Printmaking and ceramics share a long history, from sponge-printed ancient vessels to woodblock-printed 16th-century tiles and 19th-century engravings transfer-printed on earthenware. These two mediums continue to embrace one another in contemporary ceramics. Today, decals are a relatively simple way to transfer images onto ceramics. They can be designed and printed onto special decal paper or purchased already made, then fired to adhere the ink to the surface.

Howard Kottler used premade decals on factory-produced blank ceramics, often cutting up and distorting the images to satirize American popular culture. Kottler, who identified as gay, simultaneously addressed and dodged his sexuality in his work, using coded references to queer culture. He made several design variations in a series based on Sir Thomas Gainsborough’s painting The Blue Boy (1770) and Thomas Lawrence’s Pinkie (1794), two figures who were often paired together in historical reproductions as a couple. In Twins (2020.56.2), Kottler replaces Blue Boy’s head with Pinkie’s, playing on the performativity of gender and turning the heterosexual couple into a queer couple. In Incognito (2020.56.1), Blue Boy’s and Pinkie’s eyes are covered by black bars, a basic form of text, photography, and video censorship intended to make identity harder to recognize. The title, Incognito, refers to concealing one’s true identity, historically an all too common theme in the queer community.

Léopold L. Foulem similarly uses cast ceramic forms as a canvas for imagery associated with camp and queerness. For God Save the Queens (2020.55), Foulem pairs a factory-made decal of Jesus with a phrase that nods to the national anthem of the United Kingdom. Here, however, Foulem deliberately uses the plural queens, a term used to describe flamboyant or effeminate gay men as well as drag queens, juxtaposing Jesus with a textual reference to homosexuality. In this departure from traditional Christian iconography a queer Jesus emerges, creating new queer spaces and narratives about salvation.

Textured ceramic surfaces invite tactile and visual exploration. One can detect subtle nuances as the glaze or slip interacts with the clay form, note the spontaneous effects of the kiln, and appreciate the presence of the artist’s hand.

Makoto Yabe’s Vase (2004.17.2) and Tea Bowl (2004.17.1) were made using a Japanese technique called mentori, a process of faceting by cutting or carving and paddling the clay. The surface is enhanced by Yabe’s signature wood-ash glaze and white slip, which highlight the peaks and valleys of the form. Both works reflect the Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetic, which celebrates imperfection.

Another Japanese process that wholly embraces the wabi-sabi mentality and the spontaneity of firing is raku. In this method the hot clay is transferred, mid-firing, to a bin with combustible materials that can darken, crack, and transform the surface in unexpected ways. In keeping with raku traditions, Diane Mayo hand-builds her vessels (1991.172), while her use of bright glazes brings this process into a new era. Texture is a central component of Steven Branfman’s raku-fired Vessel (2000.69), onto which he poured several different glazes before firing.

Within the Natzler’s design partnership, Gertrud threw the clay forms, some of which have a subtle textured surface like their Bottle (1999.71.3). Otto Natzler was in charge of glazes and kept meticulous records of his experiments. Fascinated by crater-like textures, he actively developed glazes that took on pitted surfaces during firing, as in this Vase (1999.71.1). Alternatively, other materials can interact with a glaze during firing to produce surprising effects, like in Randy Johnson’s Plate (2015.47.4). Three shells were placed on the surface to separate the plate from other works stacked on it in the kiln. During firing, the calcium shells burned into the glaze, leaving their impression.

Whether flat or 3-dimensional, ceramic works have long been embellished with painting. Effects vary widely depending on the materials and techniques used, creating either soft or defined imagery that can honor historical precedents or presents new ways of seeing.

The naturalistic design of Eunjung Park’s Flower Teapot (2000.45) suggests European illusionistic tableware from the 1700s made in the forms of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Each component, from the melon body to the asparagus handle and spout, is painted with subdued colored glazes. A feast for the eyes, Farraday Newsome’s Teapot with Oranges (1997.63) is a contemporary take on 19th-century majolica, tin-glazed earthenware characterized by realistic depictions of fruit and other natural subjects. To enhance the brilliance of her colors, Newsome first covered the brown terra-cotta body with a white glaze and fired the work before painting on the colored glazes.

Tin-glazed earthenware produced in England and the Netherlands, known as delftware, drew inspiration from the blue and white porcelain produced in China and across the Persian Empire (present-day Western Asia). Hylton Nel’s Dish (1999.41.1) alludes to delftware with its blue and white border, but it also features a realistically painted polychrome figure.

Anne Kraus’s Distant Echo Coffee Pot (1989.015) references the high style of Baroque French and German porcelain with its curving shapes and decoration in gold. Similar to other scenes of faraway places painted on porcelain, Kraus’s rendering conjures an image from one of her dreams. The lush landscape on Kurt Weiser’s Untitled Teapot (1992.046) was inspired by the artist’s trips to Thailand.