“Curating Pan-America: Marinobel Smith & Early Studio Ceramists of Latin America”

On May 5th, 1941, Marinobel Smith disembarked a steamship on the coast of Brazil. She was an art consultant for International Business Machines Corporation (IBM); her goal: assemble a collection of contemporary ceramics from twenty Latin American countries. Smith only had three months to achieve the task—the pieces needed to arrive in Syracuse, New York, for the October opening of “Contemporary Ceramics of the Western Hemisphere,” an unprecedented exhibition surveying Pan-America’s work in clay. Along with describing the overlooked efforts of IBM curator Marinobel Smith, Carolyn Herrera-Perez’s lecture calls attention to the careers of various potters from Latin America. Among them are Carmen Saco, Diana Chiari de Gruber, and Josefina Plá, three renowned artists who helped shape Studio Ceramics in Peru, Panama, and Paraguay.