ASU Curator to Retire
ASU CERAMICS RESEARCH CENTER CURATOR TO RETIRE
Peter Held, curator of ceramics for the ASU Art Museum’s Ceramics Research Center, will retire from his position at the end of June, 2014. During his 11-year tenure with the museum, Held shaped the future of the internationally renowned center and its collection. Held’s impressive career includes the curation of more than 100 exhibitions, including seven national traveling ceramic shows. He is the author of numerous articles on contemporary art and crafts, and is the editor and essayist of 10 books.
Held joined the museum in 2003 following a distinguished career as both an artist and museum administrator. During his tenure at the ASU Art Museum, Held spearheaded a series of retrospective and mid-career exhibitions focusing on the work of artists broadening and enhancing the field of contemporary ceramics – including such exhibitions as Between Clouds of Memory: Akio Takamori, A Mid-Career Survey (2005), Following the Rhythms of Life: The Ceramic Art of David Shaner (2007), Eden Revisited: The Ceramic Art of Kurt Weiser (2009), Wanxin Zhang: A Ten Year Survey (2010), A Chosen Path: The Ceramic Art of Karen Karnes (2011), and Infinite Place: The Ceramic Art of Wayne Higby (2013).
In 2013, Held worked alongside the ASU Art Museum’s Associate Director and Senior Curator Heather Sealy Lineberry and Windgate Curatorial Fellow Elizabeth Kozlowski for the landmark exhibition Crafting a Continuum: Rethinking Contemporary Craft. The exhibition and its accompanying catalog, lauded by the American Craft Council as one of the most monumental of the year, provided an international perspective on modern and contemporary crafts and the current level of innovation and experimentation in material studies.
In addition to his curatorial projects, Held counts his experiences with numerous university faculty, students and interns as some of the most rewarding aspects of his time at ASU. In March 2014, he was awarded two of the highest accolades possible within the field of ceramic education: the Smithsonian’s James Renwick Alliance Distinguished Educator Award and the National Council for Education on the Ceramic Arts Honorary Member Award. The ASU Art Museum Ceramics Research Center and Peter Held received the 2007 CLAY Award (Ceramic Lifetime Achievement Award) from the Friends of Contemporary Ceramics, the leading organization of ceramic collectors, art dealers and curators in the United States. The award is given for lifetime achievement in advancing the field.
Following his retirement, Held plans to pursue independent curatorial and research projects. He will continue to remain close to ASU. His final exhibition for the museum prior to his retirement, These Are Some of My Favorite Things, will open July 19, 2014, at the ASU Art Museum Brickyard Gallery and Ceramics Research Center.
