Muskegon, Museum of Art

Color It Bizarre: Clarice Cliff Pottery open through August 1

See Color It Bizarre: Clarice Cliff Pottery from a Michigan Collection, a colorful exhibition of 1920s and 1930s Art Deco pottery by British potter Clarice Cliff, at the MMA through Sunday, August 1. Visitors of all ages will delight

in the patterns and bright colors of this pottery, which the artist designed for functional use by working-class people.

Clarice Cliff (1899-1972) was of humble Staffordshire origins at the heart of the British pottery industry. She entered the industry at 13, and by the age of 28, her extraordinary talent, determination, and vision moved her to the forefront of British pottery design. The MMA exhibition, Color It Bizarre: Clarice Cliff Pottery from a Michigan Collection, brings together 175 exceptional examples of Cliff’s colorful wares designed at the Wilkinson and Newport pottery companies under her direction in the 1920s and 1930s. The pottery is boldly colored, featuring complex abstract designs and whimsical landscape and floral patterns. Cliff’s distinctive wares are highly collectible and sought by an enthusiastic international audience. Color It Bizarre presents a broad selection of her hallmark works and is drawn from a private collection that may be the largest private Clarice Cliff collection in North America.

Color it Bizarre was organized by the Muskegon Museum of Art and is underwritten by the Hines Corporation.

###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 2010