Sponsored by the Fitchburg Art Museum, the guest curators were Hope Barkan and Wendy Kaplan. His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik was Honorary Patron. The exhibition and its accompanying publication were presented through the generosity of these Danish and American Funders – The Oak Foundation, Augustinus Fonden, Edith and Godtfred Kirk Christiansen’s Fund/LEGO Company, Pauline S. Germeshausen and Nancy G. Klavans, Danmarks Nationalbank’s Anniversary Foundation of 1968, Friends of Contemporary Ceramics, Politiken-Fonden, the Danish Secretariat for International Cultural Relations and several anonymous donors. Special recognition was given to Bodil Busk Laursen, Director of the Danish Museum of Decorative Art and Nina Linde, Head of the Secretariat of the Society of Arts and Crafts, Copenhagen, for their invaluable assistance. Pro bono counsel was provided by Hale and Dorr, LLP and Henrik Dahl and Kai Michelsen of Jonas Bruun Avokatfirmaet. Mingei International’s presentation of this exhibition was funded in part by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and the County of San Diego Community Enhancement Program.
A videotape of in-studio interviews with a number of the ceramists represented in the exhibition played throughout the exhibition in the adjacent Multi-Media Education Center.
This first major exhibition of its kind in the United States, since William Hull presented Danish Ceramic Design in 1981-82, presented studio pottery by 30 contemporary artist craftsmen. The 95 works were the latest examples of ceramics from a country with a 6000-year pottery tradition. The exhibition traced the evolution of the classical vessel form as a vehicle for abstract ideas.