‘History in the Making’ at the Renwick Gallery

Four contemporary American craft artists showcase their work, along with varying ties to tradition, in the 2011 Renwick Craft Invitational.

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Ceramicist Cliff Lee's "Prickly Melons (short and tall)" are, technically speaking, vases. You can see tiny openings at the top of their sinuous porcelain "stems." But they work just as well as sculptural objects. The stunning mustard-colored glaze, called imperial yellow, dates to the Ming dynasty. It took the artist 17 years of trial and error to discover the formula, which had been lost for centuries.

Collection of the artist, Cliff Lee /

The delicate rendering on the lid of ceramicist Cliff Lee's "Lychee Nut Urn" contrasts with the two-foot-tall vessel's rock-like surface texture, the result of something called, appropriately enough, lava glaze.

Collection of the artist, Cliff Lee

Form is just as important as the play of light and reflection on form in silversmith Ubaldo Vitali's "Triple Wave Pitcher." The organic shape of the silver is echoed in the gentle curve of the work's ebony handle.

Collection of the artist, Ubaldo Vitali

Decorated with realistically modeled seaforms, this 2001 tureen by silversmith Ubaldo Vitali utilizes abstract geometry in the silhouette of its lid, which was created by the intersection of two overlapping hexagons.

Collection of the artist, Ubaldo Vitali

A sleeping, swooning or dead female figure takes center stage in this 2006 image by glass artist Judith Schaechter, but it's hard to take your eyes off the floor in the aptly named "The Floor."

Photo by Dominic Episcopo/Collection of Claire Oliver and Ian Rubinstein

Fantasy, horror and dreams inform the art of Judith Schaechter. "My One Desire" is typical of the glass artist's idiosyncratic work, mounted on lightboxes. Although they resemble stained glass windows (and sometimes paintings), Schaechter's images are created mainly by removing color from glass by sandblasting, engraving and filing.

Photo by Dominic Episcopo/Collection of Todd Alios VonBastiaans

The contemporary bentwood chairs of Matthias Pliessnig (whose "Waive" is seen here) require speed and precision. After softening strips of white oak in a steam pipe, the artist has a mere 30 seconds to place the limp, noodle-like wood where he wants it, glue it and clamp it in place before it begins to lose its elasticity.

Collection of Lorraine W. Hilleman

Made from eight-foot-long strips of white oak and birch, Matthias Pliessnig's sensuous, organic "Amada" bench belies its design using computer software. As with all of Pliessnig's work, the piece boasts thousands and thousands of points where the crisscrossing wooden strips were glued to one another.

Courtesy of the artist, Matthias Pliessnig

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‘History in the Making’ at the Renwick Gallery

Four contemporary American craft artists showcase their work, along with varying ties to tradition, in the 2011 Renwick Craft Invitational.

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES