P·P·O·W presents Ann Agee’s third solo exhibition “Madonnas and Hand Warmers” through July 23 2021. The exhibition includes over 100 unique works that form two elaborate series of aesthetically and materially diverse sculptures, all made from ceramics inspired by Italian folk pottery. Agee’s practice focuses on replicating objects by hand, a process that emulates mass production and is a delineation between fine art, design, and craft, histories of cultural appropriation and exchange, and women’s lived experiences.
Inspired by late-17th and early-18th century Italian folk salt cellars, Agee’s series “Madonnas of the Girl Child” depicts women and girls. Made from a variety of clays, modeled in myriad sizes, glazed in numerous patterns, and fired in multiple kilns and at various temperatures, these sculptures realistically or abstractly engage motifs of the divine infant. Each is accompanied by labels of “Agee Manufacturing Co.,” “Agee MFG,” or “Ann’s” which is a signature logo that dates to Agee’s earliest works.
