ST. PETERSBURG, FL.- Contemporary artists have taken ceramic art in entirely new directions. They have produced large-scale ceramic sculptures, often inspired by more traditional forms, such as Don Reitz’s Skirted Vessel in the Museum of Fine Art, St. Petersburg’s Sculpture Garden.

The objects in PLACE: Contemporary Ceramics by Jennifer Forsberg, Sarah Lindley, and Jeanne Quinn (March 5-April 24) similarly challenge conventional expectations of the medium. These artists express and interpret notions of space through three complementary approaches: form, structure, and air. Their inventive use of layers and elevations immediately engages the viewer.

Ms. Forsberg’s weighty forms seem both “earthbound” and of the body. Ms. Lindley’s structural creations are elevated on mounds and platforms. Ms. Quinn’s pieces are hung from above creating an ethereal quality. The three combined into a single gallery takes visitors on a journey into a new concept of place.

Ms. Forsberg’s Proportions (2010) demonstrates her desire to solidify the intangible. Amorphous forms are combined in response to an internal dialogue. She attempts to reconstruct or understand an experience or emotion through ceramics.

Ms. Lindley’s renditions of “small town” mills and contaminated watersheds loosely frame past hopes for prosperity. The fragility displayed by her use of clay suggests the increasing decline of American industry.

Ms. Quinn suspends porcelain objects that reference decorative elements. In Everything is Not as it Seems (2009), chandelier-like hangings invite participation in an environment which offers access into another possible reality.

“The Museum has a distinguished history of presenting and collecting ceramic art, including cutting-edge experimentation,” said Director Kent Lydecker. “The three artists represented in the exhibition join this energetic conversation within our museum. Our pre-Columbian objects take us back in time, while Jan Kaneko’s captivating Dango (1999) defines the exhibition space for our modernist and contemporary paintings and sculpture.”