Sex pots

Erotic pottery at the Ferrin Gallery

by Leon Nigrosh

EROTICA IN CERAMIC ART: SEXUAL, SENSUAL AND SUGGESTIVE At the Ferrin Gallery, 179 Main Street, Northampton, through June 27.

The current exhibit of ceramic works by nearly 40 contemporary US artists, on display at the Ferrin Gallery, in Northampton, continues a centuries-long tradition of creating erotica in clay. Some of the most provocative clay objects still in existence were made by the Mochica artisans of Peru and date back nearly two thousand years before Columbus's arrival in the New World. Explicit images of sexual positions and carnal acts in the shapes of their cups, water jars, and whistles were sculpted in an unimpassioned manner. Whether they were designed for the sake of novelty, as medical studies, or as teaching aids is still in debate

"Erotica in Ceramic Art" easily stirs debate, too. The works are expertly crafted and magnificently finished. The only pieces not included in the exhibition by curators Leslie Ferrin and Donald Clark were those that "had no socially redeeming value." We are left, however, with a range of divergent objects that cover almost every aspect of erotic art.

Humor plays a role in potter Michael Cohen's boxed sets of "penises." Each is shaped much like an elongated swizzle stick with appropriate shapes and colorful markings that relate directly to its title. Consider Golden Shaft, Long Rifle, and All Day Sucker. Also simple in construction, but considerably more elegant, are Angela Fina's unmistakable portrayals of male organs. She has fashioned delicate celedon-glazed porcelain into a large, upright candlestick holder and a set of wheel-thrown mugs with handles that are quite unique.

Paul DiPasqua's entry will certainly make you smile. This four-foot-tall sculpture is made completely of objects purchased from yard sales and second-hand stores. Bottles, vases, bronzed baby shoes, and a bright yellow quarter-moon piggy bank, all artfully assembled and glued together, become a jolly character bedecked with silk flowers. The upwardly aimed ewer spout provides the impetus for the humorous title "No, I'm Just Happy."

Several artists depict various coital positions, but none so sensuously as Lee Stoliar's One of the Ways XIV, a terra cotta sculpture of a nude male and female so intertwined that their extremities are nearly indistinguishable from one another. Deborah Kate Groover camouflages her representation of a couple in flagrante delicto by covering them with a forest of china-painted leaves in Kudzu Lovers.

Sex objects themselves appear in several different guises. Geo Lastomirsky presents us with a group of small rock-like objects that look vaguely familiar. Carefully chiseled from unglazed porcelain, these pleasurably tactile shapes look much like the male organ in various states of repose or arousal. Ron Kovatch glorifies the mundane condom by sculpting it in clay, glazing it blue, mounting it on a large, yellow glazed-ceramic cross, and titling the piece, Hero. His assortment of oddly shaped dildos are glazed in wild, exotic colors and textures. Yet his works are more than just sexual novelties, because through them, the artist poses questions about the direction our society is headed.

Russell Biles pointedly asks questions about this country's moral compass with his three charming Kewpie-like ceramic dolls -- each detailed and gaily colored. Dollbaby is presented in a dainty pink frock; Daddy's Pistil is a cute, gun-totin' cowgirl; and Golden Blond Hair flashes a bright smile. The images are portrayals of an innocent, little, role-playing child -- who happens to be JonBenet Ramsey.

Rather than intimating something of a moral or a lascivious quality, Chris Gustin's large hand-built Vessel is a curvilinear mix of hard- and soft-edged forms combined to create a container that implies the elements of birth and growth. Michael Sherrill also works in the abstract, producing Love is a Fiery Dance, an energetic, red-tinged, multi-pointed yellow form delicately playing with the surrounding space. He too, like Gustin, suggests the simple, sensual nature of his material -- and our own being.

The overflow of original objects might cause you to chuckle, flinch, or just scratch your head. But whatever your reaction, they are sure to arouse your interest -- if nothing else.

The gallery is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Call (800) 732-7091.