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Ann Agee

Biography to Display: 

1959Born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

EDUCATION

1977-1981BFA, Cooper Union, New York, New York

1984-1986MFA, School of Art, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

APPRENTICESHIPS AND RESIDENCIES

1991, 1992Resident Artist, Arts/Industry Residency Program, Kohler Company, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

2006Artists Invite Artists, Residency, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Newcastle, Maine

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

2005Faculty, Hunter College, New York, New York

2006-2010Faculty, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey

BIOGRAPHY

Ann Agee’s work is a narrative exploration of scenes from everyday life, both the glamorous and gritty.  Her extensive body of work using blue glaze, or cobalt-blue stain on either a porcelain or vitreous china ground, is influenced by Delftware and Staffordshire transferware pottery.

Agee retains the all over decorative influences of these wares but replaces the bucolic country and genre scenes with images of gas stations, civic buildings and public works. Agee’s work challenges the traditional notion that decorative or applied arts are inferior to fine arts. 

A major influence on her work was the Arts/Industry Residency Program at Kohler Co. in Sheboygan (1991 and 1992). While there she studied the people and scenery of Sheboygan County filling her sketchbook with images of daily life. In 1998, Agee was commissioned by the Kohler Arts center to create her first major installation, a blue and white men’s washroom. The images represent actual places in Sheboygan County ranging from views of Lake Michigan to a water treatment plant.

Although first appearing to be transferware, Agee reports that at Kohler she worked on greenware (unfired clay) tiles that had been prepared by painting white slip onto the clay. The motifs were then painted with a cobalt-like stain fired at a high temperature, glazed and fired once more at a lower temperature. (Correspondence with the artist December, 2014)

Agee completed several other large blue and white installations. Lake Michigan Bathroom, for example, with scenes of various uses of water was created for “Bad Girls,” a 1994 exhibition at the New Museum in New York City. Other works include a series combining hand painted wallpaper with pure white figurines, first exhibited in 1996.  She created the Agee Manufacturing Co. Winter Catalogue in 2009, a shop window installation filled with white porcelain figurines referencing 18th century mold cast figurines.

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography to Display: 

Arts/Industry: Collaboration and Revelation. Sheboygan, WI: John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Inc., 2014.

Epstein, Edward M. “‘…That Women Tend To Make’: The Female Gaze at the Pennsylvania Academy.” ArtCritical  (February 6, 2013).

Fairbrother, Trevor J. Family Ties: A Contemporary Perspective. Salem, MA: Peabody Essex Museum, 2004.

Hirsch, Fay. “Unalienated Labor: Q&A with Ann Agee.” Art in America (October 9, 2012).

Koplos, Janet. “Ann Agee at PPOW.” Art In America (July 2002).

Lauria, Jo. Color and Fire, Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics 1950 to 2000. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2000.

Lauria, Jo, ed. Standing Room Only: The Scripps 60th Ceramic Annual. Santa Barbara, CA: Perpetua Press, 2004.

Mathieu, Paul. Sex Pots: Eroticism in Ceramics. London: A&C Black, 2003.

Schwartz, Judith. Confrontational Ceramics: The Artist as Social Critic. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania, 2008.

Smith, Roberta. “Crucible of Creativity, Stoking Earth into Art.” The New York Times, March 1, 2009.

Tucker, Marcia. Bad Girls. New York, NY: The New Museum, 1994.

Neumann, Ilse, and Ursula and Janet Kardon. Conversations in Clay. Katonah, NY: Katonah Museum of Art, 2008.

Zimmerman, David. “A Good Time with Bad Girls.” USA Today, February 27, 1994.

 

CV or RESUME: Click Here to Download
Source: www.annageestudio.com

CV or RESUME: Click Here to Download
Source: Elaine Levin Archives, University of Southern California

WEBSITE(S):

www.annageestudio.com

 

Typical Marks

"ann" written over "agee" in cursive with date next to it, written in colorful ink at the foot of the piece.

"Ann Agee" in cursive as part of the top line of a rectangle, with date underneath in blue ink at the foot of the piece.

"AGEE" in printed uppercase letters with "MFGC12" underneath in blue ink at the foot of the piece.

1998-2002
2002
2008
2012
Cato Tureen
Date: 1991
Materials: Porcelain
Method: Hand-Built, Cast
Dimensions: 16.4 X 16.8 X 11.4 inches
Surface Technique: Blue and White, Glaze, Overglaze (On Glaze), Stain, Underglaze
  John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection
John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection
Sheboygan Men’s Room (details)
Date: 1999
Materials: Vitreous China
Method: Cast
Surface Technique: Blue and White, Overglaze (On Glaze), Underglaze
Men's washroom full view, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, 1999
Men's washroom full view, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, 1999
Men's washroom (detail), John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, 1999
Men's washroom (detail), John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, 1999
Men’s Room (detail), 1999, John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI
Men’s Room (detail), 1999, John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI
Men’s Room (detail), Urinal with Squirt Gun Bouquet, 1999, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan,WI
Men’s Room (detail), Urinal with Squirt Gun Bouquet, 1999, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan,WI
Figure
Date: 1998/2002
Form: Sculpture
Materials: Porcelain
Method: Cast
Dimensions: 8.75" x 2.75" x 2.25"
Brooklyn Museum of Art, gift of the artist, 2010.13.2
Photo: © Ann Agee
Brooklyn Museum of Art, gift of the artist, 2010.13.2
Photo: © Ann Agee
Photo: © Ann Agee
Figure
Date: 2002
Form: Sculpture
Materials: Porcelain
Method: Cast
Brooklyn Museum of Art, gift of the artist, 2010.13.1
Photo: © Ann Agee
Brooklyn Museum of Art, gift of the artist, 2010.13.1
Photo: © Ann Agee
Photo: © Ann Agee
Blue and White Platter
Date: 2008
Photo: Loren Maron
Photo: Loren Maron
Photo: Loren Maron

Citation: "The Marks Project." Last modified February 11, 2024. http://www.themarksproject.org/marks/agee