Cabrillo Gallery is excited to present RARE EARTH: National Ceramics Exhibition, featuring the work of over 40 artists from all over the United States working in a broad range of ceramic styles and formats.

In RARE EARTH, guest curator Kirk Delman, who oversees the prestigious Marer Collection of Contemporary Ceramics at Scripps College in Claremont, CA, brings together an exciting and eclectic variety of functional, sculptural and mixed media ceramic artworks by 44 artists from all corners of the country. The artworks included run the full gamut from traditional approaches to highly conceptual work, with everything in between. The smallest artwork in the exhibition is a miniature bust of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass designed to be implanted under the skin as a “power object to seed social progress.” (Brian Gillis) On the opposite end of the scale are 3 enormous pots, the tallest measuring 65” high, by local ceramics artists Mattie Leeds, who took the first place award in the exhibition. This exhibition truly captures the diversity, complexity, and expansion of artistic possibilities flourishing in the field of contemporary ceramics today.

Image above: Mattie, Chinese Irish Wedding 1883