Ferrin Contemporary

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Ferrin Contemporary

FERRIN CONTEMPORARY specializing in contemporary ceramic art 1950 – present.

Ferrin Contemporary is the preferred source for contemporary ceramic art circa 1950 – present with over 35 years of experience and expertise in private collections services and the presentation for sale of primary and secondary market works by leading international artists whose primary medium is clay. Based in the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts, Ferrin Contemporary maintains exhibition space

at 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA and a business office, library and art warehouse at Project Art, a live/work artist residency in a renovated, 18th-century mill building in Cummington, Mass.

09/09/2026

ON VIEW AT FERRIN CONTEMPORARY | SERGEI ISUPOV: REUNITED, 20 Years at Project Art

This Fall, Sergei Isupov reunites work from multiple chapters of his career in ceramic sculpture. New heads and busts from the studio, works from his 2025 series, EMPATHS, and selections from his 2022 exhibition, PAST & PRESENT. The exhibition runs through 2026 in the Summer Gallery at Ferrin Contemporary at Project Art, Cummington, MA.

OPENING RECEPTION & ARTIST TALK
September 19th, 2026 from 5-6pm
Sergei Isupov to speak about his work in the show. The opening will take place during RiverFest, an annual fall community event along Main Street in Cummington, MA.

The Ferrin Contemporary and Project Art galleries, showroom, and studios will be open from 10-6pm during RiverFest, or visit us by appointment.

Email [email protected] to schedule a visit or request a list of available works from SERGEI ISUPOV: REUNITED, 20 Years at Project Art.

08/31/2026

TOSHIKO TAKAEZU featured in OBJECT STORIES II: CERAMIC COLLECTIONS 1975–2015 | 2026 catalog of available ceramics from Private Collections.

Two works by the renowned Toshiko Takaezu from the Victoria Schonfeld Collection are now available from Ferrin Contemporary.

“Toshiko Takaezu (1922–2011) was one of the twentieth century’s greatest abstract artists. Gifted with prodigious drive and vision, she combined inspirations from her own cultural background with currents from contemporary painting and sculpture, arriving at a unique expressionist idiom.

Born in Hawaii to a Japanese émigré family, Takaezu received her early training in ceramics in Honolulu, and then attended Cranbrook Academy in Michigan, when it was an epicenter for adventurous modernism. Already in this early phase in her career, she was able to see correspondences between Abstract Expressionism and the spiritually infused traditions of East Asia, such as calligraphy and tea ceremony. She combined these cross-cultural influences into a powerfully resolved synthesis.

Though made using traditional pottery techniques of wheel-throwing and glazing, the works for which she is best known – the closed forms – are best understood as sculptures, or perhaps as paintings-in-the-round. They are as individual as people are, varying greatly in scale and shape, color and texture, and in their internal tectonic rhythms. They have a close affinity with the work of other postwar expressionist artists, such as Franz Kline, Joan Mitchell, and Mark Rothko.”

—Glenn Adamson, Toshiko Takaezu Foundation

Email [email protected] for more information, and view the full OBJECT STORIES II catalog in the link in our bio.

1 & 2: Toshiko Takaezu, Untitled, 1999, porcelain, 16.75 x 8 x 8”, Made in the Artist’s Studio, Toshiko Takaezu, to Frank Lloyd Gallery to The Victoria Schonfeld Collection (2000).

3 & 4: Toshiko Takaezu, “Untitled (648)”, 1998, porcelain, 6.5 x 4”. The Victoria Schonfeld Collection.

08/28/2026

RON NAGLE featured in OBJECT STORIES II: CERAMIC COLLECTIONS 1975–2015 | 2026 catalog of available ceramics from Private Collections

Born in 1939 and actively working, Ron Nagle’s career spans 7 decades. His work “Tall, Luchester, S***f Bottle Series” from 2013 is offered in OBJECT STORIES II. Acquired by private collector Victoria Schonfeld, Nagle was high on her “list” as she continued to build her survey of contemporary ceramics. It is a classic example from his s***f bottle series. The biomorphic form, suggestive curves, luscious color and masterful control of glaze are beautifully demonstrated in this work that is slightly larger than most of his work at 9”. Using a combination of textured clay, layered glaze and china paint his characteristic “skirt” dramatically captures the moment when glaze begins to flow and becomes solid.

ABOUT
Nagle began working with ceramics during the 1950s as a high school student. In 1961 he apprenticed to the pioneering ceramic artist Peter Voulkos at the University of California, Berkeley, and later exhibited his work alongside Voulkos, Ken Price, and other innovative West Coast artists working in clay. His work is inspired by such artists as Giorgio Morandi, Phillip Guston, and George Herriman, and by such varied forms as Japanese Momoyama ceramics and Hawaiian funerary monuments.

Ron Nagle (b. 1939) was born in San Francisco, where he currently lives and works. His first one-person exhibition took place in 1968, and since then he has had exhibitions at numerous museums, including the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Secession in Vienna, the Fridericianum in Kassel, and the Berkeley Art Museum. In 2013 his work was included in the exhibition “The Encyclopedic Palace” at the 55th Venice Biennale.

