Playing with Fire – Ceramics of the Extraordinary: Win Tickets to the MOA

The Museum of Anthropology (“MOA”) is one of my favourite places in the city, and no matter how many times I visit, there’s always something new to see like the latest exhibition: Playing with Fire – Ceramics of the Extraordinary on display from November 22, 2019 to March 29, 2020.

Playing with Fire – Ceramics of the Extraordinary

Where: Museum of Anthropology (UBC, 6393 NW Marine Drive)
When: November 22, 2019 to March 29, 2020
Exhibit Opening Reception: November 21, 2019 at 7:00pm

Showcasing a group of 11 highly celebrated BC-based artists, this premiere exhibition of ceramic works expresses strong opinions on urgent social issues and offers subtle perspectives on the state of our contemporary world. While at first glance these works may appear very approachable through a lens of nostalgia, beauty, or humour, upon closer inspection they reveal much deeper commentaries on social injustice, racism, identity, and censorship. This powerful exhibition invites visitors to explore the many layers of understanding each of these provocative works embody, boldly demonstrating clay’s myriad discursive possibilities.

Playing with Fire features the work of 11 internationally recognized BC-based artists — Judy Chartrand, Ying-Yueh Chuang, Gathie Falk, Jeremy Hatch, Ian Johnston, David Lambert, Glenn Lewis, Alywn O’Brien, Bill Rennie, Debra Sloan, and Brendan Tang — who are all acclaimed for their fearless innovation in ceramic work. Working in clay, the most accessible of mediums, and drawing inspiration from pop culture, art history, humour, beauty, hope, and nature, these artists bring fresh, playful, and challenging perspectives of the art form. Visitors will be encouraged to discover new meanings and uncover complexities hidden, often in plain sight, within the works.

For this exhibition, more than 35 ceramic installations will be on display — some of which are epic in scale, including Johnston’s The Antechamber (2010–2012), in which a 25-foot-long room is covered with a repeating, grid-like motif of ceramic elements, created through a vacuum-forming process. The result of these overlapping elements, hanging like roof tiles, evokes the massive scale of consumption of manufactured goods today.

Follow MOA on Twitter and Facebook for more information about this exhibition and more.

Win Tickets

I have a pair of tickets to give away to one lucky winner who will be able to visit the MOA for Playing with Fire. Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Click below to post an entry on Twitter

I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Tuesday, November 26, 2019. The winner will be able to attend on the date of their choosing between November 22, 2019 and March 29, 2020.

UPDATE The winner is Michal