Shape-shifting

Art circles throughout the nation and as far as Canada and Mexico recognize the remote, desert city of San Angelo as the host of the mecca of ceramic competitions.San Angelo's Ceramic Weekend of activities — a cooperative venture between the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, Angelo State University and the Old Chicken Farm Art Center that centers on the biennial San Angelo National Ceramic Competition and annual Ceramic Symposium — is April 19-23.

"It's highly regarded, not just in Texas, but throughout the nation," said Rick Hernandez, an Austin ceramist and retired director of the Texas Arts Commission. "When Howard (Taylor, SAMFA director) came to San Angelo and they chose to dedicate the museum to ceramics, that in itself was really unique and interesting.

"Before he started the Monarch Tile National Ceramic Competition (in 1986) when the company was still in San Angelo, the big festival everybody talked about was in Syracuse, and San Angelo kind of took that away from them and became this stellar competition because of the support they had from Monarch. Even after Monarch left (and the competition was renamed), it maintained its status."

Taylor said the ceramic contest this year drew about 1,400 pieces submitted by 515 artists from throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Of those entries, 106 works by 87 artists were selected to be exhibited, and the winners among those will be announced during the Nineteenth San Angelo National Ceramic Competition opening April 20.

Taylor estimated 2,000 people will attend the opening, and about 10,000 will view the exhibit during its two months at the museum.

"I think the first year, years ago, we had 200 people, then 300" at the opening, Taylor said. "We had 2,000 (attend) the last time, so that's incredible. It really has grown."

Hernandez credited the event's renown to Taylor's reputation in the art world.

"When he opened that museum, it was the biggest feature in The New York Times the day it opened," he said. "It has continued to have a reputation, and the extent is far beyond Angelo and Texas."

David Freeman, who teaches digital photography at South Texas College and publishes the magazine Voices of Art — distributed primarily in San Antonio and Austin — also praised Taylor for the event's success.

"Howard Taylor is just brilliant at what he does," Freeman said. "I think he's bringing a lot of new and genuine art that's fresh and conceptual and experimental — especially with the ceramics — to your region of Texas."

For artists, the competition "is just another arrow in your quill, and it just helps you advance because you've been recognized in a well-respected competition," Hernandez said.

The show is the biggest of its kind in America, Taylor said, and is unique because it draws both new and established artists to compete.

"The show has such a reputation and the jurors are always (such) leading people in the art world that even established artists like to get their name in front of them," Taylor said. Serious artists also strive to have their work shown at a museum, so appearing in the largest show of its kind in America is "the big-time," he said.

The museum prints a call for entries for the competition in national art magazines, including Ceramics Monthly, American Crafts and Clay Times. Those publications and others also feature write-ups about the competition.