Lgeese@aol.com on wed 1 may 96
Okay, I might really be out of it...and, now, I'm revealing to it everyone...
Where is Ken Ferguson going now that he's leaving Kansas City?
Lisa in Des Moines - Wondering because I recently learned that a fellow clay
artist/potter/craftsperson/ceramist (?) from my comm. college is studying
there.
Thanks!
Lgeese@aol.com
peter pinnell on thu 2 may 96
Hi Lisa,
Kens not going anywhere, just retiring. In fact, its my understanding
he'll still be going in several times a semester to talk to the students
and give his famous slide lectures.
Its my guess that Cary will have a hard time keeping him away: Ken does
love to teach, and old habits die hard.
Pete
On Wed, 1 May 1996 Lgeese@aol.com wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Okay, I might really be out of it...and, now, I'm revealing to it everyone...
>
> Where is Ken Ferguson going now that he's leaving Kansas City?
>
> Lisa in Des Moines - Wondering because I recently learned that a fellow clay
> artist/potter/craftsperson/ceramist (?) from my comm. college is studying
> there.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Lgeese@aol.com
>
Dawne Fowkes on thu 2 may 96
Dear Lisa,
Ken Ferguson is retiring so I would imagine that he will probably teach
an occasional workshop, etc. but will devote much of his time working in
his studio which is located at his home in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. At
least, that's what he always told us........
Alum from KCAI Ceramics Class of '93.
On Wed, 1 May 1996 Lgeese@aol.com wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Okay, I might really be out of it...and, now, I'm revealing to it everyone...
>
> Where is Ken Ferguson going now that he's leaving Kansas City?
>
> Lisa in Des Moines - Wondering because I recently learned that a fellow clay
> artist/potter/craftsperson/ceramist (?) from my comm. college is studying
> there.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Lgeese@aol.com
>
Odaat2day on wed 17 dec 97
Does anyone have information on contacting Ken Ferguson? Either directly or
through workshops, shows or gallaries.
Thanks,
Stephen Sell / odaat2day@aol.com
Grimmer on thu 18 dec 97
Stephen,
Write to dear old Ken at
Ken Ferguson
21022 West 71st
Shawnee Mission, KS
66218
stePHen grimmer
marion, illinois
Odaat2day wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Does anyone have information on contacting Ken Ferguson? Either directly or
> through workshops, shows or gallaries.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Stephen Sell / odaat2day@aol.com
Kim Marie on wed 21 jan 04
Does anyone know how Ken Ferguson is. My friend knows he'd been sick and
was wondering.
Kim
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Eric Hansen on tue 26 apr 05
Ken Ferguson, my first Ceramics teacher
We hit it off badly right at first as I had been on the Industrial Design D=
epartments=92 raft trip down the Missouri River in a truly pathetic homemad=
e raft. I missed part of the first week of school and was verbally chastise=
d by Ken in front of the whole class, but he gently added =93you should hav=
e asked me first.=94 So I found out quickly the principle that when you wer=
e on Ken=92s turf, the field of ceramics, he became quite serious. I actual=
ly had never before taken a ceramics course; when I first enrolled in the s=
chool I was thinking more about illustration or commercial art. I had a ste=
llar freshman year, and I was feeling better about going after bigger fish.=
Before that sophomore year (=9271, =9272) was over Ken had repeatedly refe=
rred to me with the quote =93you=92re a superstar=94 an accolade which for =
the moment I felt very uncomfortable with. Over time I proved not to posses=
s the persistence to live up to the title. I believe Ken, however, did.=20
In 1991, with my wife Christa Hansen, I attended an opening at Washburn Uni=
versity=92s Mulvane Art Center which featured Vernon Brechja, a glass blowe=
r who I was acquainted with through the Ceramics Department at the Universi=
ty of Kansas (where I was a student), and George Timmock, as well as a phot=
ographer who took night pictures of fields burning in the Flint Hills of Ka=
nsas. I was quite surprised by the entourage of Timmock, Ferguson, Babu, an=
d a strong contingency of supporters who made it out to Topeka for the even=
t. It was great to see Victor and Ken again, both of whom were affable and =
amiable. Ken says to Christa about me =93didn=92t he used to be kind of =85=
pretty?=94 Anyhow, this was the way I always remembered it being at the Ka=
nsas City Art Institute, the very strong support of colleagues, traditional=
ly always coming out for the event.
