I visited the Racine Art Museum on Saturday, October 29, 2011, to see Terra Nova: Polymer Art at the Crossroads. I was there with three members of the Metro Milwaukee Polymer Clay Guild. The exhibit is breathtaking. To see polymer clay art displayed in a formal setting of a museum was amazing.

There are over 200 exhibit pieces in the second-floor gallery. Many of the pieces are a gift to the museum and will go in their permanent archives. Others are on loan from artists, collectors, and galleries. Thirty-four artists were featured, but the spotlight was on eight Boundary Breakers: Bonnie Bishoff and J.M. Syron, Jeffrey Lloyd Dever, Kathleen Dustin, Steven Ford and David Forlano, Tory Hughes, Cynthia Toops, Pier Voulkos, and Elise Winters. Other artists were also featured: Jamey Allen, Kathleen Amt, Rachel Carren, Dan Cormier, Debra DeWolff, Gwen Gibson, Linda Goff, Michael Grove, Ruth Anne Grove, Lindly Haunani, Carl Hornberger, Donna Kato, Ronnie Kirsch, Judy Kuskin, Maggie Maggio, Wendy Wallin Malinow, Sandra McCaw, Linda Pedersen, Nan Roche, Sarah Shriver, Carol Simmons, Barbara Sperling, Melanie West, and Amy Zinman.

We followed a path that first took us to the art of Bonnie Bishoff and J.M. Syron. The wood pieces with inlaid polymer clay were so vibrant; the two media work so well together. Next was Pier Voulkos’s art. The translucency of her pieces was beautiful. Jeffrey Lloyd Dever’s wall display, made specifically for RAM, made a visceral impact on us. I think we stood at Dever’s display the longest just to see each separate piece that comprised the whole composition. The mixed-media impact was beautifully done.

Another wall display had pieces from many of the artists. It was fun to pick out the ones we were familiar with from photographs. Size is so hard to judge in a photograph. To see the pieces in person, some larger, others smaller than I thought, was a good exercise in scale. The pieces were displayed to complement each other but also to work as a group.

Kathleen Dustin’s purses made us “ooh” and “ahh”! Her botanical necklaces were a delight on the eyes. Tory Hughes’s mixed-media pieces each told a story. There was so much to look at in each one. I could go back and spend a whole afternoon exploring them and still not catch all of their nuances.

Cynthia Toops’s micro-mosaic is mind-boggling–I don’t know how else to describe it None of us had ever envisioned the individual mosaics as being that tiny. We spent quite a while marveling over each piece and the placement of the micro-mosaics.

Steven Ford and David Forlano had some of the most sophisticated pieces I have ever seen. Texture, color, light variances, shape, design–just everything about them was gorgeous. I could easily see a university class focusing on their art from the beginning to the present; how it is presented, shaped, and displayed. They are truly masters at what they do.

Besides making absolutely beautiful pieces that have wonderful shapes and colors, Elise Winters was the key behind this whole exhibit. She is to be commended for envisioning what an exhibit like this would look like and then spending the years to make it a reality. I came from viewing the Cleopatra exhibit the previous day to viewing a modern art medium. Would I be amiss to say they were on a par? From the ancient to the modern, great art endures. Polymer clay has definitely arrived.

A book Terra Nova: Polymer Art at the Crossroads is available for purchase. It is also a work of art. Penina Meisels did all the photography of the pieces that were gifted to the museum. There are many other pieces of art loaned to the museum by various artists, private collectors, and museums. These pieces are only available for viewing until February 5, 2012–the end of the exhibit.

Since this was Halloween weekend, RAM also had activities for children. Tables were set out for drawing, coloring, and trick-or-treat. There was also a Polymer Playroom for making art projects, including polymer clay (sponsored by Polyform Products Company). The artwork was turned into a wall exhibit next to the room by hanging the finished pieces on dangling strands. As I looked over the polymer pieces the kids had made, I wondered if the next great polymer clay artist possibly would get his or her start from this first experience with polymer clay. 

Run, don’t walk, to the exhibit! 

http://www.ramart.org/terra-nova