Recall. Reframe. Respond. The Art of Paul Scott

October 10, 2025–January 4, 2026

Vance Waddell and Mayerson Galleries (Galleries 124 and 125) and select Cincinnati Wing and American Galleries
Free Admission

At first glance, artist Paul Scott’s transfer-printed tableware* may look familiar—like something you have seen in your grandparents’ china cabinet or a second-hand shop. Look closer and you will notice subtle differences that add up to a powerful narrative shift. Scott (British, b. 1953) subverts this seemingly unassuming blue-and-white “cultural wallpaper” to create sharp, thought-provoking social commentary. Working with new ceramic forms or repurposing antique pieces, Scott breaks, reassembles, erases, and adds details using screenprinting, engraving, and collage processes to create new “historical” patterns. Broadly, his works address environmental change and crises, human rights, ongoing legacies of imperialism, and contemporary global politics.

During a visit to Ohio University in 1999, Scott encountered a new genre of historical blue-and-white transferware. Beginning in the mid-1800s, manufacturers in Staffordshire, England, produced these objects specifically for American collectors. Long familiar with British transfer-printed ceramics, Scott knew little about those made for export—wares that memorialized certain American figures, landscapes, architecture, industries, and historical events. Since then, Scott has become one of a long line of travelers and observers who have visited and then written about or depicted this country, offering an outsider’s perspective. To this end, the artist’s New American Scenery series reflects his personal experiences of being and traveling in America, and, in his words, the need to “rebalance the narrative with something more contemporary and inclusive.”

Ripe for reframing and responding, the museum’s American art collections will serve as a springboard for Scott to present existing and new works, inviting various perspectives and initiating conversations about our shared American experience.

*Transfer-printed ware, or transferware, describes industrially produced ceramic tableware that has a decorative pattern applied by transferring a print first from an engraved copper plate to special paper and finally to the ceramic’s surface. This term also applies to modern wares with printed graphic surfaces made using more recent printmaking techniques and decal transfer technologies.

Accessing the Exhibition

This exhibition is presented on the museum’s first and second floors. It is recommended that visitors begin their experience in Galleries 125 and 124, located directly across from the Terrace Café. Then, follow the map provided in these galleries to access additional works presented in the first-floor Cincinnati Wing and the second-floor American galleries. Elevators A and B provide the most direct access to the second-floor galleries. Seating is provided throughout the galleries. Large print label booklets are available in Gallery 125 and online. Audio of select exhibition interpretation is available online and on the Bloomberg Connects app. For fidgets, social narratives, sensory headphones, and other tools, visit our CAM Access Cart. The Access Cart is located in the Schmidlapp Gallery just beyond the museum’s front lobby.