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SFSU College of Creative Arts

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Press Release published by the College of Creative Arts and the Office of Public Affairs

Exhibit includes works by artists Jun Kaneko, Ann Agee, Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, Matts Liederstam, Ron Nagle, Ken Price, Richard Shaw, Martin Wong and Beatrice Wood. Opening lecture and reception features Getty Museum curator Catherine Hess and scholar Paul Mathieu, September 22, 2002.

SAN FRANCISCO, August 30, 2002 - Drawn from works by historical, regional and international artists, the College of Creative Arts' Fine Arts Gallery presents two shows in one: The Erotic Life of Clay featuring "Sexpots" and "Jun Kaneko: On the Edge and In the Round," Sunday, September 22 through Thursday, October 17 on the SFSU campus. Mapping unexplored territory -- the specific relationship between ceramics and sensuality, its language and metaphors -- "SexPots" includes abstract and narrative representations of the erotic by artists Ann Agee, Robert Arneson, Breon Dunigan, John DeFazio, Viola Frey, Matts Liederstam, Anne Davis Mulford, Ron Nagle, Ken Price, J. John Priola, Richard Shaw, Akio Takamori, Martin Wong, Beatrice Wood, and others. "On the Edge and In the Round" highlights the work of internationally renowned artist Jun Kaneko. In both shows, the artists make the case for ceramics as a form of fine art and introduce the idea, or remind us, that clay can be especially well-suited to exploring the erotic in conceptually pointed ways.

"The exhibition is important as a contemporary, conceptual snapshot of some of the most exciting new work in ceramics," says SFSU Fine Arts Gallery Director and Curator Mark Johnson. "Because the contemporary work can be seen within a context of ancient and regional works, the viewer will gain an appreciate of the continuity of concerns in this medium, which dates back to prehistoric times."

Japanese-born artist Jun Kaneko is exhibiting several of his formidable "dangos" (the name means "dumpling" in Japanese) as well as ceramic wall slabs in "Jun Kaneko: On the Edge and In the Round." The dangos are large pillow-like ceramic structures on which he has applied a graphic element. Reaching dimensions of up to four feet high and/or wide, Mr. Kaneko's dangos are technical feats of ceramic skill not often undertaken by modern-day artists. This exhibition is presented in association with the Montalvo Art Center.

Bay Area artists affiliated with the "SexPots" exhibit are Ann Agee, Robert Arneson, Breon Dunigan, John DeFazio, Viola Frey, Anne Davis Mulford, Ron Nagle, Ken Price, J. John Priola, Richard Shaw, Martin Wong, and Beatrice Wood.

Lecture and Reception
A lecture with Catherine Hess, associate curator of sculpture, Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and Paul Mathieu, professor of ceramics, Emily Carr College of Art and Design, Vancouver, B.C., is Sunday, September 22 at 1:00pm in the August Coppola Theatre located in the Fine Arts Building on the SFSU campus. The lecture is followed by a reception from 2:00 to 4:00 pm in the Fine Arts Gallery. Admission is free to both events.

Gallery Information and Parking
Admission to The Erotic Life of Clay featuring "SexPots" and "Jun Kaneko: On the Edge and In the Round" is free. The Fine Arts Gallery is open from noon to 4 pm, Monday-Saturday (closed Sundays), and is located in the Fine Arts Building on the SFSU campus, 19th and Holloway Avenues, San Francisco. The exhibition runs form Sunday, September 22 to Thursday, October 17, 2002. Public parking is available in Lot 20 on the SFSU campus, accessed from Lake Merced Boulevard between Winston Drive and Font Boulevard. Parking is $1 per hour with a $5 maximum. Nearby on-street parking is readily available on weekends. For more information, please visit www.sfsu.edu/~artdept and www.sfsu.edu/~parking.

With nearly 40 faculty members, including internationally celebrated art historian Whitney Chadwick and artists Lewis DeSoto and David Kuraoka, the San Francisco State University Art Department fosters the development of specialized skills, encourages personal creative direction, and promotes understanding of the history and cultural practicies shaping articstic expression. More than 100 courses in traditional art media, innovative and multi-disciplinary techno-media, and art history provide training for a variety of related careers. Three degree programs are offered: the bachelor of arts, the master of arts with an emphasis in art history, and the master of fine arts with an emphasis in studio. Undergraduate students may emphasize art education, art history, ceramics, ceonceptual and information arts (including experimental digital media), painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture or textiles. The department is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.

The College of Creative Arts has the only academic program primarily devoted to the creative arts in northern California. Under the direction of Dean Keith Morrison, an internationally acclaimed faculty directs more than 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students in seven disciplines: art, cinema, broadcast and electronic communication arts, music, dance, theatre, and design and industry. The College of Creative Arts is part of San Francisco State University, one of the 23 member universities comprising the California State University, the largest system of higher education in the nation. SFSU is a highly diverse, comprehensive, public and urban university. For more information about the College of Creative Arts, please visit www.collegeofcreativearts.org. For an application, please call SFSU Admissions at (415) 338-1113.

1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132 415/338-1111
Last modified July 25, 2002, by the Office of Public Affairs