The Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas, located in The Crossings, Kendall, houses one of the most intriguing ceramic art collections in South Florida. Through its Fine Arts Ceramic Center, adjacent to the museum itself, dozens of artists have produced incredible works of art that have been exhibited in numerous cultural institutions across the United States.
This collection is organized into three main groups. The first is a collection of original ceramic plates – all unique and arguably among the largest in the country. The second consists of murals made up of individually painted tiles. The third includes free-standing sculptures and installations.
The plates have been primarily created by Cuban artists and, in the past year, by artists from across the Americas. This collection has garnered the most interest and recognition among specialists and enthusiasts. It comprises nearly a thousand plates from just over a hundred artists, each piece unique, hand-painted, and fired in the Fine Art Ceramic Center's workshop.
This center was established in 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, with the aim of promoting the use of ancestral ceramic techniques among Cuban artists associated with the Rodríguez Collection. In May, collector Leonardo Rodríguez, founder of the Kendall Art Center – now the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas – invited fifty artists who were systematically collaborating with the center to produce ceramic artworks, primarily plates. This initiative had a secondary practical intention. Beyond exploring the creative potential of ceramics that transcend its merely utilitarian and decorative functions, the initiative allowed creators to commercialize their work in the midst of exceptionally difficult circumstances due to the isolation and economic stagnation caused by the COVID crisis, with pieces of another dimension, scope, and format.
This initial call resulted in dozens of valuable artworks. The first group of creators, despite being very heterogeneous, had something in common: they were all painters who primarily worked on canvas. They had the opportunity and also the challenge of transferring their art to a new medium, with materials and pigments that were almost unknown and behaved very differently on raw clay.
The mere production of nearly half a thousand artistic ceramic plates at that time drew the attention of artists and specialists to the need to preserve a tradition that, although not critically endangered, is increasingly overlooked by the new generations of artists.
This collection of works was first exhibited at the Kendall Art Center in November 2020. The exhibition, titled Fine Arts on the Plate, opened on Friday, November 27, and was attended by nearly 200 people, including artists, family members, and art enthusiasts from across Miami-Dade County. This event can be considered the foundational event of the Fine Arts Ceramic Center.
All the works were produced in the newly installed workshop adjacent to the main halls of the Kendall Art Center, occupying all its spaces at that time. According to curator Carol Damian, the exhibition "marked a continuation of Cuban ceramic traditions achieved by various artists at different stages of their careers and levels of experience" and "used ceramics to continue a personal aesthetic and style while integrating their natural expression with the new circular supports."
This collection, which grows year by year, is regularly exhibited in various spaces outside our institution. For example, the exhibition Artists Set the Table opened to the public on Sunday, February 19, 2023, at Pinecrest Garden Art and Recreation Park, showcasing one hundred selected plates. The exhibition Beyond the Plate was presented for the second time at the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Daytona on May 7, 2022, and for the first time on November 5, 2021, at the Sidney Berne & Davis Art Center under the name Fine Arts on the Plate.
As part of the ArtEd Connect program – formerly SOFLO New Art – and in collaboration with the University of Miami, the Kendall Art Center organized Tautologies, a solo exhibition by professor, artist, and ceramist Carlos Enrique Prado. Opened on May 13, 2022, it was the first exhibition dedicated exclusively to ceramics. Simultaneously, the collective exhibition Circle of Influence was inaugurated, featuring recent graduates Anthony Magnetti, Kim Bauldree, Sepideh Kalani, and Elizabeth Guignino. Two years later, now as an established biennial program, the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas and the FCAA inaugurated a second edition of this important collaboration on Friday, June 14, 2024, with the participation of Carlos Enrique Prado, this time also as the chief curator of Converging Plateaus, a collective exhibition of six new MFA students.
The Fine Arts Ceramic Center collaborates with analogous institutions, providing its facilities for ceramic art-related events, such as the Ceramic League of Miami’s CLM 73rd Annual Member’s Exhibition, which opened on February 17, 2023, in the museum's two halls. This exhibition featured a prominent presentation by master ceramist Tom Coleman, who delivered a keynote lecture on his work and other inspiring creative experiences. A significant group of ceramic artists presented their latest creations and enjoyed hours of interaction with their invited peers. On October 7, 2022, the CLM invited its members to a keynote lecture by artist Joe Robinson, MFA from the Oregon College of Art and Craft, and promoter of ceramic education through the ongoing operation of the historic Anagama kiln and East Creek studio in Oregon. In 2024, the CLM showcased its CLM 74th Annual Member’s Exhibition, and its president, James Herring, inaugurated his solo exhibition Motivations.
In March 2023, the FACC presented its exhibition Unlikely Assemblages as part of the 57th Annual Conference of the National Council for Education of Ceramic Arts (NCECA), held from March 15-18, 2023, in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. The Annex Gallery, located next to the Pendleton Art Center and directed by photographer and cultural promoter Jens G. Rosenkrantz, hosted the exhibition.
At present, the FACC strives to grow and expand its work profiles. It welcomed its first artist-in-residence, Ukrainian master ceramist Boris Danilov, who worked at the Center for several months. In addition to holding his first solo exhibition in the United States, he offered several workshops for both professionals and enthusiasts. The Center is also collaborating with current NCECA directors to bring its annual conference to Miami in 2026, forming part of the Organizing Committee.
Considering the Center's potential for growth and expansion, new spaces are being prepared, and the necessary technologies are being acquired. The short-term goal is to increase the number of workshops for all ages, with a special emphasis on art students. These efforts will foster the development of innovative techniques and creative strategies. Simultaneously, short-term lecture series and exhibitions are being coordinated to promote the work of community ceramists and encourage collaborations between them and similar institutions. The FACC aims to bring the enjoyment of this discipline, one of humanity's oldest creative techniques, to the community and to enhance the appreciation of the differences between art, utilitarian craftsmanship, and industrial production, thereby improving intelligent relationships between everyday objects and their spiritual content.
EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITIES
The Fine Arts Ceramic Center (FACC) has its main collections ready for exhibition in any venue across the United States. A dedicated team is responsible for transporting the art objects and setting them up on-site. Additionally, the FACC handles promotion and the creation of a documentary catalog post-exhibition.
The plate collection features works by highly recognized artists, both nationally and internationally, including Gustavo Acosta, José Bedia, Carlos Cárdenas, Humberto Castro, Carlos Estévez, Ivonne Ferrer, José Franco, Lia Galleti, Aimée García, Carlos Luna, Milena Martínez Pedrosa, Rigoberto Mena, Amelia Peláez, Esterio Segura, Alfredo Sosabravo, Rubén Torres Llorca, among many others. To date, a total of 97 artists have contributed to this collection, with most having created between four and twelve unique and original pieces.
