The Temptation to TouchConsiderations in Curating Pottery Exhibits

http://www.theonion.com/articles/struggling-museum-now-allowing-patrons-to-touch-pa,2821/

Synthesis: NCECA International Resident Artists2009 NCECA Annual Conference, Phoenix, Arizona

The White Pedestal Expectation

MacLachlan, Malcolm. Embodiment: Clinical, Critical and Cultural Perspectives on Health and Illness. Open University Press, 2004. (pp. 11-13)

The Importance of Touch

Blakeslee, Sandra, and Matthew Blakeslee. The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better. Random House LLC, 2008. (pp.139-141)

The Importance of Touch

Curating Functional Pottery in a Museum Setting

If the objects on display cannot be touched for practical reasons, find smaller or less valuable pieces that can be handled.

Curating Functional Pottery in a Museum Setting

Visually and physically separate the spaces in the exhibit where touch is or is not allowed.

Curating Functional Pottery in a Museum Setting

Include aspects of the process. Let visitors:

•Handle tools and brushes

•Touch clay in various stages

(wet, dry, bisque, glazed)

•Experience diverse textures: wet slip vs. rough surface of fire bricks

Curating Functional Pottery in a Museum Setting

Melted Ash: Michiana Wood Fired PotteryMathers Museum of World Cultures, Indiana University, 2013

Curating Functional Pottery in a Museum Setting

Think outside the white pedestal!

In exhibits of historical objects or objects from other cultures, consider the contexts for which these pots were intended.

Thinking About Context

Todd Pletcher PotteryMichiana Pottery Tour2012

Thinking About Context

Unloading Mark Goertzen’s KilnMichiana Pottery Tour 2013

Dick Lehman

Melted Ash: Michiana Wood Fired Pottery

Mathers Museum of World Cultures, 2013

Thinking About Context

Curating Functional Pottery in a Museum Setting

Plan events to enhance the exhibit experience.

Curating Functional Pottery in a Museum Setting

Plan events to enhance the exhibit experience.

http://www.raku-yaki.or.jp/e/museum/special_program.html

Curating Functional Pottery in a Museum Setting

Think outside the box!

Object Focus: The BowlMuseum of Contemporary Craft, 2013Curated by Namita Gupta Wiggers

http://mocc.pnca.edu/exhibitions/5412/

Curating Functional Pottery in a Museum Setting

Think outside the box!

http://mocc.pnca.edu/exhibitions/5412/

Educational Options:

•Studio Art•Art History

Also consider:•Folklore•Museum Studies•Arts Management•Anthropology•Library Sciences•Education

www.indiana.edu/~folklore

“The Museology of Everyday Life”

~Pravina Shukla

Is it really enough to just look at beautiful pots?

Many thanks to the Michiana-area potters (particularly Dick Lehman, Mark Goertzen, Todd

Pletcher, and Justin Rothshank) for their involvement with the Melted Ash exhibit!

For more information about this presentation, contact:

Meredith McGriffDepartment of Folklore and Ethnomusicology

Indiana UniversityCaughtUpInClay@gmail.com