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Next month a venerable Pittsburgh art institution -- The Clay Place -- will join the list of shops with local flavor that have closed in increasingly chichi Shadyside. But hold your tears. This story has a happy ending, with origins in the thrashing the region was given by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Standard Ceramic Supply Company in Carnegie was one of the businesses flooded by Ivan, but within a few weeks it was again operational. Owners of a neighboring property decided not to rebuild, and Standard purchased the land, including three warehouses. One of them was rehabilitated for storage use, and one demolished to make room for delivery trucks. The third is being renovated as a gallery and shop that will become the new home of The Clay Place in April. There will be the same amount of space as in Shadyside, owner Elvira Peake says. "There's a brown cork floor, a much taller ceiling, special lighting and a ramp to the front door," she says. "And there's free parking." Peake and her late husband, Steve, opened The Clay Place in Shadyside in 1973, to exhibit ceramic work and to sell ceramic supplies. The Carnegie site is a good match for Peake, who for 31 years has been the regional distributor for Standard, a ceramic supply manufacturer owned by father and son Jim and Graham Turnbull. Peake also sells potters' wheels, mostly Brent, to buyers as far afield as Florida and California and stocks ceramic work by up to 300 artists at a time from across the country, ranging from functional glazed and wood fired ware to jewelry to sculpture. She's already done a lot of the moving, she says, and is offering 50 percent off the considerable selection of ceramics still in the Shadyside location, which will remain open through the end of March. FIGURINES
UPDATED The 36-year-old Oregonian sculpts vignettes with social and cultural content sweetened by a dash of humor and a pinch of eroticism. European 18th- and 19th-century decorative porcelains and cycles of European and Asian trade in such objects are part of the mix that inspires Antemann's clever sculptures, nine of which are exhibited. Her skills in sculpting, firing and glazing demonstrate a solid grounding in craft tradition, while her subjects are contemporary. "Bloom," a three-dimensional double-entendre, comprises a nude young female sitting perkily on a bed covered with a field of orange and yellow blossoms. In "Steep," the figure -- her body covered with images such as birds, rabbits, oak leaves and acorns -- jauntily soaks in a China-cabinet-worthy teacup. While the figure in "Steep" saucily lounges in the dainty cup, the nude figure of "Bath" is modestly wedged, knees folded, into a sturdy high-sided cup and surrounded by 11 smaller robed Asian figures who look down upon her from the rim. They, and the cup and saucer, are covered in Blue Willow pattern, simulating the collectible cobalt-glazed ware that had historic incarnations in both the East and the West and has been widely copied since. In "Foreigner" a blonde nude whispers from behind into the ears of two demurely and traditionally clad Asian women standing on an arched bridge, perhaps an allegory for Western cultural influence upon the East. Antemann's au natural figures draw attention, but, because they're generally oblivious to their state, they don't sensationalize. Patterning on the bodies, frequently achieved by colorful decals, is used expressionistically to suggest mood or role. It may also, by virtue of its association with historic ceramics, allude to a specific time period or class. Antemann also has an unusual knack for making succinct commentary on social interactions. The postures and expressions are just right, for example, for the three figures of "On the Fence." Two of them, their bodies covered with pink blossoms, face forward and talk confidentially, while the stark white body of the other, at the fence's opposite end, is turned away -- though she looks toward the pair as she determines whether to join/conform. Her eventual decision is hinted at by the spray of pink blossoms that's attached, from the fence below, to her posterior and begun to spread down her leg. In startling and provocative "Southern Hospitality," three white figures are settled comfortably into a formal sofa, each balancing a cup of tea in one hand. Each also aims a knife, held in the other hand, toward the back of a fourth woman, made contrastingly dark by blue glaze and patterning, who's perched on the cushions' edge. Their eyes tell a story that their conversation likely doesn't. Antemann earned a B.F.A. in ceramics and painting at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a ceramics M.F.A. from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. She's held artist residencies at the Jingdezhen Sanbao Ceramic Art Institute, Jingdezhen, China, and at such prestigious American institutions as the John Michael Kohler Factory, Kohler, Wis., and the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, Mont. Since 2003 she's been assistant director of the LH Project, Residency Program for the Ceramic Arts in Joseph, Ore. The exhibition continues through March 31 at 5416 Walnut St. (upstairs). Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and also 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays. For information, call 412-682-3737 or visit www.clayplace.com. (Post-Gazette art critic Mary Thomas can be reached at mthomas@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1925.)
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