The Adele and Leonard Leight Lecture Series: Garth Johnson

Name: The Adele and Leonard Leight Lecture Series: Garth Johnson
Start: 2025-10-12T14:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-10-12T15:00:00-04:00
Location: Speed Art Museum

Schedule

Sun Oct 12 2025 at 02:00 pm to 03:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Speed Art Museum | Louisville, KY

The Adele and Leonard Leight Series: Art, Design and Innovation presents Garth Johnson, Paul Phillips and Sharon Sullivan Curator of Ceramics at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York
Sunday, October 12
2 pm, Grand Hall
Free to register
State of Clay: California Ceramics at the Speed
The Adele and Leonard Leight collection of contemporary ceramics has many stories to tell. One of the most interesting is the evolution of ceramics on the West Coast. Gertrud and Otto Natzler fled Austria in 1938 and settled in Los Angeles, where they set up a studio and inspired generations of potters. Another wave of ceramic artists was spearheaded by Peter Voulkos, who moved to Los Angeles in 1954. Garth Johnson, the Paul Phillips and Sharon Sullivan Curator of Ceramics at the Everson Museum of Art will use the Leight collection to tell the story of how California artists helped shape the field of contemporary ceramics.
Garth Johnson is the Paul Phillips and Sharon Sullivan Curator of Ceramics at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York. He is a self-described craft activist who explores craft’s influence and relevance in the 21st century. His recent exhibitions at the Everson include Renegades & Reformers: American Art Pottery, Earth Piece: Conceptual and Performative Works in Clay and Key Figures: Representational Ceramics 1932-1972.