Tony Marsh (artist)
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Tony Marsh (born in 1954 in New York City, New York) is a contemporary American ceramic artist. He lives and works in Long Beach, California. Marsh received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1978 from California State University, Long Beach. From 1978 to 1981, Marsh studied as an apprentice under Japanese potter Shimaoka, in Mishiko, Japan. After receiving a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1989 from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Marsh returned to CSU Long Beach to teach in the art department's ceramics program. He has been on the faculty there ever since, serving as program head during much of his tenure.
Marsh credits his experience in Japan with much of his personal and artistic development: "Working every day at the pottery seems now to have served as a vehicle for great lessons that have stayed with me. I painfully taught myself to speak another language, which in turn allowed me to begin to see the world through the lens of another culture. I was introduced daily to the power, beauty, and confines of history."
Shimaoka's method provided an example for Marsh that contrasted with his experience of art-making in context at home. Marsh says of his time spent at Shimaoka's pottery:
His art was not the art school stuff (my frame of reference) of taking aim at the fringe in order to explore the new. Nor was it an overly self-conscious attempt at radical expression. His art was homage and a walk through the heart of an enormous and rich pan-Asian ceramic tradition. I have always thought that it seemed more difficult to add to a rich history in a meaningful way when the measuring-stick, by which the contribution will ultimately be understood, is long."
Of his own art, Marsh has said:
I am fascinated by [the ceramic vessel's] deep and unparalleled history and position between nature and culture. While the vessels that I make are not utilitarian nor do they specifically refer to an historical pottery type or style, I believe that I use them as a device to address the essential. On a simple level they do attempt to pay homage to what pottery from around the world has always been required to do: hold, store, preserve, offer, commemorate, and beautify. In the end, whether it might be a vase on a table, an empty coin bank, the bowl on the night stand, a burial urn or a ballot box, what could be more natural than to put something in a vessel?
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[edit] Public Collections
- Alfred University
- Arizona State University, Tempe
- The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii
- Cranbrook Museum of Art
- Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Missouri
- Downey Museum of Art
- Foothills Art Center, Golden, Colorado
- Foshan Museum of Contemporary Art, China
- Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto
- Hong-Ik University, Seoul, Korea
- JINRO Cultural Foundation, Seoul, Korea
- Long Beach Museum of Art
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art
- Mendocino Art Center
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Minneapolis Institute for the Arts
- Monterey Museum of Art
- Museum of Contemporary International Ceramic Art, Inchon, S. Korea
- Napa College
- Newark Museum of Art, New Jersey
- Oakland Museum of California
- Palo Alto Cultural Center
- Rancine Art Museum, Wisconsin
- San Jose Museum of Art
- Taipei Ceramics Museum, Taiwan
- Takumi Folk Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- Walnut Creek Art Center
[edit] Awards
- 2005
- Curator: Scripps 61st National Ceramics Exhibition
- 1998
- Individual Artist Fellowship, Public Corporation for the Arts, Long Beach
- Distinguished Faculty Scholarly and Creative Achievement Award, California State University, Long Beach
- 1996
- Drockman Distinguished Alumni Award, Alfred University, New York, NY
[edit] Sources
- Marsh, Tony. "Art as Homage", Studio Potter 29, number 2.
- Marsh, Tony. General Artist's Statement, December 2001.
- Lauria, Jo. "Dialogues in Clay: A Conversation Between Tony Marsh and Kurt Weiser", Ceramics: Art and Perception no. 50, 2002. pp. 8-13.
[edit] Further Reading
[edit] Books and Catalogues
- Clark, Garth. The Artful Teapot. London: Thames & Hudson, 2001.
- Del Vecchio, Mark. Postmodern Ceramics. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2001.
- Lauria, Jo. Color and Fire – Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics, 1950 – 2000 Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000.
- Lynn, Martha Drexler. Clay Today: Contemporary Ceramists and Their Work, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Chronicle Books, San Francisco
- Peterson, Susan. Contemporary Ceramics. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2000.
[edit] Periodicals
- ____. “Bay Area Potters”, Studio Potter, Winter/1985.
- ____. “West Coast Clay”, Artweek, May 1995, Vol. 26, No. 5.
- ____. “Acquisitions”, American Craft, April/May 1997, p. 31.
- ____. “Interview with American Artist Tony Marsh”, Korean Monthly Art Magazine, August 1994, p. 142.
- ____. Kerameiki Techni, Panorama, Exhibition Notice, Summer 1996.
- ____. “Exhibition Review”, Artweek, October 17, 1993, Vol. 24, No. 19.
- ____. Photo, American Craft, August/September 1983, Vol. 43, No. 4, p. 62.
- ____. “Building a Ceramics Program at the Mendocino Art Center”, Mendocino Beacon, February 6, 1984, p. 4.
- Cavener, Jim. “Exhibition Review”, San Gabriel Valley Weekly, January 26, 1996, p. 10.
- Colby, Joy Hakanson. “Exhibition Review”, The Detroit News, March 8, 1991.
- Deragon, Rick. “Tony Marsh”, American Ceramics, 1995 Vol. 11, Issue 4, p. 56.
- Hohenboken, Steve. “Tony Marsh”, The New Art Examiner, Summer, 1996.
- Lagorio, Irene. “Review”, Monterey Peninsula Herald, August 14, 1983.
- Lauria, Jo. “Dialogues in Clay: A Conversation between Tony Marsh & Kurt Weiser”, Ceramics Art and Perception, December 2002, Issue 50, pp.8- 13.
- Mansfield, Janet. “Exhibition Review”, Ceramics: Art and Perception, 1998, Issue 31, p. 33.
- Marsh, Tony. “Juror’s Statement”, Ceramics Monthly, November, 1991.
- Melrod, George. "Tony Marsh Profile", Art Ltd.: West Coast Art + Design, March 2007, p.73.
- Merino, Tony Dubis. “Tony Marsh’s Puzzling Narratives”, Contact, (Spring 1998), pp. 21-23.
- Ollman, Leah. "Exhibition Review", Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2007.
- Pincus, Robert L. “Exhibition Review”, Los Angeles Times, February 3, 1984.
[edit] External Links
- Tony Marsh CV at CSU Long Beach Art Faculty website
- Frank Lloyd Gallery official gallery web site with images of Marsh artworks, resumé, etc.
