REVIEW
Left:
Covered Jar,
ca. 1979
salt-glazed stoneware
6 x 5.5 x 5.5 in.
Right:
Vase,
1950
glazed earthenware
13 in. high
miniature landscapes on the
cut lids, the openings on her
boulder forms, the lines that
move across the winged vessels
- so does the character of the
maker in all its force and subtle-
ty. There can be mystery, as in
surface slits that suggest hidden
secrets. And there can be
humor, too, as in one outra-
geous work playing off male
genitalia. More striking than
such playfulness, however, is
the overall sensuality of her
work, animated as it is by
echoes of natural forms and
the human body.
It was entirely appropriate
that from the many impressive
works in the retrospective, a
small
Covered J a r
(ca. 1979)
was selected for the catalog title
page. The pot has a circular sec-
tion punched out of its side and
reattached, so that a horizontal
band is turned into a vertical
stripe and the surface gains
sculptural depth in a way that
is at once odd, ingenious,
and unforgettable.
In the gallery, the jar was
set not on a grand pedestal,
in show-offy isolation, but
among a group of pots,
suggesting a kind of aesthetic
democracy rather than ceramic
diva-hood. I would be happy to
see one of Karnes’ great winged
vessels at the top of the grand
staircase in the Louvre replacing
W inged V ictory-
with Audrey
Hepburn gliding around it in her
red gown from
Funny Face.
Maybe that is going too far.
But the winged vessels, like the
small jar, and like the exhibition
as a whole, beautifully demon-
strate Karnes’ gift for combining
the functional and the sculptural
in a completely personal, com-
pletely satisfying fashion. +
“A Chosen Path ” is at North
Carolina’s Asheville A r t M useum
through Ju n e 26, then travels to
N ew Hampshire’s Currier
Museum o f A r t (Aug. 2 7
-
Dec. 3),
W isconsin’s Racine A rt Museum
(Ja n . 3 1
-
M ay 27,2 0 12 ), and
California’s Crocker A r t Museum
(Ju n . 23
-
Sep. 30,2012).
Robert Silberman is a member o f
the department o f art history at the
University o f Minnesota.
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