arts&life

exhibit

Art Of
Containment

A local collector of ceramic

vessels donates pieces to the

FIA — where a portion is now

on display.

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A

LEFT: William Kidd,
Crusty Vessel, 2003,
earthenware. TOP:
Brett Freund, Gem Pot,
2015, porcelain.

details

“The Art of Containment: Vessels from the Sidney Swidler Collection” will be on view
through March 18 at the Flint Institute of Arts. $5-$7 Sundays-Fridays; free Saturdays; free
every day for those 12 and younger. (810) 234-1695; flintarts.org.

46

November 2 • 2017

jn

displayed ceramic bowl, complet-
ed by a woman who escaped the
Nazis, inspired a decades-long
ce
ceramics collection that has enriched
th
the holdings of two museums.
The piece, by Lucie Rie, who moved
to England when Austria was being
ov
overtaken, was shown at a Boston gal-
ler
lery in 1984 and caught the eye of Sidney
Sw
Swidler as he was out for a stroll.
Swidler, then a former Detroiter and
no
now returned to the metro area, was so
im
impressed with the piece, already sold
bu
but not yet delivered, that he looked for
ot
other ceramics to enhance his home.
That interest grew to a collection of
m
more than 1,200 works, many donated to
th
the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento
an
and others recently gifted to the Flint
In
Institute of Arts (FIA), where 50 of
11
112 pieces will be on display through
M
March 18 in an exhibit titled “The Art of
Co
Containment: Vessels from the Sidney
Sw
Swidler Collection.”
The exhibit inaugurates the Ann K.
W
Walch-Chan Gallery following a month-
lon
long closure at the museum. The display
wi
will be joined by “Size Matters: Big &
Sm
Small Works from the FIA Collection,”
wh
which explores artistic scale, and “The
Ec
Eccentric Vision of William Stolpin,”
wh
which presents a varied approach to
printmaking.
“The bowl by Lucie Rie was strikingly
beautiful,” recalls Swidler, a retired archi-
tect soon to celebrate his 90th birthday.

“At that time, she was one of the most
famous Western potters in the world.
She died in the 1990s, and prices for her
work have skyrocketed.
“Within a week of seeing that bowl, I
went out and bought a bowl by a Boston
potter. I kept on buying without realizing
I was becoming a collector.”
Although most of the ceramics given
to Flint are by American-born art-
ists, such as a cup and saucer by Chris
Arensdorf, there is some representation
of international heritage — as examples,
a vase by David Pellerin from Canada
and a jar by Akira Satake from Japan.
“I have collected what I find beautiful,
and I don’t let too many outside opinions
affect me,” Swidler explains. “My tastes
have changed, but I still love some of the
older pieces that I don’t have anymore.
“Although I do discuss pottery and
am affected by that in some way, I’ve
had very few regrets. There are no more
than a half-dozen pieces I regret having
bought.”
Swidler, who graduated from Central
High School, majored in English at
Wayne State University before earning an
architectural degree from North Carolina
State University. His career focused on
contemporary designs and brought
him into the realm of both homes and
massive projects, such as the Verrazano
Narrows Bridge that goes across New
York Harbor.
“I gave 800 pieces to the Crocker
Museum in 2009 because I was getting
on in years,” says Swidler, who moved to
Bloomfield Hills to be near relatives. “I
chose the Crocker because administra-
tors met my requirements.
“The museum published a beautiful,
coffee-table catalog with a hard cover
and everything in color. I’ve talked
to many young potters out of school,
and they told me a number of ceramic
schools use it as a textbook. It has 800
pictures of a wide variety of pots.”
Swidler’s requirements, also met in

