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A Reflection on the 2023 Ivan Karp Workshop in Museum Anthropology, organized by the Council for Museum Anthropology
Spot-lit sweeping ceramic vases made by the artist Dame Magdalene Odundo were the centerpieces of the exhibition Magdalene Odundo: A Dialogue with Objects presented at the Gardiner Museum from October 2023 to April 2024. Organized by Sequoia Miller and Dame Odundo, the presentation was a transhistorical and transcultural journey through Odundo’s methodology and approach to making her matchless ceramic vessels. Carbonized and orange-ochre works produced throughout her career highlighted the gallery, while objects from around the world huddled around them, creating a pendulum of inspiration clearly reflected in Odundo’s work. This transcultural encounter formed the basis of the exhibition and of the learnings I received during the second annual Council for Museum Anthropology’s Ivan Karp Workshop in Museum Anthropology during the 2023 American Anthropological Association (AAA) Annual Meeting in Toronto.
Following the inaugural Ivan Karp Worksop in Museum Anthropology in 2022 in Seattle, I had the privilege of participating in the succeeding iteration: Clay, Ceramics, Curation. Magdalene Odundo: A Dialogue with Objects was a nucleus for the workshop, hosted with the Association of Black Anthropologists, to bring scholars and practitioners of varying disciplines to reflect upon collaborative curatorial approaches and storytelling through objects and materiality. The workshop was led by Senior Curator at the museum, Dr. Karine Tsoumis, and brought attendees on a material and visual journey through Odundo’s ceramic practice. Inspired by artistic and cultural outputs by communities in Africa, Europe, East Asia, and North America, Odundo’s cascading and gravity-defying vessels found grounding in multiple art forms—with inspiration from a Ladi Kwali stoneware jar to Greek Attic vases.
As we moved through the gallery, themes drawn from the exhibition were pulled into conversation; transcultural intervention and non-linear presentations of works were key subjects of the workshop, where we learned a deeper understanding of Odundo’s inspirations. It was clear that her vessels had qualities that played with time. Conversations with Dr. Tsoumis and the workshop participants revealed several discussions between Odundo’s vessels and artworks from across time and place. Odundo’s technique employs carbonization or oxidization, a process that restricts the amount of oxygen that the clay is exposed to during firing. The resulting effect is a black surface wherever oxygen could not reach. Odundo’s works have either an entirely black surface or an emulsion of black carbon and orange pigment. The longer the restriction, the more vitrified the vessel becomes, resulting in a silvery surface. This technique is also an ancient technical method common in the Nile Valley dating to 3800 BCE. This firing technique is also commonplace with Gbari potters. Large, globular bodies with long, thin necks are reminiscent of Jomon vessels dating to 300 BCE, also seen in the shapes of Odundo’s works. To the left of the gallery, Denyse Thomasos’ 2012 Untitled, in her signature abstract expressionist style, presents a watercraft motif evoking familiarity with her earlier works where they transform into coffins and reveal the horrifying reality of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This painting faces the vessels which we learned also have anthropomorphic characteristics; as Odundo explains, those who work with ceramics refer to areas of the vessel as parts of the human body. Next to the fully carbonized vessels, perhaps this specific dialogue brings attention to the Black body; the challenging forms of the vessels alludes to the disturbing treatment of the Black body, while also appearing exquisite and resilient. With these seemingly dissimilar objects in dialogue, the conversation sounded like shared histories and collective issues among people, over time, and across space.
Altogether, Odundo’s transcultural practice manifests in her vessels. The workshop led us through the curation of the show that emphasized the timelessness in Odundo’s works. Like the exhibition, the workshop was an impactful dialogue with free-flowing discussion interacting with the objects and the curator. Odundo’s artistic voice, despite being surrounded by varying objects that were so different from her own work, was well-defined. It was interesting to understand how her work is naturally transcultural and inspired by international art practice changing over time. It also embodies specific cultural interpretations of how to use clay, master clay, shape clay, and invest in ceramic materiality in ways that are overarchingly different but nonetheless intersectional.
We put our intellectual encounter with Odundo’s work into practice with a guided session on vessel-building with clay. This portion of the workshop was quite formidable, as participants applied their own notions of transculturalism and understanding of artistic materiality to the manipulation of clay. Hand-building a vessel is no small achievement—hardening clay during the process affects cracking and building an (acceptable) vessel is more difficult that you might think. This education placed Odundo’s practice into perspective. She herself creates all of her thin-walled, finely polished ceramics without the use of a wheel. Usually, it is easier to manipulate the morphology of a vessel, whether thin or thick, with a fast wheel. The cohort’s array of vessels was a symphony of stylistic irregularities, ranging from handled teacups to winding vessels similar to what we had just seen in the gallery. I managed to complete a rather thick-walled, almost symmetrical, small open-mouthed pot that would be fired in the museum’s kiln. It was a stimulating conclusion to a quite deeply intellectual start that began in the exhibition gallery.
Gathered together, the workshop cohort sat around a long table at the museum’s Clay Restaurant where we continued discussions that questioned diverse representation in museums, from communities to material. The workshop emphasized Odundo’s involvement as co-curator, which is consistent with ongoing discussions of diverging from a singular authoritative museum voice by including artists and communities in the curatorial process. Discussions during the workshop bridged themes explored by conference panels and ignited a museological focus that permeated the remainder of the AAAs. The Ivan Karp workshop is a unique feature of the meeting, which often lacks workshops with hands-on components. It was an excellent study in collaborative curation—between curator and artist—and postcolonial approaches to understanding transculturalism through materiality.
The Council for Museum Anthropology Annual Ivan Karp workshop is generously supported by Dr. Corinne Kratz.
Lillia McEnaney is the section contributing editor for the Council for Museum Anthropology.