Contact: Stephanie Sun, Marketing Manager
ssun@contemporarycraft.org
412.261.7003 x29
www.contemporarycraft.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jami Porter Lara Debuts New Exhibition at Contemporary Craft
Ceramic works that reimagine the common icons of everyday life
PITTSBURGH, PA – January 22, 2018 – Storyteller, an exhibition by Albuquerque-based artist Jami PorterLara, will exhibit handcrafted ceramic objects created using a 2000-year-old pottery process. As one of
the 20 Artists Shaping the Future of Ceramics named by Artsy in 2017, Porter Lara’s exhibiting artwork
resembles the ubiquitous icon of modern life - the plastic bottle. Storyteller will be on view atContemporary Craft’s BNY Mellon Satellite Gallery, located in downtown Pittsburgh’s Steel Plaza TStation from February 16 to May 6, 2018.
While exploring a remote stretch of the United States and Mexico border, Porter Lara found two-literbottles used to carry water as the most recent artifacts of its lineage from millennia of human travel
through the region. Through her recent work in Storyteller, Porter Lara contemplates the plastic bottle
as both contemporary artifact and microcosm of human values. By pulling this object away from theprofane and towards what may be perceived as beautiful or natural or sacred, Porter Lara asks thevisitors to recognize the plastic bottle as it belongs to the long human history of functional vessels thatare used to contain and transport the necessities of life. Porter Lara’s work and interests span humanity,nature, technology, and the crossroads that bind these themes together. Through her work, visitors cansee the human creativity that gave rise to the design of a plastic bottle and recognize its qualities ofbeauty and interest exist alongside everything else that is bad, absurd, ugly, and unsustainable. Theexhibition is free and open to the public daily through midnight.
Storyteller will be shown in conjunction with the 2018 National Council on Education for the CeramicArts (NCECA) conference being held in Pittsburgh from March 14 – 17. For more information and highres photos of Storyteller, please contact Stephanie Sun at ssun@contemporarycraft.org or at
412.261.7003.
ABOUT JAMI PORTER LARA
Born in 1969 in Spokane, Washington, Porter Lara has lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico since 1980.
Rejecting the notion of humanity as the opponent of nature, Porter Lara is a conceptual artist whose
approach to making remains deeply tied to her concern with cultural inheritances and with becoming acitizen of the natural world. In 2017, Artsy named her one of 20 Artists Shaping the Future of Ceramics.
Her work is widely collected in public and private collections, and has been featured in American Art
Collector, Art 21 Magazine, CFile, Hyperallergic, and on PBS. Recent exhibitions include the National
Museum of Women in the Arts, the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, and the Museum ofContemporary Art in Los Angeles.

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ABOUT THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON EDUCATION FOR THE CERAMIC ARTSThe National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) promotes and improves the ceramicarts through education, community building, research, and creative inspiration. NCECA offers programs,
events, and publications to support its membership of artists, students, individual and corporate
patrons, gallery owners, museum curators and providers of ceramic arts-related products and services.
As a dynamic, member-driven organization, NCECA is flexible in its program development, international
in its perspective and responsive to the changing needs of its constituency. The 52nd Annual Conferenceof NCECA will take place March 14 – 17, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. CrossCurrents: Clay andCulture, our theme for NCECA’s 2018 conference reflects Pittsburgh as a city of rivers, bridges, complex
immigrant history, gritty perseverance, and reinvention.
ABOUT CONTEMPORARY CRAFT
Presenting contemporary art in craft mediums by regional, national, and international artists since 1971,
Contemporary Craft (CC) offers cutting edge exhibitions focusing on multicultural diversity and nonmainstream art, as well as a range of studio workshops, community outreach programs, and a retailstore. Through its mission of engaging the public in creative experiences through contemporary craft, CCoffers meaningful art opportunities for 145,000 people a year through four core values: providing vital
support for artists, filling critical gaps in public education; sharing cross cultural perspectives; and using
art to build community.
CC is located at 2100 Smallman Street in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, PA. Hours are Monday throughSaturday, 10 AM to 5 PM. Exhibition and informal, hands-on art activities in the Drop-In Studio arealways free to the public. Contemporary Craft is committed to making its exhibitions, programs, andservices accessible to the public. For questions related to accessible accommodations, please contact us.
For more information, visit http://www.contemporarycraft.org or call 412.261.7003.
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