this year, Amy Santoferraro: Two on a Lot, Three on a the Tree featured a site-specific installation created specifically for this location. Santoferraro, who recently concluded a visiting professorship in ceramics at Claremont Graduate University/Scripps College, paired thrifted items with original ceramic works to create a dialogue about consumerism and sustainability.

Pictured: Nicole Seisler, Holding Patterns (detail), 2021. Porcelain and drywall screws. 60 x 120 x 3 inches.

Nicole Seisler is a Los Angeles-based ceramic artist who creates sculpture, installation, and public art that investigate time, materiality, process, and the overlapping roles of artist/viewer/participant/collaborator. For this exhibition, Seisler supplements a recently created body of conceptual ceramic sculpture with the premiere of “Mind Map,” composed of nearly 150 pieces of hand-stamped porcelain mounted with drywall screws. Seisler has exhibited widely at museums ranging from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Museum of Fine Arts Tallahassee to the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and Craft Contemporary in Los Angeles. Her book Recipes for Conceptual Clay (in the time of covid-19) was published in 2020.

Acquisitions

Pictured: Esther Shimazu (b. 1957), Salute, 1997. Cone 6 oxidation stoneware and porcelain, 16 x 7.5 x 8.5 inches. Gift of Dean Spong.

Thanks to the generosity of donors, artists, and collectors, the Museum has acquired 386 works by 76 artists for the permanent collection in 2021. Of the 386 works, 314 (81%) works are categorized as productionware, 71 (18%) as studio/sculptural, and one as functional (less than 1%). Of the 76 artists, 12 (16%) identify as persons of color, 34 (45%) identify as women, and two (3%) identify as LGBTQ.

AMOCA does not have a dedicated fund for acquisitions and relies on the generosity of our community to build the permanent collection.

Public Programs & Events

Pictured: Installation view of the exhibition, with photos of the artists at the bottom. Pictured left-to-right: Stephanie H. Shih, Sin-ying Ho, Beth Lo, Cathy C. Lu, Jennifer Ling Datchuk, and Wanxin Zhang.

Robust programs and events mounted in 2021 brought the world of ceramic art to the public. Digital-only programs continued for the first six months of the year, launched by a virtual closing reception in February for Making in Between: Contemporary Chinese American Ceramics. The reception featured all six artists Zooming in from their homes and studios, complemented by a live tour of the exhibition with Executive Director Beth Ann Gerstein. In March, Gerstein served as a panelist for “What’s in a Mark?” at NCECA 2020, and Associate Provost for Claremont Graduate University Andrew Vosko hosted a dynamic conversation with Pulitzer-prize winning artist Ellen Reid and renowned physician-researcher Carl Grunfeld, MD-PhD.

Pictured: Work by Janell Lewis rising through the native plants at the California Botanic Garden.

April and May brought more innovative virtual programs, including an artist talk with San Diego State Professor Emerita Joanne Hayakawa, a live virtual reception for the 2021 High School Ceramics Annual, and live tours of Clayfornia at the California Botanic Garden with artist in residence Grayson Fair and Executive Director of the Garden Lucinda McDade. In preparation for reopening the Museum to the public in June, artist Amy Santoferraro documented her installation process in a series of videos live on YouTube.

AMOCA launched the inaugural Summer Clay Cinema series for members in June, virtually presenting one film each month about ceramic art to the public, and virtual clay classes with teaching artist Aida Lugo launched in July. In person programs finally resumed the same month with a reception for Amy Santoferraro: Two on a Lot, Three on the Tree, presented outside the Vault Gallery and simultaneously online. Monthly, docent-led tours were launched, and in person Family Days also returned in July, immediately selling out. Curator Jo Lauria joined Beth Ann Gerstein to host a well-attended in-person walkthrough of MIND+MATTER: Five Bay Area Artists in August, which was also recorded and posted online.

A double-feature event featuring panel discussions and artist talks in September attracted more than 150 visitors to AMOCA’s galleries. Brent and Donna Reitz (son and daughter of the late artist), Paula Rice (wife of the late artist) and Peter Held (Trustee, Reitz Family Trust) participated in a panel discussion for Don Reitz: Life is Not a Dress Rehearsal. The following hour, visitors were treated to short artist talks by Robert Brady, Arthur Gonzalez, Beverly Mayeri, and Nancy Selvin (all included in the exhibition MIND+MATTER: Five Bay Area Sculptors). As with the previous gallery walk, these talks were recorded and have since been published online.

Los Angeles-based artist, educator, and curator Nicole Seisler challenged attendees of her October artist talk to consider the real impact of the pandemic, and how it has shifted and transformed artistic practices. For the first time, interpretive wall panels for the exhibition were simultaneously published online in both Spanish and English, part of a comprehensive effort to attract and serve diverse audiences. Later in the month, circle members were treated to a behind-the-scenes visit to the studios of Silverlake Conservation in Los Angeles.

November will see AMOCA’s first Spanish-language gallery tour, and the final Family Day of the year. To date, approximately 27,310 individuals have participated in 46 programs and events.

Community Investments

Pictured: Beth Ann with a group of women from the Pomona Girl Scouts touring MIND+MATTER: Five Bay Area Artists during a Halloween event.

AMOCA continues to play a vital role in our local communities, strategically investing resources to support community development and wellness for the most underserved. Staff share expertise by serving on community boards, including the Mayor’s COVID-19 Task Force, and facilitate access to AMOCA’s resources, including its campus and facilities.

