James Melchert has been an integral part of the Bay Area’s artistic evolution over the last five decades. He has worked in a variety of media, including drawing and film, but he is perhaps best known as a ceramist with a long involvement in Conceptual art. His current process focuses on ceramic tiles: breaking them, drawing on them, reassembling them, and painting the new constructions with glaze.

From 1965 to 1992 Melchert taught sculpture at UC Berkeley. He has served as director of the American Academy in Rome, and as director of the Visual Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington DC. His work has been exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Oakland Museum of California, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Maria Porges is an assistant professor at CCA in Sculpture and Visual and Critical Studies. Her critical writings have appeared in Artforum, Art in America, Sculpture, American Ceramics, Glass, and the New York Times Book Review. Her studio practice focuses on sculpture and drawing.

The Design and Craft Lecture Series is funded by the Wornick Endowment Fund.