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Seidel, Miriam. “’Anti-Lamps’
and bowls with words.” The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Friday, November 10, 1989, 38.
The slippery terrain connecting craft and
fine-arts concerns is negotiated by two artists in
current shows: Jene Highstein at the Fabric Workshop
and Jill Bonovitz at Helen Drutt. Both abandon functionalism
in their craft-derived work but with widely different
intents and effects.
Jill Bonovitz’s low, wide bowls are not intended
to hold fruit, but they are influenced by years of
making ceramic vessels. Her move toward more emotional
content in this new show is given great weight by
deep familiarity with her material.
The pieces are colored in matte grays and pinks; the
lacy edges of the slabs from which they are constructed
are often still visible. Their titles – Gentle
hush, Secretly, Softly Sighting, Out of the Dark –
suggest the mood of the show. For the first time,
Bonovitz has included words on the pieces themselves.
This new series is unusual in the functional ceramic
tradition. The pots, no longer strictly functional,
are now vessels for inward-looking meaning.
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