–Mathew Marks Gallery

Email [email protected] for more information, and view the full OBJECT STORIES II catalog in the link in our bio.

Ron Nagle
“Tall, Luchester, S***f Bottle Series”
2013
porcelain, glaze
9.5 x 12 x 3”
Jeffrey Spahn Gallery to the Victoria Schonfeld Collection (2013)

08/26/2026

SUBCONSCIOUS SURFACED | Moderne Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

SUBCONSCIOUS SURFACED closes at Moderne Gallery in Philadelphia PA this weekend, August 29th, 2026. The group exhibition features figural ceramic sculpture from the 1960s through the early 2000s exploring a shared thread of surreal, otherworldly sculptural form across a range of expressions, techniques, and contexts.

The exhibition is drawn from the esteemed collection of Marc and Diane Grainer, renowned patrons, collectors, and champions of the arts, who assembled their collection over the course of more than forty-five years. Moderne Gallery is proud to present these works and to serve as stewards as they find their way into new collections.

It explores a curated selection of their works featuring figures, narratives, and compositions drawn from deep within the subconscious, emerging from a realm beyond the threshold of immediate awareness.

The works pictured are available for purchase through Moderne Gallery. For more information, please email [email protected]

Ferrin Contemporary and Sergei Isupov are grateful for Marc and Diane Grainer’s support as they built their collection and appreciate the trust they placed in us to manage their collection, offer gifts to museums and partner with Moderne Gallery on the exhibiton of figurative ceramic sculpture.

FEATURED ARTISTS
Ralph Bacerra
Mark Burns
Nancy Carman
Michele Oka Doner Michele Oka Doner
Jack Earl
Sergei Isupov Sergei Isupov
Michael Lucero Michael Lucero
Louis Marak
Beverly Mayeri
Norma Minkowitz Norma Minkowitz
Sunkoo Yuh Sunkoo Yuh

Photos courtesy of Christian Giannelli Photography

08/24/2026

KAREN KARNES: featured in OBJECT STORIES II: CERAMIC COLLECTIONS 1975–2015 - 2026 catalog of available ceramics from Private Collections

Karen Karnes (b. 1925, New York, NY, d. 2016, Morgan, VT) known for sculptural ceramic vessels also produced iconic modernist covered casserole dishes throughout her career. Two are currently available for purchase from a Private Collection.

For decades Karen Karnes’ flameware, a clay that withstood direct heat for her casseroles. Offered annually through the pottery sale at the Old Church in NJ and through Pinch Pottery in Northampton, she and her partner Anne Stannard’s formula for “flameware” allowed for their cookware to be a classic wedding present and widely used in modern homes for decades.

“In 1954 Karnes and her husband moved to Stony Point, New York where they worked with other potters to develop the Gate Hill Cooperative. During this period Karnes concentrated on the production of multiples, functional pottery, and developed her iconic flame ware casseroles. These sturdy walled vessels were thrown with deep finger ridges that hold the glaze to create a two-tone appearance. 17 18 They were finished with a pulled and folded or open loop lid handle attached at an angle. The natural rhythm of the lid handle retained the sense of plasticity of the clay. The casseroles are an example of Karnes ’ respect for ceramic traditions with a modern approach.”
–The Marks Project

Email [email protected] for more information, and view the full OBJECT STORIES II catalog in the link in our bio.

1 & 2: “Casserole”, 1975-1999, ceramic, 8 x 11 x 11”
3 & 4: “Large Casserole Dish”, 1975-1999, ceramic, 11.25 x 13.5 x 10.25”

08/21/2026

SERGEI ISUPOV | featured in OBJECT STORIES II: CERAMIC COLLECTIONS 1975–2015 | 2026 catalog of available ceramics from Private Collections

Sergei Isupov’s (b. 1963 Stavropole, USSR) “Party Dress”, acquired from the artist’s original “Androdgyny” exhibitions in 2008, is now available.

The Androgyny series of heads and busts, often with surrealistic features and complex facial expressions, was first presented by Ferrin Gallery in 2008 (Pittsfield, MA location). The works were exhibited in his groundbreaking solo show at Mesa Contemporary Arts Center (Mesa, AZ) and traveled to the Daum Museum of Art (Sedalia, MO) in 2009. Select pieces remain in the artist’s archive available for exhibition, public and private collections.

“My work is about contrasts and relationships. I explore contrasts of human condition with my story lines such as male-female and human-animal relationships, and accompanying emotions of warmth and aggression, love and rejection, and nurture and abandonment. Dynamic and interactive narratives are developed using two and three dimensions at the same time with the sculpted form and painted surface. I use a visual vocabulary and classic tools of design, proportion, perspective and silhouette to both sculpt and paint. Eyes show emotional relationships. Facial and figural gestures develop personalities. Illusionary objects and perspectives suggest motion. As a viewer moves around the work, they see each angle and focus point leading to new chapters and story lines. Combined, these clues tell an overall story.”

