Ceramic city

There comes a time each year when hundreds of professional and budding artists visit downtown Davis to transform retail spaces and offices—even a historic mansion and log cabin—into dozens of pop-up galleries for an entire weekend. All of this hustle and bustle celebrates the boundless possibilities of one medium: clay.

Twenty-nine years ago, gallery owner John Natsoulas founded the California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art. Since then, the annual symposium has grown to host more than 50 colleges and universities from Southern California to Southern Oregon. It’s fitting, as ceramic art went from a primarly crafty medium to a well-respected and sought-after form of expression right in the heart of this active college town.

At the big event April 28-30, participants will showcase work, swap ideas, scout potential degree programs and attend demonstrations and lectures. But really, it’s three days for ceramics devotees to nerd out on new techniques and bond over their affinity for the tactile medium. General passes for the entire weekend, which include access to demonstrations and lectures from award-winning artists inside the John Natsoulas Gallery, are $202, with student passes running $183. Still, there is plenty of free eye candy to explore from Odd Fellows Hall (415 2nd Street) to the Dresbach-Hunt-Boyer House (604 2nd Street). More than 50 exhibitions will be open to the public.

Natsoulas says the annual conference was created to pay homage to a community that’s deeply rooted in Davis. During the 1950s and ’60s, the funk art movement was an outlet for Northern California artists to express their disdain for abstract expressionists. Unlike their counterparts, funk artists did not care for public morality, so works included sexual vulgarity, irony or controversy to make bold statements.

“What’s so wonderful about ceramics is that it’s a very close community because they’re all working with a material that is so complex, and there is this huge history that exists in Northern California—not in Southern California, not in New York [and] not in Chicago,” Natsoulas says.

For artist Ianna Nova Frisby, the funk movement was a period of rebellion, a time when creators like the late Robert Arneson, who started the ceramic-sculpture program at UC Davis in the ’60s, used humor and oftentimes kneaded controversy into his pieces. He made a lot of bawdy toilets.

“Funk art is supposed to be like waving your middle finger at fine art, really,” says Frisby, a Sierra College ceramics professor and longtime CCACA attendee. “I really appreciate the humor that they allowed people to have because Jackson Pollock was not funny,” she says with a laugh.

At a time when clay was not recognized in the world of fine arts, Arneson shattered its “crafty” reputation and showed the world that ceramic sculpture is a medium with a lot to say. For nearly 30 years, working out of a metal, corrugated building called TB-9, Arneson taught UC Davis students how to shape clay. The building still houses the university’s ceramics program.

Arneson’s former pupil Arthur Gonzalez says it’s no mistake that the conference’s initials phonetically read as “caca.” It’s simply his teacher’s influence.

“I remember when I was a student and Arneson said there were two stereotypes [of] why people use clay. One stereotype is because when you were a child your mom never let you play with your feces,” says Gonzalez, who has worked as a ceramics professor at the California College of the Arts for the past 26 years. “The other reason is your mom let you play with your feces. The title itself is almost like an homage to Arneson.”

During CCACA, each pop-up gallery will often house artwork from up to four schools. Students install the displays, plan receptions and staff each exhibition that’s just a short stroll away from the others in the middle of downtown Davis.

What’s more, the John Natsoulas Gallery will host private demonstrations and lectures for ticket holders led by nationally and internationally recognized artists such as Lisa Clague from North Carolina and Kenjiro Kitade from New York, among others. These superstars elevate the reputation of the local artists exhibiting alongside them.

This year, more than 20 students from Sacramento City College will showcase around 30 pieces that range from hand-held skulls, colorful rocket ships and hyperrealistic artichoke hearts. Mark Boguski, Sac City professor of ceramic sculpture, has witnessed many of his students find their voices within the medium during the eight years he’s taught at the school. For Boguski, CCACA is a time to see innovative works that cover everything “from the sublime to the ridiculous.”

A former student of Boguski’s, Lindsey Dillon, says when she first attended CCACA as student three years ago, she felt as though she had finally found her people. This year, Dillon looks forward to unveiling her latest work, titled “Venetian Rumor,” inspired by the epic poem The Aeneid. In it, a tall, bird-like creature has as many eyes, ears and mouths as there are people on the ground—a personification of rumors.

“I like the idea of embodying an experience like that,” Dillon says.

During a weekend at CCACA, those with a love for or passing interest in clay can expect to witness art that is fresh and challenging. More important, it’s three days to find your people, happen upon cutting-edge exhibitions, or simply pay tribute to a late artist who paved the way for ceramic art to thrive in Davis.

“The medium is a social medium; we share experiences,” Natoulas says. “It really reminds me of family.”