Blog

If you’ve had the opportunity to experience recent work by Henry James Haver Crissman, chances are you’ve already got his number.

Literally.

That’s by design because Crissman often incorporates his telephone number somewhere into his work. His art is interactive; a social engagement art experience...

Any archivist or museum curator will likely tell you: Making historic artifacts tangible and interactive – particularly inherently fragile ones – can be a challenge. Take it from Kimmie Dobos, curator of the new historic exhibition, Pewabic Through Time & Space, now in the upstairs galleries through October 21.

Dobos had a mission to connect visitors with Pewabic’s rich 115-year history as an operating pottery through to its still-thriving present day...

Normally, stumbling across a pile of brick debris is an unwelcome surprise when you work at a National Historic Landmark. But last Wednesday was anything but normal for Steve McBride, executive director of Pewabic, when he found himself peering through a fresh hole in the wall. Through it, a work crew from Sachse Construction looked back from a freshly painted building, as though they were time travelers sent from Pewabic’s future.

Pewabic Street Team kicks off its summer season of pop-up raku events at the Detroit Riverwalk near Rivard Plaza, the third Wednesday throughout summer. 

At Susanne Stephenson’s retrospective, TRANSFIGUREMENT, a newcomer to her art might be challenged to determine the starting point  — her entire body of work is that good. A closer look reveals Stephenson’s evolution from fine, somewhat delicate porcelain pieces to an ingrained earthiness in more expansive terra cotta forces of nature: A progression from subtle and functional at the start to a crescendo of explosive and sculptural, with colors deeply woven throughout her story.

Spring is in the air and the boys of summer are headed back to the “D” for the 2018 Tigers baseball season. To celebrate America’s favorite pastime and our hometown team, Pewabic releases its new Detroit Tigers “D” tile Saturday, March 24.

No doubt about it: The Detroit Public Library’s Main Library on Woodward opposite the DIA is one of Detroit’s most iconic buildings. A peek inside reveals museum-level artwork, including a Pewabic installation so magical that on a recent evening tour a couple became engaged underneath the sparkle of the iridescent loggia ceiling. It’s no wonder visitor after visitor told Barbara Madgy Cohn that they wanted a book about the historic building.

No one’s crazy about the prospect of standing in line. Outside. In February. But Empty Bowls isn’t just any line. This line helps feed the community.

Saturday marks Pewabic’s 26^th annual fundraiser to benefit Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan, where buying a handcrafted bowl means performing a good deed with the added bonus of top-notch soup. It’s a bowl runneth over kinda thing.

Pete Pinnell knows vessels.

With more than 35 years as a practicing artist and probably close to 100 columns for Clay Times Magazine, Pinnell was a natural choice to jury Pewabic’s On the Rocks: An exhibition of Vessels for & Related to Drinking. 

With Ben Teague’s artwork, both nothing and everything is what it seems. Teague himself playfully suggests that the prefix PARA- may be the best way to describe his work.

It’s a natural fit for the Cranbrook Academy of Art alumnus who wears a multitude of hats himself: sculptor and ceramicist; University of Michigan arts lecturer; associate curator at the Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation for Art; and mandolinist and vocalist with the acoustic trio Behind the Times.