In Miami, you hear a lot about art, but not so much about craft. James Herring's work in ceramics fuses the two. Herring eschews the title of "artist" and sees the resurgence of crafts and craftsmanship as a necessity for human growth in modern times. An outspoken supporter and practitioner of the maker movement, Herring has maintained a presence locally by doing demonstrations and leading classes and workshops on the ancient craft.Abel Folgar for '100 Creatives Miami New Times' | December 27, 2016
Members of the Board of Directors of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas visited the Museu Nacional do Azulejo (National Tile Museum) in Lisbon, Portugal, aiming to foster relationships with like-minded institutions such as the Fine Arts Ceramic Center. During their visit, they engaged with executive staff and exchanged information about the mission and work of both organizations. Representing MoCAA were Leonardo Rodríguez, María Baños, Ariel Pedrosa, and Milena Martínez, who contributed several books and catalogs showcasing parts of the FACC's ceramic collection that has been displayed in museums and galleries across various American cities.
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In June 2023, the Fine Arts Ceramic Center had the privilege of hosting the renowned Ukrainian artist and ceramist Boris Danilov as part of its newly inaugurated Artist-in-Residence Program. Boris Danilov, who temporarily resides in Fort Lauderdale, was the first artist to be selected for the residency program initiated by the FACC in the summer of 2023. The program is thoughtfully crafted to provide artists with an ideal environment for artistic creation, offering access to the essential tools and materials required to complete a creative cycle from the ground up.
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On the morning of Sunday, February 19th, the exhibition "Artist Set the Table" was inaugurated, curated by the hARTvest project in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas of Kendall. This exhibition makes available to the public over one hundred plates made by important Cuban artists. A good number of families visiting Pinecrest Gardens this Sunday stopped to enjoy the exhibition throughout the day. The park serves as a perfect stage for community artists to reach a diverse audience.
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The Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas and the Fine Arts Ceramic Center presented their exhibition "Unlikely Assemblages" as part of the 57th Annual National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Conference, which took place from March 15th to 18th, 2023 in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. The Annex Gallery, located next to the Pendelton Art Center and directed by photographer and cultural promoter Jens G. Rosenkrantz, hosted the exhibition, which will run until April 29th, 2023. "Unlikely Assemblages" showcases the works of three prominent Cuban creators who are based in South Florida.
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On the morning of Sunday, February 19th, the exhibition "Artist Set the Table" was inaugurated, curated by the hARTvest project in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas of Kendall. This exhibition makes available to the public over one hundred plates made by important Cuban artists. A good number of families visiting Pinecrest Gardens this Sunday stopped to enjoy the exhibition throughout the day. The park serves as a perfect stage for community artists to reach a diverse audience that might not visit galleries, thereby promoting not only entertainment but also artistic education and fostering art among new generations.
READ MOREConceived by art collector Leonardo Rodríguez, owner and founder of the former Kendall Art Cultural Center —now the Kendall Museum of Contemporary Arts of the Americas—the Fine Arts Ceramic Center emerged in 2020 with the purpose of creating an artistic project based entirely on the art of ceramics. A workshop equipped with all the necessary resources and tools to produce high-quality artwork on-site was set up in a space adjacent to the Kendall Art Center. Fifty artists were invited to create works on ceramic plates. The result could be seen in the first ceramic plate art exhibition titled "Fine Arts of the Plate," inaugurated on November 27th of the same year.
Since then, the workshop has continued to add new pieces to the collection and has started the production of murals, sculptures, and installations. It has organized workshops, inviting renowned artists, and works to bring ceramics education and practice to the community. The Fine Arts Ceramic Center participated as a guest in the recently concluded NCECA's 57th Annual Conference, Current, in Cincinnati, Ohio from March 15-18, 2023.
Currently, the center is working on the simultaneous creation of nearly 200 pieces of art by a similar number of artists from both Cuba and the rest of the Americas. With the same spirit as the first day, the FACC strives every day to disseminate and promote within its community the history, beauty, and above all, the immense possibilities of ceramics as a support for the most surprising and groundbreaking works of art.
The Rodríguez Ceramics Collection is composed of ceramic works from over 70 artists, beginning with the initial 450 ceramic plates which inaugurated the collection back in 2020, the RCC has expanded to include ceramic murals, sculptures and innovative installations. All designed, developed and fired at the Fine Arts Ceramic Center.
The RCC is mostly composed of over 500 hand painted ceramic plates, each created with by individual artists in Leonardo Rodríguez's permanent collection; invited to translate their signature style from canvas to ceramics. The RCC has expanded to include up to 70 artists to date, with more being invited to produce and contribute to the collection every year.
The integration of ceramic murals into the collection was based on the desire to meld the tradition of a wall-hung work of art, with the innovation and beauty of the ceramic medium. The utilization of hand painted ceramic tiles gave the invited artists the chance to produce and design on a larger scale. The murals constituted the second phase of ceramic production in the FACC.
Sculptures and installations make up a growing part of the ceramics collection. Made entirely of ceramic the FACC's development of large-scale sculptures and installations demonstrates how ceramics is able to be taken to new and daring heights. The sculptures in the collection are the result of the creativity and ingenuity of their artists.
