JT Abernathy
JT Abernathy (American, b. 1923) collection - Available at the Michigan Art Gallery Saturday, October 12th, 2024.
Born in Clayton, Oklahoma, Abernathy attended Oklahoma A & M University and the University of Washington before receiving an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1951, where he studied under Maija Grotell. He was an instructor in ceramics at the University of Michigan from 1953-1956, and he has been on staff at the Ann Arbor Potters Guild since it’s inception. In 1956 Abernathy established a production studio and gallery outlet in Ann Arbor which became nationally recognized for his technical innovations.
He designed large production kilns, developed new variations on the traditional potter’s wheel, served as a distributor of Michigan clay to potters throughout the United States, and trained numerous apprentices. Abernathy is known for the for the large size of his wheel-thrown forms, his work in ceramic tile, and his glazes. His reinterpretation of ‘Grotell Blue’, a matte Turquoise glaze pioneered by Maija Grotell, has become an Abernathy signature. His works remain in the permanent collections of the American Museum of Ceramic Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, the University of Nebraska, the Wichita Art Association, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
"Abernathy has a certain affection, a curious gratitude, for the lively Ann Arbor. 'I believe those who live here live in the upper one-billionth of the world,' he says.
Perhaps J.T. Abernathy, a WWII veteran, world-renowned potter, and soft-spoken scholar, now considers himself among the world’s upper one-billionth. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in ceramics and an Master of Fine Arts degree in kiln-building from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills. He has worked alongside famed potters, and his art is featured in thirty museums around the world— Tokyo, Amsterdam, Toronto, and all across the United States. And he’s routinely viewed as an Ann Arbor legend."
- Michigan Daily, November 2015
Solo Exhibitions:
1952 Women’s City Club, Detroit, MI
1953, 1980 Ann Arbor Art Association, Ann Arbor, MI
1959-1960, 1967 Forsythe Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI
2023 Gutman Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI
Group Exhibitions:
1949-1950, 1952, 1958 Ceramic National, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
1949-1960, 1962-1963, 1966, 1969 Exhibition for Michigan Artist-Craftsman, Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI
1950 Works in Progress, Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI
1951 Works in Progress in Michigan I, Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI
1954, 1959, 1964, 1968 Decorative Arts and Ceramics Exhibition, Wichita Art Association, Wichita, KA
1955, 1957, 1959, 1962 Fiber/Clay/Metal, Detroit Institute of Art, Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul, MN
1956 Museum of Contemporary Crafts, Portland OR
1959 La Ceramique Contemporaine, Ostend, Belgium
1963 Michigan Art: Yesterday and Tomorrow, Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI
1968-1969, 1971 Ceramics Invitational, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI
Collections:
Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI
Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI
Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
Wichita Art Association, Wichita, KS
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL