DIRT ON DELIGHT: IMPULSES THAT FORM CLAY
Opening Saturday: Arriving a little late to the party, Walker Art Center is opening this weekend what appears to be its first-ever survey of ceramic art. And about time, too. The new show features ceramic sculptures and utilitarian objects (cups, vases) by 22 artists whose work offers an eccentric and highly idiosyncratic sample of the field. Their careers span the past century, from the Mississippi outsider George Ohr (1857-1918) and California modernist Beatrice Wood (1893-1998) to younger talents such as Jessica Jackson Hutchins of Portland, Ore. (born 1971), whose installations combine furniture with papier-mâché and ceramics. Los Angeles artist Adrian Saxe (born 1943) produced "Sweet Dreams," the oddball combination of sleek porcelain and rough stoneware shown here. (Opens Saturday, $10 adults. Gallery talk, 2 p.m., free. Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls. Ends. Nov. 29. 612-375-7600 or www.walkerart.org)
MARY ABBE
