Who We Are
Penelope Van Grinsven Lilly Zuckerman
We are artists, educators, and co-founders of Above Board Ceramics Gallery. With many mutual friends and shared experiences stretching over the last decade at places like Penn State University, The Clay Studio of Missoula, MT, University of Colorado, Boulder and Colorado State University, we formed a friendship at lightening speed in 2019!
Establishing Above Board Ceramics is a fruitful collaboration and natural move for us. We share the interest of promoting and supporting up and coming and diverse makers in the field.
Our name & our mission
In medieval times, the dining table was a plain board that hung on the wall when not in use. When food was served it was brought out and laid across diner’s knees. The word board eventually came to signify not just the dining surface but the meal itself, as in room and board. And an honest person - someone who keeps their proverbial hands visible at all times - was said to be above board.
Our Above Board tableware exhibition has its own spontaneous nature to it - we’re bringing down the board and welcoming these disparate guests together at one fantasy meal. We are most excited about capturing a moment in the contemporary ceramics scene. How do they interpret function and what experiences as makers do they bring to such a meal? How do we keep a seat at the table for new makers? How do we ensure equitable promotion of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ makers? How do we thoughtfully, transparently, and equitably participate in the system of monetary gallery transactions and commissions? Above Board Ceramics is asking these questions and continually striving to re-answer them.
The artists in our shows are making work in a time of intense and extended political unrest. Some are personally experiencing systemic neglect and atrocities. Many more are witnessing it happen to others close to them. It doesn’t take much introspection for any practicing artist to doubt whether what they make matters or is the best use of their time, but we are so grateful that they have persisted. We consider it a brave act to make functional wares by hand. Work that is meant to nourish both body and soul. Work that is meant to support moments of beauty and warmth.
Over the years, our act of curating an annual tableware exhibition, encouraging all to gather at the same table, celebrate a meal, and share time and resources has morphed into more of a utopian vision than we had even realized. But isn’t that what ceramics has done for humans for centuries? We can’t help but focus on the history of clay for perspective. There are elements of darkness in the biography of ceramics: the pursuit of mastery and technological advances on the backs of exploited peoples, the earth, and environment. Ultimately, our pursuit of clay has connected us more than it has divided us. So many aspects of the world of ceramics demand that we cooperate. We share knowledge, aesthetic proclivities, kiln space, material resources, and in the end a meal with others off the fruits of this labor. It has shaped the way we have communicated through form and function. We hope that you are finding solace and might take some comfort in the essence of our exhibitions.