Michelle Erickson at NCECA 2024


Artifacts at Try-me * Collector's Tour * The Valentine





Artifacts at Try-me
Michelle Erickson Installation Exhibition
Artifacts will feature the ceramics of artist Michelle Erickson in the setting of Try-me, the private art space that houses modern and contemporary art collection of Pamela K. and William A. Royall Jr. The exhibition will be on view March 20-23 in conjunction with NCECA 2024.

The 2020 NCECA Conference was scheduled to be held in Richmond, Virginia. In December 2019 the organization notified Michelle Erickson she had received the NCECA Regional Award of Excellence. By late winter of 2020 the world changed, the conference went virtual, and many plans were postponed and cancelled. NCECA’s return to Richmond in person in 2024 prompted the exhibition installation Michelle Erickson Artifacts.


Deep Water Teapot
The exhibition will feature Michelle’s ceramic art among examples of 21st century art in the Royall Collection that share universal concerns of the Human condition with themes of memento mori, the geopolitics of colonialism and the existential threat of Climate Crisis in the 21st century. Erickson reimagines ceramic history during the age of exploration expansion and dominion to bring the context of colonialism into our present moment. Michelle’s intimate contemplations explore loss and isolation, war, displacement and the entrenched social political and environmental constructs of injustice and inequity brutally exposed in 2020 by the deadly COVID pandemic.

The exhibition will feature Deepwater Teapot, for which Michelle was awarded the 2013-14 VMFA Professional Fellowship. The installation will also draw on Michelle Erickson’s recent solo and invitational exhibitions that include Another Crossing: Artists Revisit the Mayflower Voyage, Fuller Craft Museum, MA July – October 2021, The Box Plymouth UK spring 2022. Recasting Colonialism at Baltimore Museum of Art May- October 2023, and Wild Porcelain at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco’s Legion of Honor that ran from September 2021- April 2023.

About Try-me: Try-me is a private art space founded in 2008 by Pam and Bill Royall to house their collection of modern and contemporary art and provide innovative space for artists, art educators, and events that benefit the arts community. Once the home of the Try-me Bottling Company, the space was reimagined to configure with maximum versatility for both visual and performing arts, while providing state-of-the-art storage for a selection of the owners’ art collection. Since 2020, much of the collection has been deaccessioned, but Try-me remains an active venue supporting local arts. Open by appointment only.

Try-me:
1623 W Main St.
Richmond, Virginia
Wed–Sat 11am–4pm
On View: March 20-23


2024 Collector's Tour
A Visit at Michelle Erickson's Studio at
NCECA’s 58th Annual Conference, Coalescence, in Richmond, Virginia, March 20-23, 2024.
The 2024 NCECA Collectors Tour promises an exciting week of experiences specially curated for avid collectors of ceramic art. Centered in the itinerary are insider opportunities to collect from dozens of exhibitions sited throughout the Greater Richmond, Virginia region during Coalescence, the 58th annual NCECA conference.Exclusive studio and collection visits, including Michelle Erickson's Studio. Curator, and creative community connections will also be threaded throughout the week, along with shared meals.




Our America/Whose America? at the Valentine

Please visit Michelle Erickson's Group show

NCECA + The Valentine + Ferrin Contemporary
1015 E. Clay St.
Richmond, Virginia 23219
On View: Feb 21




Colored Squirrels is from series of works historically referencing 18th century British and European animal figures to create humanistic narratives.

Colored Squirrels are cast in ‘racially’ tinted porcelains made for the china doll industry to imitate ethnic skin tones. The oyster shell and grenades speak both to the imperilment of the natural world and the social political and environmental geopolitics of colonialism. The installation of the squirrels on the mantle creates a sense of invasion and menacing to explore societal issues of race, culture, and gender that fuels the ugly politics of ‘us and them.’