In partnership with the city of Pomona, Western University, Brown Memorial Temple/PS Family Services, and the LA County Department of Public Health, six outdoor vaccine microsites were held on AMOCA’s campus with the goal of making vaccines locally accessible to underserved neighbors, including the unhoused. Community partners hosted Juneteenth celebrations, a high school graduation, holiday toy drives, and unhoused services fairs on AMOCA’s campus throughout the year, providing new uses and vitality for AMOCA’s outdoor facilities. AMOCA was a repeat destination for the Pomona Library Foundation’s summer homework club, offering families gallery tours and hands-on activities. Most recently, the Pomona Girl Scouts utilized AMOCA’s campus for an outdoor Halloween trunk-or-treat, and AMOCA’s Executive Director Beth Ann Gerstein opened the Museum’s galleries for “spooky tours.”

In the community, AMOCA’s staff partner with local organizations to share the joy of clay and ceramic art. This year ushered in new partnerships with the staff at Pomona Public Library, where Exhibitions Manager Pam Aliaga led an air-dry clay workshop for nearly 80 families in celebration of Día de Muertos. Education Manager Ashley Rowley joined a trunk-or-treat hosted by the Pomona Police Department, and Director of Advancement and Communications Paul Roach provided technical communications expertise for a city-led vigil in support of the AAPI community.

Education Experiences

Pictured: Ribbon cutting for the Mudmobile. Front row, pictured left to right: Aida Lugo (Teaching Artist, AMOCA), Ashley Rowley (Education Manager, AMOCA), Dr. Didi Watts (Chief of Staff to Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education District 7 Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin), Beth Ann Gerstein (Executive Director, AMOCA), David Armstrong (Founder and Member of the Board of Directors, AMOCA), Suzy Sasaki (Board of Directors, AMOCA), Roberta Perlman (Vice President, Pomona Unified School District Board of Trustees), and Arturo Jimenez (Pomona Unified School District Board of Trustees). Back row, pictured left to right: Nathan Stanfield (Studio Manager, AMOCA), Peter Coye (Board of Directors, AMOCA), Don Pattison (Immediate Past President, AMOCA Board of Directors), Robert J. Dea (Board of Directors, AMOCA), Riley Pettitt (Education Intern, AMOCA), John Nolte (Pomona City Councilmember, District 1), Victor Preciado (Pomona City Councilmember, District 2), Phil Miller (Artistic Director, The School of Arts and Enterprise), Joshua Swodeck (Board of Directors, The School of Arts and Enterprise).

It was a busy year for AMOCA’s Education programs with the development and launch of the Mobile Museum and Virtual Experiences program, featuring the newly christened Mudmobile. Made possible with a grant from the California Natural Resources Agency, matched with generous support from Julianne and David Armstrong, this program brings a “pop-up” museum exhibition and a ceramics studio to K-12 schools, supplemented by synchronous virtual visits to the Museum itself. These experiences will supplement teaching curricula (both in-person and remote), support teachers in meeting state standards, and facilitate student exposure to the rich California ceramic arts tradition.

The Mobile Museum & Virtual Visits program takes inspiration from successful best practices in other parts of the country, in particular the Claymobile program at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia. This project innovates by complementing these experiences with virtual museum visits. It leverages the technologies our educational partners acquired and implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pictured: Education Manager Ashley Rowley (center right) and Getty Multicultural Intern Keila Medina Villanueva (center left) leading the Pomona Library Homework Club on a tour of Don Reitz: Life is Not a Dress Rehearsal.

K-12 virtual visits (both synchronous and asynchronous) continued to be a hit with students and educators from across the country, Asia, and Europe. In-person tours for college and university students have resumed with the fall term, and K-12 tours are slowly coming back. The Teen Council program concluded a year of hybrid programming over the summer with in-person visits to our colleagues at The Broad Museum, The Getty Center, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Ceramics Studio & Artists in Residence

Pictured: Installation view of Sequences, an exhibition featuring work that Artist in Residence Grayson Fair developed during his residency at AMOCA.

Thanks to continuing support from the Windgate Foundation, Julianne and David Armstrong, and Laguna Clay Company, four artists were afforded residency opportunities this year: Grayson Fair, Natalia Arbaelez, Kirstin Willders, and Colby Charpentier. Artist talks were moved online, and recordings of talks by Fair, Arbaelez, and Willders are available for viewing. Residents were provided living stipends, housing, studio, clay, and firing stipends—and, most important, the time and space to explore new bodies of work and develop artistically.

Demand for private and semi-private studio spaces, which grew significantly with the pandemic, remains strong. Interested artists can sign up for a waiting list, or take advantage of the studio’s professional firing services. The Ceramics Studio has also started a monthly newsletter, and created a new a digital portfolio of current studio artists available on the AMOCA website.

The final (and only!) in-person studio workshop of 2021 welcomed Richard Burkett, professor at San Diego State and longtime director of the Hot Clay program at Idyllwild Arts, for a soda-firing workshop November 5–13. The 2022 calendar of workshops is currently in development.

Campus & Facilities

Pictured: Architectural rendering of the new Education Hall (facing east from the western wall), with Gallery B in the distance.

AMOCA continues to redevelop its campus and facilities to meet the needs of the community. Thanks to two long-time donors and affiliates of the Museum, desperately needed upgrades and renovations, previously planned in the future, have been moved forward. These individuals, who wish to be anonymous, contributed a matching/challenge grant of $150,000 in August 2020, and work on the project began shortly thereafter.

This project renovates the heart of AMOCA’s facilities, and includes an expanded education hall, accessible bathrooms, accessibility ramps, a new collection study room, a new kids makerspace, kitchenette, energy efficient HVAC systems, and updated internet and security systems. Significant in-kind support makes this remarkable project possible on a very modest budget, with the first phase of the project to be finished by the end of 2022.

Thanks to the generous support of an anonymous donor, work has commenced on a new gate at the south entrance to the campus. The gate will improve security for visitors to the Museum and Studio and for parked vehicles. This project is slated for completion by the end of 2021.