Bean Finneran: Curves, Cones, and Rings
Audio Guide
Introduction
Audio Recording
Bean Finneran: Curves, Cones, and Rings
Bean Finneran: Curves, Cones, and Rings presents site-specific sculptures, each constructed with the artist’s established technique of easing and entwining together thousands of thin, ceramic forms she calls curves.
In her California studio, Finneran handmakes hundreds-of-thousands of curves by rolling clay coils, then shaping, smoothing, firing, glazing, and firing them again. When gently positioned and layered directly on the floor, they create large, nest-like structures the artist terms floor cones and floral rings. The cones and rings gain structural integrity from each small curve’s relationship to its neighbor, suggesting the interconnectedness of nature, Finneran’s ultimate inspiration. Each curve is unique unto itself — like snowflakes and blades of grass — no two are the same. The sculptures emphasize the power of our natural world. While each tiny part appears delicate and fragile on its own, the communal whole is durable and strong.
Organized by the Boise Art Museum
Sponsored by Kay Hardy and Gregory Kaslo
Bean Finneran, White Ring (18,000 Curves), 2025
Audio Recording
Bean Finneran
(b. 1947, Cleveland, Ohio)
White Ring (18,000 Curves), 2025
glazed ceramics
Courtesy of the Artist
Bean Finneran, Ultramarine Cone, 2025
Audio Recording
Bean Finneran
(b. 1947, Cleveland, Ohio)
Ultramarine Cone, 2025
glazed ceramics
Courtesy of the Artist
Bean Finneran, Orbit, 2025
Audio Recording
Bean Finneran
(b. 1947, Cleveland, Ohio)
Orbit, 2025
glazed ceramics
Courtesy of the Artist
Bean Finneran, Starry Night, 2025
Audio Recording
Bean Finneran
(b. 1947, Cleveland, Ohio)
Starry Night, 2025
glazed ceramics
Courtesy of the Artist
Bean Finneran, Floral Ring, 2025
Audio Recording
Bean Finneran
(b. 1947, Cleveland, Ohio)
Floral Ring, 2025
glazed ceramics
Courtesy of the Artist
About the Artist
Audio Recording
About the Artist
The artist’s time-intensive installation method recalls her years of touring in theater. “Both are about arriving in an empty space and putting something together in a limited period of time… in both, you have a sense that you’re not totally in control. I think that’s a wonderful thing.” Like performance art, her sculptures are impermanent — only existing once before being returned to their elemental curves, destined to become new sculptural forms in the future.
Bean Finneran was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1947, and currently lives and works in California. She spent time at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her sculptures have been exhibited internationally and are in museum collections around the world.
Video
Audio Recording
Bean Finneran: Ellipse, 2023
Courtesy of DavisKlemmGallery, Wiesbaden, Germany
This film was made for the exhibition Bean Finneran: Ellipse at Kunstverein Bellevue-Saal, in Wiesbaden, Germany.
Duration – 9:11 minutes
Bean Finneran, Yellow Polka Dot Curves with Glazed Tips, 2006
Audio Recording
Bean Finneran
(b. 1947, Cleveland, Ohio)
Yellow Polka Dot Curves with Glazed Tips, 2006
glazed ceramics
Boise Art Museum Permanent Collection
Purchased with funds donated by Anita Kay Hardy and Gregory Kaslo
Bean Finneran, Chartreuse and Yellow Cone, 2025
Audio Recording
Bean Finneran
(b. 1947, Cleveland, Ohio)
Chartreuse and Yellow Cone, 2025
glazed ceramics
Courtesy of the Artist
