Starting in 1967, the ASU Art Museum undertook the building of a contemporary studio ceramics collection, one of the few fine art museums to do so at a time when craft-based media was relegated as a decorative or minor art form. From its inception, the collection was displayed in open storage, allowing year-round access to a majority of our permanent collection, providing students, scholars and the general public an opportunity to view important works.
The holdings demonstrate the full range of technique, aesthetic approaches and possibilities within the medium. Major collection includes work by Rudy Autio, Hans Coper, Ruth Duckworth, Shoji Hamada, Karen Karnes, Bernard Leach, Maria Martinez, Otto and Gertrud Natzler, Lucie Rie, Edwin and Mary Scheier, Angus Suttie, Akio Takamori, Peter Voulkos, Kurt Weiser and Betty Woodman, to name a few.
The Ceramics Research Center hosts three to five exhibitions on important movements and artists who have made significant contributions in the ceramics field.
ASU Art Museum's Ceramics Research Center is located at the Brickyard on the northeast corner of Mill Ave.and 7th St. in downtown Tempe, three blocks north of ASU Art Museum's primary location at the Nelson Fine Arts Center.