‘Photographs as Fossils:’ Experimental Photography on Clay at Gallery 224

On March 13, the Harvard Ceramics Program hosted a reception for its ongoing “Experimental Photography on Clay” exhibit in Gallery 224, the program’s public exhibition space. The exhibit, curated by interdisciplinary artist Anne Eder, is the outpouring of a course she has taught at the Ceramics Program since 2021.

Artists, ceramics students, and visitors alike admired the various ways Eder and her students printed photographs onto clay. A wall near the entrance displayed Eder’s proof of concept tiles, whose colors ranged from ultramarine to electric fuschia to mottled beige. The array of tiles, printed with portraits, animals, and flowers, appeared almost Warhol-esque.

Further into the gallery were large-scale compositions printed with photographs of forestscapes and sidewalks, among many others. Most of these works are the product of Eder’s students. Some are shaped like plates, others like vases, and one like a pair of hands. Their colors are just as vibrant as Eder’s tiles.

Eder, carrying a foster Chihuahua in a bag at her side, explained what inspired this project in remarks delivered at the reception.

“I do large organic sculptures that are meant to decompose. What I wanted to do was build an infrastructure that was ceramic and printed on that would then emerge after the other sculpture goes back to the Earth,” Eder said.

The featured artists drew on many sources of inspiration for their work. Heather Gardner, one of Eder’s students with artwork on display, was inspired by family history.

“The images that I used for this are 1954 negatives from my family when they were in New York. I just thought that they resonated with preserving history in that medium,” Gardner said.

Students experimented with a variety of photographic methods. Gardner focused on SolarFast and wants to explore gum bichromate next. Cyanotype, a printing process which produces images in deep Prussian blue, was another popular process.

Eder’s own work is inspired by mythology and nature. One such work, “Fairytale,” combined platinum-palladium printing on porcelain with willow branches and bones.

The use of mixed media throughout the exhibit resonated with Olivia Yao, a ceramicist and photographer from Los Angeles who learned about the exhibit on social media.

“Since the medium of photography and clay is already mixed, bringing in other materials, found materials — there’s some steelwork by Corrine Planche — I think that’s really appreciating what this is,” Yao said.

For Eder and her students, the reception was a celebration of their shared learning experience.

“There are many easier ways to get images onto clay than what we’re doing,” Eder said. “But the goal for me, right from the beginning, was to do something that was more integrated into the clay. I really wanted something that would be integrated into the clay body and could be fired with the clay in the kiln.”

It took Eder 10 years to get to this point. The printing methods were subject to constant experimentation. Students tested which printing methods transfer to clay and stay after firing. Some developed their own processes.

“Right now, we’ve been doing a very chemistry-heavy semester of working with salted silver prints and then substituting cobalt,” she said.

Eder’s students enjoyed this learning process. Furthermore, the course is open to the public and held via Zoom, allowing artists from all over the world to contribute their knowledge.

“I started taking her class during COVID and have continued to take it,” Gardner said. “It’s really helped me in my practice as an artist.”

Above all, Eder emphasized the intrinsic value of photographs.

“[Photographs] are basically first objects to me. A photograph is an object you can stick in your pocket, that you can stick on the refrigerator if you want to, or you can tear up after a breakup,” Eder said. “The power of physical images is something we’re still very attached to, even with digital screen use.”

Yao mirrored Eder’s thoughts.

“I think photography is an art form, it’s an art medium,” Yao said. “Combining it with sculptural work is just emphasizing the art form that is photography.”

The “Experimental Photography on Clay” exhibit at Gallery 224 is open to the public until April 24.