Before I graduated from KU in 1993 I managed to spend a day at KCAI followi=
ng Ken around like a puppy dog. It was impromptu on my part but proved unbe=
knownst to me to be a fortuitous visit. It was the introductory lecture by =
Ken in the auditorium for sophomores coming into their first week of classe=
s in their major. The slide show featured Kansas City, Charlie Parker Memor=
ial, George Brett, the Nelson; and an explanation of why artists would choo=
se to come to Kansas City of all places, a place they could embrace and tha=
t would embrace them in return. I don=92t remember Thomas Hart Benton=92s w=
ork having a slide in that lecture welcoming students to the school but by =
1991 the Benton exhibit at the Nelson loomed large. It was pretty simple Ke=
n explained, showing a slide of a Hamada pot in oranges and reds with power=
ful brush strokes =93this is about as good as ceramics gets=94 and contrast=
ed in to a Miro sculpture on wheels from the Nelson =93we don=92t come clos=
e=94; and =93we always just thought of ourselves as potters, just potters=
=94 clearing the way to appreciate the fact that not a single of the great =
twentieth century=92s artists working in the 3D field had done so using pri=
marily clay. Although this settles one argument afflicting the ceramics wor=
ld, it didn=92t really put a finger on how does craft fit in?, the relevant=
question.
In January 2005 I was a ball of fire, once again for the third time in my l=
ife, rededicating myself to clay and working hard. Since leaving KCAI in 19=
72 I had worked a long steady string of workingman=92s jobs capped by a 20 =
year career as a journeyman printing press operator, had a wife, and childr=
en, who had grown up and were off in college themselves. Three weeks into t=
he New Year, I was floored by the news of Ken=92s passing. Ken had always h=
ad a special place in me mentally, emotionally, and I suppose spiritually a=
s well, since those are my tendencies. He once said he was haunted by dream=
s of his father who he feared might disapprove of his work, sweeping his ha=
nd and declaring, =93What is this stuff?=94 Ken occupied this space for me =
as well. Ken recurred in my dreams when I=92d start thinking of clay again.=
Before I went back to school in 1991 I had remembered every single solitar=
y word he spoke 20 years earlier and taught myself to throw on the wheel us=
ing his preferred method of only centering and learning to make cylinders f=
or 6 months.=20
I remembered too that there were those that would grumble too. I remember o=
ne student saying, =93He likes to think of himself as a blue collar potter,=
he is anything but=94 because of his intellectual prowess, for example ass=
isting in curating the permanent exhibits of Ceramics at the Nelson or his =
prominence in NCECA. Later I heard other complaints too but in my experienc=
e his evaluation of the state of ceramics whether individual or collective =
was usually fair and accurate. He was a professional, but he was also still=
cut of the cloth of a working class orientation, which very often was at o=
dds with the upper middle class sense of entitlement so prevalent among ped=
igreed artists.
Hamada and Leach set out to save the intangible cultural heritage we call f=
olk art and/or craft, with ceramics as their flagship. Ken styled himself i=
n their image, crafting a powerful expression of native and natural folklor=
e from the hard working heart of the USA. Whether making references through=
his work to Thomas Toft, Bernard Leach, Max Beckmann, or Joan Miro, Korean=
bronzes, or tea wares, he brought it all home. Not in the xenophobic one-d=
imensionalism of Benton, but in a manner not unlike his other colleagues in=
the KCAI faculty, world class, articulate, and of the highest expression o=
f craftsmanship. And he is a star.
Eric Hansen Tuesday, April 26, 2005
=20
--=20
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