High Resolution Images • Press Release (.pdf) • Exhibition Catalog

On View:	May 6–December 30, 2023
Opening Reception:	May 6, 2023, 4–6PM
Members Tour:	June 7, 2023 & December 13, 2023
Artists in Conversation:	July 15, 2023, August 24, 2023, September 14, 2023, and November 16, 2023

Making in Between: Queer Clay – Exhibition Overview

Making in Between: Queer Clay (MIB: Queer Clay) is the second major exhibition in the American Museum of Ceramic Art’s Making in Between series. The series brings together works by artists doing intersectional work and exploring common themes of identity, culture, and community. In 2020, Making in Between: Contemporary Chinese American Ceramics featured works by six first- and second-generation artists who shared themes of cultural heritage, identity, language, politics, migration, and displacement.

As MIB: Queer Clay shifts the lens of the Making in Between series from national heritage to explore broader influences on identity, it centers queerness as an unapologetic presence. Mounting an exhibition that focuses solely on work by queer artists, AMOCA brings less familiar narratives to the forefront of ceramics. MIB: Queer Clay features works by historical artists, whose identities have remained largely unseen until recently, alongside contemporary makers.

Exhibiting artists are Sascha Brastoff (1918-1993), Howard Kottler (1930-1989), Mark Burns (b. 1950), Grayson Perry (b. 1960), Ramekon O’Arwisters (b.1960), Larry Buller (b. 1961), Julia Kunin (b.1961), Vick Quezada (b. 1979), Nicki Green (b. 1986), Alex Anderson (b. 1990), Karla Ekatherine Canseco (b. 1995), and Tamara Santibañez (b. 1987). Presented together for the first time, these works exemplify the compelling contributions of LGBTQ+ artists to the western art canon.

Making in Between: Queer Clay is co-curated by Beth Ann Gerstein and Pam Aliaga.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog designed by SAALT Press, featuring full-color images and new essays by Matthew Limb, Alexis Salas, Richard May, Steve Conti, Beth Ann Gerstein, and Pam Aliaga.

This exhibition and catalog are funded, in part, by grants from the Dew Foundation, the Pasadena Arts Alliance, the National Endowment for the Arts, and The Los Angeles County Department of Arts & Culture.