Anna Silver at AMOCA: Celebrating a Life in Clay and Color
Silver Splendor: Reimagining Painting on Ceramic Vessel
Recognition in the art world is often mysterious—sometimes delayed, sometimes uneven. With Anna Silver, my longtime friend, confidante, and artistic compass, it arrived later than it should have. But when it came, it arrived in style.
At 90, Anna celebrated her first solo exhibition at the American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA) in Pomona, California. The show was vibrant. The space buzzed with energy. And we were there to celebrate a woman who has created over 2,500 ceramic works in her lifetime—each one a bold act of creative defiance.
Anna began as a painter. She studied in Paris with Fernand Léger in the 1950s and later at Otis Art Institute, where a circle of ceramic rebels—Peter Voulkos, Michael Frimkess, Billy Al Bengston, and Paul Soldner—drew her into clay. And that’s where she stayed, using ceramic vessels not as functional objects but as living, turning canvases.
One of the defining qualities of Anna Silver’s work is her transformation of the ceramic vase into a vibrant, three-dimensional canvas. She doesn’t just decorate objects—she paints them with intention, layering intricate patterns using techniques like brushwork, sgraffito, and underglaze. Each vessel becomes a fusion of utility and emotion, animated by movement, energy, and story.