Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman (Repost)

Evelyn (1924- ) and Jerome (1920- ) Ackerman are Los Angeles-based artists and designers whose 50-year collaborative partnership has resulted in a body of work that is representative of the California Modernism movement.

The couple received separate studio training. Evelyn studied painting and drawing at the University of Michigan, and, after transferring to Wayne University, she received her BFA and MFA there. She brought to this design marriage an eye for composition and color, as well as considerable artistic ability, as evidenced by her textiles, wood carvings, enamels and mosaics.

 Jerome enrolled in Wayne University in 1939 but did not complete his degree in art until he returned from service in the U. S. Air Force during World War II. He earned his MFA at Alfred University in 1952. He brought his talent as a ceramist to the partnership, as well as a keen business sense that promoted their studio output and limited production lines.

Perhaps unique to the Ackermans is their ability to move fluidly between abstract modernism and figurative stylization in their designs. This characteristic permeates all their work, but it is particularly apparent in their varied and prolific textile and ceramic production.

From mingei.org and ackermanmodern.com

(Technical issues resulted in search engine problems for almost two years' worth of my older posts, so I am reposting the ones I consider most informative. Though some of you have already viewed them, they will be new to others of you. Originally posted 10/10/2010)

Ceramic vessels by Jerome Ackerman, 1953-54
These pieces were used as props in a brochure
 for Paul McCobb's Directional furniture group.
ackermanmodern.com

Woman vase by Jerome Ackerman, 1953
ackermanmodern.com

Striped Candy Tree by Evelyn Ackerman, 1968
ackermanmodern.com

Cats mosaic table by Evelyn Ackerman, 1954
ackermanmodern.com

St. George and the Dragon, bas-relief wall panel by Evelyn Ackerman, 1959
ackermanmodern.com

Young Warrior mosaic by Evelyn Ackerman, 1954
ackermanmodern.com

Herringbone stoneware bowl by Jerome Ackerman, 2003
ackermanmodern.com

Female Figures vase by Jerome Ackerman, 1953
ackermanmodern.com

Update: Evelyn Ackerman died on November 28, 2012.

Forma Hungarica Update

In January I posted about an upcoming exhibition of post-war Hungarian ceramics from the collection of Dr. Graham Cooley. That show is now in full swing, and I received an email from Dr. Cooley containing a link to photos of the displayed pieces that I think you'll enjoy. Here are just a few:

For those of you who live in the UK or plan to visit in May or June, here is the pertinent information:

Forma Hungarica

Now through June 20, 2015
Kings Lynn Arts Centre
29 King St, King's Lynn, Norfolk PE30 1HA. 

Phone: 01553 779095

Admission: Free

Fifty years from now: Heather Rosenman

Heather Rosenman is a native New Yorker now residing in California. She graduated from The Cooper Union in 1984 and received a post-graduate level degree from The Basel School of Design in Switzerland.

She first worked as a designer at Total Design, LTD. She moved on to be design director at Anspach Grossman Portugal and then design director at Cross + Associates. Following that position, she was creative director at Siegel & Gale. For the past 12 years she has owned h* design.

She exhibits her sculptural work in galleries and shows nationally. Inspired by  mid-century design, she emphasizes minimalism "by simplifying forms to their organic essence."

Her ceramic work is so striking and elegant that I feel she deserves a place in this blog series among other designers and artists I've likened to mid-century icons. Just as they are still celebrated fifty years after their era, she I predict she will be remembered fifty years from now.

From heatherrosenmanceramics.com

WonderPortal, Terra Verge
heatherrosenmanceramics.com

Curry series
heatherrosenmanceramics.com

Petrichor
heatherrosenmanceramics.com

Hero vessel
1stdibs.com

latimes.com

Scribe platter
1stdibs.com

Mod Pod birdhouses
heatherrosenmanceramics.com

Contraption White
facebook.com/heatherrosenmanceramics

Curious objects

Tamsin van Essen is a British ceramic designer who lives and works in London. She is a graduate of Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art.

She specializes in conceptual design and has been using the medium of ceramics to explore scientific and medical themes. She has been experimenting with the material qualities of ceramics, seeking to find out how unusual additions can alter the end product.

Her works lie somewhere between art and design and are one-offs. They are generally bought as conversation pieces.

 From vanessendesign.com

Vase inspired by physiological defects
vanessendesign.com

Vase inspired by physiological defects
vanessendesign.com

Vase inspired by metamorphosis
vanessendesign.com

Vase inspired by molten candle wax
vanessendesign.com

Vase inspired by biological erosion
vanessendesign.com

Vases inspired by theoretical physics
vanessendesign.com

Fance Franck

Fance Franck

Fance Franck (1931-2008) was born in Montgomery Alabama. She began her studies in literature, philosophy and history of art at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Later she studied at the Sorbonne in Paris before returning to the United States to study contemporary French and English poetry at Harvard. She found these studies unsatisfying, and in 1950, decided to study sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

After three years of study there, she chanced to enter an apprenticeship at the Greenwich House Pottery in New York, where she finally found her creative niche. Still, in 1956, she returned to Paris to continue her studies in French and literature. A few months after she arrived there, she met ceramacist Francine Del Pierre and became her pupil. She decided to stay in Paris, and in 1960, she and Del Pierre founded a studio together.

When Del Pierre died in 1968, Franck took over the studio. That same year, the Musée National de Céramique de Sèvres organized an exhibition honoring Del Pierre and asked Franck to produce a cup in her memory, which created many new opportunities for her work.

She experimented with red copper glazes, which resulted in her reproducing by accident the imperial "fresh red" of the early Ming Dynasty. Many Asian scholars and manufacturers were interested in this discovery, and she began collaborating with the British Museum, the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics and The Japan Foundation. She started working with the Fukagawa Seiji Porcelain Manufacturing Company factory, where she created about a hundred pieces. When Fance Franck came back to France from Japan, she resumed her work with the Manufacture de Sèvres and continued working in her own studio and with the Japanese manufacturing factories.

Franck died in Paris, on August 5, 2008.

From atelierfranckdelpierre.org

Large rectangular vase
artnet.com

Square vase with horse motif
artnet.com

Flat ovoid vase
artbma.org

Red glazed rectangular vases
elichemodplatre.pagesperso.orange.fr

I recently purchased a plain white porcelain chop plate designed by Fance Franck for Dansk.