DOYLE LANE: MASTER OF CLAY

The first comprehensive publication on Black mid-century artist Doyle Lane, known for his vibrantly glazed ceramics

The trailblazing Los Angeles ceramicist Doyle Lane (1925–2002) is celebrated for his iconic “weed pots”—delicate, small-scale earthenware vessels with colorful glazes and rich textures, widely represented in the history of California Design.

This volume brings together for the first time the breadth of Lane’s practice, including his early utilitarian pots, clay paintings, decorative objects, and beads, as well as the monumental tile murals he created as commissions for LA architects. Like his West Coast peers Peter Voulkos and Paul Soldner, Doyle Lane saw himself as not only a craftsman, but also a modern artist experimenting with abstract expressionist and hard-edge forms with his assemblages and reliefs.

In this long-overdue retrospective, Dr. Lauren Cross traces Lane’s entire artistic career, from his family heritage and upbringing in New Orleans, to his relationships in the diverse community of LA’s El Sereno neighborhood and Brockman Gallery in Leimert Park, to his innovative entrepreneurial approach to making a living from his art.

 Cross analyzes Lane’s work within the context of a “womanist” worldview, one that acknowledges the humanity and communities of the artist that informed his work. The volume concludes with personal commentary from Lane himself, from a never-before-published, in-depth interview he had with two fellow ceramicists in 1988.

• 144 pages
• Hardcover
• Published by The Huntington