Mission Statement
AMOCA champions the art, history, creation, and technology of ceramics through exhibitions, collections, outreach and studio programming.
About the Museum
As an organization of vision, devoted to the arts, we believe that visual art experiences communicated through professional artists, workshops or gallery exhibitions, promote cross-cultural understanding and provide new perspectives and insights which enrich our lives.
Exhibitions and programming at AMOCA embraces a wide number of topics – all relating to clay. Within this broadly diverse community, it is our goal to increase the aesthetic appreciation of clay as an art form and to assist our audience in unraveling the creative thinking behind the making of ceramic objects. At the same time, AMOCA provides confirmed clay enthusiasts with encouragement, camaraderie and exhibition opportunity.
Used as a teaching tool, pottery is one of the most enduring indicators of culture. We can open the doors of the past through exhibitions of archeological finds; we can trace ceramic advances by studying the construction, glazing and firing practices developed throughout history, and we can find clues to the social expression of certain time periods through the study of ceramic shapes, forms and styles of decoration. Varied exhibitions may display pottery from different countries, focus on the work of an individual clay artist, illustrate specific skills or emphasize current high-tech processes. Useful vessels, tile collections and sculptural works, from wide-spread eras and regions, will all be part of our repertoire.
History
Founded in 2001 and opened in September 2004, AMOCA is one of the few museums in the United States devoted exclusively to ceramic art and historic innovations in ceramic technology. It is located in an area abounding with ceramic history and internationally recognized clay artists from the Arts and Crafts Movement, the 60’s Clay Revolution and the current Studio Pottery Era. Geographically, the building is located in an urban downtown district where art is an important element of the continuing and successful community revitalization program. The home community consists of a rich ethnic mix and a large academic constituency with approximately fifteen institutions of higher learning within an eight-mile radius.
