It's remarkable to find a high-quality national, let alone international, survey like Gigantic Ceramic Figurines at any small community craft workshop, but the proximity of the Kirkland Arts Center in Kirkland, Washington makes it all the more a desired destination.

KIM TUCKER "Love's Monster: Touching Hands" by Kim Tucker, ceramic, mixed media.

Invited juror Patti Warashina, a celebrated ceramic sculptor in her own right, accepted 40 entries that address the controversial issue of the clay figurine, even if all don't automatically qualify as figurines. Basically, the figurine's fate has always been to avoid knickknack accusations in favor of attaining sculptural presence.

With some larger (up to 36 inches) and others quite small, there is a heartening variety to Warashina's choices that makes the trip to Kirkland well worthwhile. That's not to say each piece is of equal or, in a few cases, minimally exhibit-level quality, but there is enough breadth of styles, subjects and content to prove Warashina's legendary statement about ceramics that it "can be any thing, do any thing."

Versatility of materials rules the day in "Gigantic," from earthy stoneware or airy porcelain to high-tech polymer clay, an industrial ceramic-and-plastic blend. Viewers will find disembodied heads, coffee-table tchotchkes, cartoon figures and bizarrely anatomized dolls (all handmade, of course).

Artistic director Jason Huff has by now perfected the art of the lighting and display of ceramics in this show as well as other Kirkland Arts Center craft exhibits. He's put the best work on the street-level gallery, then created a chamber of horrors of heads and faces on the mezzanine landing, and put the most mawkish works in a well-lit room behind that.

KELLY WEAVER "Gente Not Numbers: Farm Worker Man" by Anjel Luna, ceramic.

Warashina's eye isn't flawless, even though she has judged hundreds of such shows before. She may have a weakness for work that resembles (or flatters) hers, like Bulgarian artist Biliana Popova's all-white "Dreaming" head or L.A. artist Tanya Batura's derivative "Rosebud."

The really small works tend to deliver the biggest rewards. Peter Goldlust's zero-karat-goldplated polymer clay "financial worry dolls" are the perfect size to finger while frantically calling your broker. Paul Metivier's untitled wall mask is a bit larger; it also qualifies as the show's most mysterious piece.

Everyone will choose their own favorites and learn a lot about the art of ceramics in the process. Like Warashina's super-supportive teaching approach during her 25 years at the University of Washington School of Art, "Gigantic" endorses the upper end of clay's virtuoso properties: pliability, diversity and illusionistic potential. In general, there are lots of extraordinary technical skills on display.

RICHARD NICOL "Yellow Fever" by Donna Lindeman, ceramic.

A few pieces go beyond the statuette category to set up more complex sculptural mini-environments, like Sewa Khalsa's sci-fi porcelain aliens in a black case, or Daniela Rumpf's three nude anorexics posed before three small gilt table mirrors.

Getting the picture? Some very large worlds can be contained within the figurine genre. That risks overloading art history's earliest representation of humans the terra-cotta effigy. With more than 4,000 years of accomplishments to contend with, today's clay sculptors are bravely adding their own ideas to the stimulating mix that is indeed "Gigantic." - Seattle Times - ArtsyStuff Magazine