California Dreamers: Ceramic Artists from the MAD Collection is presented in conjunction with Bigger, Better, More: The Art of Viola Frey to give a sense of the lively era in which she was working. At the beginning of Viola Frey's career- the early 1950s, the art climate in California encouraged experimentation. Far removed from the New York art world and its hierarchical and conventional definitions of fine art, California artists were free to explore with more personal and artistic freedom. They created work which was informal and vibrant, introducing the concepts of Abstract Expressionism and Funk to the field of ceramics.