Ceramic disk with a cracked colorful surface showing a fragmentary frowning face with features made up of disjointed shapes and various symbols such as a blue baby and a red hand.
Viola Frey, Miss Liberty, 1987. Promised gift of Hope and Mel Barkan. Photograph by Robert Puglisi.

A Shared Journey

The Barkan Contemporary Ceramic Collection at the RISD Museum
September 13, 2025 - March 5, 2028
Ceramic disk with a cracked colorful surface showing a fragmentary frowning face with features made up of disjointed shapes and various symbols such as a blue baby and a red hand.
Viola Frey, Miss Liberty, 1987. Promised gift of Hope and Mel Barkan. Photograph by Robert Puglisi.

Introduction

This exhibition celebrates the power and joy of sharing knowledge, creativity, and objects—showing how these acts of generosity connect generations and cultures, now and into the future. Gathered over many decades by Hope and Mel Barkan, the Barkan Contemporary Ceramic Collection, part of which was recently gifted to the RISD Museum, spans contemporary ceramics from the 1960s to the 2010s, offering an expansive array of works that reflect diverse artistic practices, cultural identities, and global perspectives.

The collection highlights how ceramics—whether functional or sculptural—foster collaboration and dialogue, both within the ceramic community and beyond. By sharing their collection with a wider audience, the Barkans offer visitors and scholars the opportunity to engage with a dynamic, evolving medium that has long been a site of artistic exchange and innovation. This exhibition underscores the interconnectedness of art and the ongoing impact of those who create, collect, and pass on their knowledge and passion for the medium.

Curated by Elizabeth A. Williams, David and Peggy Rockefeller Curator of Decorative Arts and Design

*The first part of this exhibition will open 09/13/25 in the Ceramics Gallery, followed by the opening of the second part on 11/08/25 in the Upper Farago Gallery. Currently, there is an installation of five of the gifts to the Museum on view in the Granoff Gallery.

Elizabeth Williams

RISD Museum is supported by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and with the generous partnership of the Rhode Island School of Design, its Board of Trustees, and Museum Governors.