BY PETER MELOY
Sponsored by Holter Museum of Art
- 15 hand-painted ceramic platters
- Size: thirteen are 13 – 14″ in diameter, one is 10″, one is 17.25″
- Crates: 2, 35 ” x 35″ x 27″
- Available: January, 2027 – June 2028
- Booking Fee: 4 – 6 weeks $500/ 7 – 12 weeks $700
- Integrative Resources: two lesson plans, one built for kids one for adults
EXHIBITION DESCRIPTION
Peter Meloy (1908-1998) was an artist in every sense of the word: not only did he create a multitude of masterfully crafted functional ceramic pieces, but he also dug up his own clay, experimented with firing methods, and established a do-it-yourself mentality in Montana arts culture. As one of the founders of the Archie Bray Foundation, Meloy was a crucial part of the ceramics ecosystem, and the evidence of artistic cross-pollination can be seen throughout all of his work – Henry and Rudy’s horses and Frances Senska’s partridges leap across his plates. He shared glaze buckets with Voulkos and invented new glazes for The Bray. They shoveled, refined, threw, and molded clay together.
This selection of 15 animal-themed platters from the Holter’s permanent collection celebrates Meloy’s dedication to the natural world. He drew inspiration not only from nature’s imagery but also from the materials and communal ecosystems that made his artistic practice possible. Ground-dwellers and airborne denizens alike are celebrated through Meloy’s simplicity of form and his emphasis on the unapologetic beauty of natural clays and glazes. The relationships between these creatures – all residing in the same world, sharing unspoken bonds – are not unlike the connections between Montana’s ceramic artists – a network of unique individuals sharing the resources of a bountiful environment.
MAGDA 