Sergei Isupov
“Party Dress”
2008
stoneware, stain, glaze
33.5 x 17 x 12″

Email [email protected] for more information, and view the full OBJECT STORIES II catalog in the link in our bio.

08/17/2026

UPCOMING ARTIST TALK | Shelburne Museum on a Platter: Mara Superior’s New Collection Plaque | August 19th, 2026

𝘾𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝙆𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙍𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙪𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙞𝙡𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙖 𝙎𝙪𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙧’𝙨 𝙎𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙪𝙢 𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙦𝙪𝙚 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.

Francie and John Downing Senior Curator of American Art Kory Rogers unveils artist Mara Superior’s Shelburne Museum Collection Plaque celebrating her favorite treasures from the Museum’s collection. This lecture explores the creation of the bespoke work, Superior’s curatorial selections, and how the platter pays tribute to founder Electra Havemeyer Webb’s vision. RSVP recommended, learn more on the Shelburne Museum website.

Wednesday, August 19th, 2026
5:30- 6:30pm

Shelburne Museum
Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education
6000 Shelburne Road
Shelburne, VT

Mara Superior, “Shelburne Museum Collection Platter”, 2026. High-fired English porcelain, ceramic oxides, underglazes, Cornwall Stone glaze, and gold leaf, 14 1/2 x 19 x 1 5/8 in. Collection of Shelburne Museum, Museum Purchase. 2026-10. John P***k Photography.

08/14/2026

THE HAAS BROTHERS featured in OBJECT STORIES II: CERAMIC COLLECTIONS 1975–2015 - 2026 catalog of available ceramics from Private Collections

“Big Baby Accretion Vase”, originally acquired from R & Company in 2015 and now in the Victoria Schonfeld Collection, is newly available from Ferrin Contemporary.

“Twins Nikolai and Simon Haas (b.1984) create irreverent sculptures that explore themes related to nature, fantasy, and sexuality. Their biomorphic works defy categorization, most often occupying the interstitial space between fine art and functional objects.

The Haas Brothers first came to prominence with their functional design and home décor in the early 2010s. In 2015, they debuted a new series, made in collaboration with women artisans in Cape Town, South Africa, of intricately beaded objects titled, Afreaks. This work marked a pivotal moment in the brothers’ careers, later inspiring their most recent monumental sculpture, The Strawberry Tree (2023), which was recently exhibited at both the Nasher Sculpture Center and Design Miami. The Haas Brothers’ mastery of material, matched with their insatiable curiosity and remarkable visual intelligence, continually sets them apart as designers. Their work can be found in the permanent collections of the RISD Museum, the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, the MET, and LACMA, among others.” –R & Company

In 2026, the Haas Brothers exhibited at the Cranbrook Art Museum in “Haas Brothers: Uncanny Valley” (September 2, 2025 – February 22, 2026). The exhibition’s second location is on view at the Museum of Art and Design (MAD) through September 13, 2026.

Haas Brothers: Uncanny Valley
April 11, 2026 – September 13, 2026

Haas Brothers
“Big Baby Accretion Vase”
2015
porcelain, slip, gold luster
9.5 x 7.5 x 7.5”
The Victoria Schonfeld Collection.
Photo by the Everson Museum

08/13/2026

ARTIST NEWS | BETH LIPMAN MUSEUM ACQUISITION, EXHIBITION, INTERVIEWS AND NEW WORKS - Follow the links in the newsletter to learn more and travel along with Beth Lipman as she walks us through layers of deeply researched information revealed in each sculpture and installation on view this summer in museums and galleries.https://mailchi.mp/ferrincontemporary/beth-lipman-artist-news-2026

07/31/2026

OBJECT STORIES II: Ceramic Collections is now available as a virtual catalog (link in bio).

As the second edition of Ferrin Contemporary’s Private Collection offerings, OBJECT STORIES II: CERAMIC COLLECTIONS 1975-2015 includes ceramic art and sculpture by 14 established artists, both living and deceased who worked in the late 20th and early 21st century. Drawing from five collections, for new or established collectors, curators and specialists, this catalog provides an opportunity to learn about, acquire, and continue the lineage of clay history. We invite you to inquire, visit and learn more about the stories these objects by legendary artists hold.

FEATURED ARTISTS:
Kathy Butterly
HAAS Brothers
Raymon Elozua
Sergei Isupov
Karen Karnes
Anne Kraus
Jennifer Lee
Ron Nagle
Mara Superior
Toshiko Takaezu
Akio Takamori
Kurt Weiser
Beatrice Wood
Betty Woodman

COLLECTORS:
Donald Clark
Marc & Diane Grainer
Aaron Milrad
Neumark Family
Victoria Schonfeld

Catalog design by Isabel Twanmo isabel twanmo
Artwork photography by John P***k John P***k and Ferrin Contemporary.
Published June 2026

Email [email protected] for pricing and availability.

Address

54 Main Street
Cummington, MA
01026

Telephone

+14136345649

Website

https://ferrincontemporary.com/contact/

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