Kurt Weiser, a renowned ceramic artist recognized for his innovative techniques, made an appearance at the ASU Art Museum on Friday to showcase his new book and ceramic exhibition titled “Eden Revisited.”

The artist is currently a regents’ professor at the Herberger College of the Arts and continues to compose ceramics at his local art studio in Tempe.

The 59-year-old Weiser said the quality that sets him apart from other artists working in the same field is his age.

The artist has been creating pottery and pencil drawings since the early 1970s. He’s been described as an “unassuming genius,” perhaps for his attention to detail and depiction of lush nature scenes.

The ASU Art Museum is one of eight museums in which Weiser’s “Eden Revisited” ceramic exhibition will be on display throughout 2009.

Weiser’s recognizable china-painted porcelain is inspired by his turbulent relationship with the world around him.

“Nature and I never got along,” Weiser said. “Somewhere in the midst of this struggle, I realized that the materials are there to allow me to say what I need to say, not to tell me what to say.”

The artist’s ceramic designs have been described as provocative, unsettling and even lustful by art critics.

His designs are often inspired by fluid nature scenes, in which the characters and objects take on a shape that flows along the pottery’s curves.

Friday’s exhibition included more than 30 ceramic creations and sketches spanning many decades of design.

While art patrons scoured the exhibition’s display, Weiser signed copies of his book and sipped wine with some of the attendees of the museum’s special event.

Peter Held, ASU Art Museum curator of ceramics, assembled a timeline of the artist’s work for the public.

Among the pottery shielded behind glass cases on the showroom floor were such works as “Bird Merchant,” 1991, and “Night Harvest,” 2002, two colorful and detailed designs.

The exhibition also featured Weiser’s Globe Series collection, in which globe-shaped pottery is set upon an axis.

A preliminary sketch of one of Weiser’s works included in the series was drawn on a piece of stationery from the Helena Great Northern Hotel during Weiser’s stay in Montana.

The pencil drawing was framed and hung beside the finished product.

“A cast of other characters and environments … just seem to show up to complete the picture,” he said.

Reach the reporter at kelsey.groetken@asu.edu.