Kenneth Ferguson • American: 1928-2004

Tripod Teapot with Hares C: 2000 • Stoneware with Chrome Slip 17 1/2” x 13”

Once upon a time, an Indiana farm boy was raised by no-nonsense factory workers whose bucolic family farm had become family history. He was a hard-worker, like his parents, and ended up in the Korean War where he was fascinated by the exotic beauty of Japan. Upon returning home, obsessed with Asian pottery, he became a student at the famed Alfred University Ceramics Institute. He was tightly wound and started every workday with a list of ceramics pieces to make that day. He moved mechanically through the day, checking off each piece as he finished it. His work was precise, elegant, symmetric and perfectly thrown.

He was not a happy man.

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Inside Ken Ferguson a whimsical soul must have labored to be free. And, sometime after the age of 40, it could no longer be suppressed. Suddenly the handles he was putting on his oh-so-functional pots became rabbits. “It started because it is such a distinctive shape,” said Ferguson. “You know, the head, the long ears.” Soon, he learned that he could slow his wheel and create pieces less formal in their shape, but with more personality. He realized other people could take care of the world’s need for cookie jars. His inner “jolly” was free to roam.

Three decades later, when the jolly old potter with the white hair and beard, drew his last breath, he was one of the most beloved and respected figures in the ceramics arts. His whimsical rabbits and other woodland creatures decorate works in many major museums across the land, including the Canton Museum of Art.

And so the story ends, happily ever after.

Canton Museum of Art Permanent Collection
Purchased with Monies from the Doran Foundation and in Memory of Edward a. & Rosa J. Langenbach, 2000.1

4 Ways to Sound Smart When Viewing at The Canton Museum of Art

1.
“Mr. Ferguson was a well-known and well-loved professor of ceramics at the Kansas City Art Institute for 32 years.”

2.
“He started as a maker of very functional pots and other ceramics and, later in life, learned to lighten up.”

3.
“By learning to work more slowly and deliberately, he loosened his forms and created his famous ‘Slump Jars’ in the early 1980s”

4.
“In 1981 he was named ‘One of the 12 Greatest Living Potters’ in a survey by Ceramics Monthly Magazine.”

Ferguson Timeline. Scroll over images to see timeline.

1928

Born in Elmwood, Indiana. His parents were hard-working factory laborers who left their family farm to earn a living. They wanted a better life for their son and encouraged him to get an education.

1946

Studied painting at the American Academy of Art, Carnegie Institute of Technology in Chicago.

1952

During military service in the Korean War, Ferguson was inspired by the beauty and aesthetics of Japan and Japanese art. Returning to Carnegie Mellon after the war, he was drawn to ceramics.

1958

Received an MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) from the renowned Alfred University College of Ceramics. He was known as a hard-working student who began every day with a written list of pieces to complete and checked them off one-by-one. Began to work at the famed Archie Bray Foundation in Montana.

1964

Leaving “the Bray” behind, Ferguson established a new Ceramics Department at the Kansas City Art Institute. Over the next 32 years he turned this department into a nationally recognized ceramics program.

1980s

Under the influence of Peter Voulkos, his work became less formal and functional. His Slump Jars series is a renowned example of his looser style.

1983

Ferguson’s first use of the hare appeared on a platter with a few splatters of green.

1984

Attended a summer workshop with Toshiko Takaezu. After this he became much more experimental with his glazes and began drawing whimsical rabbits and other figures on his works.

1990s

First Tripod Hare Teapots appeared. The rabbit is a recurring motif in Ferguson’s work and was later joined by tortoises and other woodland animals and symbols.

1996

Retired after 32 years at the Kansas City Art Institute. His students included Andrea Gill, Richard Notkin, Akio Takamori and Kurt Weiser, who were drawn to Ferguson’s remarkable teaching methods.

2000

Created Tripod Teapot With Hares expressly for the Canton Museum of Art. By enlarging the teapot, Ferguson wanted the viewer to consider its shapes and surface transitions versus its use as a teapot.

2004

Died after a number of years in declining health.