"In This Sign" — A New Pottery Show
12 September 2021
An expansive and sometimes whimsical celebration of hospitality, In This Sign displayed at the Harrison Gallery in Indianapolis all of August.
A evening event in the gallery, benefiting Integrated Ministries for Ethnic Minorities, an organization in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which does good work with youth affected by familial and societal consequences of HIV/AIDs.
Twice I was able to welcome folks in to peruse storied fermentation crocks and espresso cups. Heraldically-emblazoned serving bowls lined one wall like medieval shields, reaching for a visual vocabulary of peace.
"Gentler All Around" Fermentation Crock (Left)
Becca Ito, with Deirdre Kelley
Stoneware, Flashing Slip, Wood Ash
7.5” x 9.5” (w/o lid), 12” (w/ lid)
"Crossing Cultures" Fermentation Crock (Right)
Becca Ito
Stoneware, Flashing Slip, Wood Ash
6.5” x 9.75” (w/o lid), 12” (w/ lid)
“Talitha Cumi” Heraldic Bowl
Becca Ito, with Deirdre Kelley
Porcelain, Underglaze
11.25” x 3.25”
Midwest-inspired plates and Thai-styled bowls sprang from a center mirror, expressing the joy I experience being invited to tables and learning languages of welcome from various food cultures I call my own.
Midwest Plate Set (6 Sets of 4 Plates)
Plate Names: Oak Park || Nora || Wheaton || Kennedy-King
Plate Diameter: 4.75” || 6.5” || 8.5” || 10.25”
Becca Ito, with Katie Ito and Deirdre Kelley
Speckled Stoneware, Underglaze
"We Are So I Am" Mirror
Becca Ito, with Katie Ito
Speckled Stoneware, Underglaze, Gold Lustre
14” x 1”
"If It's Not Spicy, It's Not Tasty” Condiments Service Tray
Becca Ito, with Katie Ito
Porcelain, Underglaze
Plate: 10.4” x 1 “ || Lidded Bowls (4): 3.75” x 1.5” (base), 3.25” (w/ lid)
A mobile balanced mugs against a net of broken pieces (video to come, I promise!). By far the most terrifying element to install, it repaid my efforts with playful motion generally foreign to ceramics displays.
“Every Day Do Something That Won’t Compute” Mug Mobile
Becca Ito
Iron-Rich Stoneware, Wood, Steel, Nylon, Twine
As that magical month came to a close, it’s hard to say what memory remains most vivid. The nights when the gallery hummed with conversation? The exhausted aftermath? Or the weeks of work leading up to that: all hands on deck, my household of friends doing macrame and cooking meals and cutting flowers and writing and editing to make sure everything came together in time? (We ate supper at ten pm the night before opening, Leah and my sister Katie laughing themselves silly over a trailer in which dinosaur roars were overlaid with Gordon Ramsey’s indignant “Raw!”)
Mulled Cider Hanging Bowl
Katie Ito
Stoneware, Twine
4.25” x 2”
"I Am So We Are" Eucharist Set
Becca Ito
Iron-Rich Stoneware, Gold Lustre
Paten: 9” x 2” || Pitcher: 4” x 4.75” || Chalice: 3.5” x 4.75”
Tangiers Luminary
Becca Ito
Woodfire Stoneware, Flashing Slip
4.5” x 8.5”
