Transformation 9: Contemporary Works in Ceramics by Contemporary Craft

S O C I E T Y

F O R

C O N T E M P O R A R Y

C R A F T

TRANSFORMATION

CONTEMPORARY WORKS IN CERAMICS The Elizabeth R. Raphael Founder’s Prize Exhibition

Front cover: Lauren Mabry, Cylinder, 2014

Red earthenware, slips, glaze, 6" Ă&#x2014; 8" Ă&#x2014; 8" Inside front cover and spine: Linda Swanson, Cypreus Lumen, 2013, detail Crystalline glazed porcelain, painted aluminum 22" diameter x 5 1/2"

TRANSFORMATION

NINE

Contemporary Works in Ceramics The Elizabeth R. Raphael Founder’s Prize Exhibition

April 25 – November 1, 2014

Society for Contemporary Craft 2100 Smallman Street Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222 www.contemporarycraft.org 412.261.7003

Our mother’s passion for art influenced everything she did in her life. She was committed to bringing art to her community. She was particularly interested in supporting emerging artists. The Society for Contemporary Craft reflects this commitment. Our mother passed her interest and enthusiasm for the arts along to us and impacted our life choices significantly. This award allows us to honor her and share her legacy. Alexandra Raphael Cathy Raphael Transformation 9: Contemporary Works in Ceramics, the 2013 Elizabeth R. Raphael Founder’s Prize was made possible by Alexandra and Catherine Raphael, the Elizabeth R. Raphael Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation, the Allegheny Regional Asset District, The Fine Foundation and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Since 1997, when the Elizabeth R. Raphael Founder’s Prize exhibition series was launched to recognize excellence in contemporary craft, each of the nine biennial shows has focused on the theme of transformation. This theme was initially suggested by Elizabeth Raphael’s daughters — Alex Raphael, Cathy Raphael, and the late Margaret Raphael. They felt it was an appropriate theme for this series created in honor of their mother, a woman who believed passionately in the transformative effect art could have on our lives. Raphael’s lifelong ambition was to provide opportunities for Pittsburghers to be exposed to great art by artists whose work they wouldn’t have the opportunity to see otherwise. Although transformation wasn’t initially intended to be the theme for all subsequent Raphael Prize exhibitions, it soon became clear that it could provide a flexible framework for the series over time that would remain fresh and open to interpretation across different media. Since our mission at Contemporary Craft is to engage the public in creative experiences across all craft media, we work within a very large field and thus are challenged to stay current with new artists and trends emerging in all media. The Raphael Prize series has enabled us to dive deeply into one specific medium with each biennial show and thus expand our reach. Through these shows we have documented a series of important visual conversations that reflect new directions and current concerns that have taken place within the craft field over the past two decades. While our initial intention was to create a Raphael Prize series that would make a significant difference in the life of each winner, helping to launch an emerging artist or move an established artist’s career in a new direction, we didn’t realize how much it would also transform our organization. Through nine biennial exhibitions, we have showcased the work of 280+ finalists representing the highest levels of excellence and innovation in contemporary craft. We have dramatically expanded our network and discovered exciting opportunities for additional programming (not only the finalists selected for each exhibition but many other talented artists who entered these competitions). We have been honored to work with 18 guest jurors (exemplary artists, curators, directors, and other thought leaders in the field) who shared their expertise, their passion, and their rigorous standards through lively debates that pushed us to reach consensus on work that was exceptional and merited designation as a prize winner. Additionally, the growing number of international artists selected as Raphael Prize finalists has taken us beyond the boundaries of the American craft movement to participate increasingly in global conversations about craft. These secondary benefits of hosting the Raphael Prize series have truly benefitted our organization and our staff, and informed our artistic direction.

We are deeply grateful to the Raphaels for having the vision to see what the potential impact of the Raphael Prize could be and for so generously funding it over the years. When a donor steps forward and commits to a new idea, you never know where it will lead or how it might change the course of an organization’s future. What the Raphaels have made possible has truly honored their mother’s legacy in the field of craft and has brought about transformation on many levels. We are indebted to them for this gift. I would also like to thank all of our jurors for their generous commitment of time and effort, and particularly catalogue contributors Josh Green and Jae Won Lee for their essays. Josh’s informative catalogue essay provides excellent insights into current trends and concerns in contemporary ceramics that are evident in this year’s exhibition, and Jae Won Lee’s heartfelt and compassionate reflection on the jurying process is a gift to anyone who has ever dared apply for a juried exhibition. In closing, I want to recognize the dedication and professionalism of our staff and volunteers at Contemporary Craft who worked for over a year to bring this show to fruition. I gratefully acknowledge their contributions, especially Director of Exhibitions Kate Lydon for her leadership, fine installation, and unflagging commitment to excellence at every step along the way; Exhibitions Apprentice Natalie Sweet for her assistance across all phases of exhibition development; and our long-time Raphael Prize volunteer Suzie Scott, who helped organize the jurying process and made a special trip back to Pittsburgh to help with the initial jurying session. We were also fortunate to work once again with Paul Schifino, who has created yet another elegant design in our series of Raphael Prize publications. Transformation 9: Contemporary Works in Ceramics, the 2013 Elizabeth R. Raphael Founder's Prize was made possible by Alexandra Raphael and Catherine Raphael, with additional support from the Elizabeth R. Raphael Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation, the Allegheny Regional Asset District, The Fine Foundation and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Janet L. McCall Executive Director

FLASH OF TRANSFORMATION: CLAY CRAFTS THE MOMENT

The art world we have come to know in the modern to contemporary era is a fluid one. Like a volume of water, its shape invariably transforms to correspond with whatever construction or void it fills. As soon as we imagine we know what art’s limits, meaning or purpose might be, it will immediately take that form. As we move beyond initial sensory experiences using our minds to construct conceptual frameworks for analysis, synthesis and judgment, our understanding of art’s scope and meaning can attune our perception of previously unnoticed currents. We make continual adjustments to influences flowing within. While creative achievement is sometimes celebrated through competitive reviews like the Raphael Founder’s Prize in Ceramics, the imagining, inquiry and labor out of which the work is born remains focused on the intrinsic joy and struggle of making. Many of us have a first artistic encounter with clay in early childhood. The material is so widely available. The fact that it exerts little resistance to human touch makes it an extraordinarily accessible medium through which to explore form, shape, texture and volume in three dimensions. Clay’s receptive capacity also connects us to the earth and to one another like no other form of artistic practice. These qualities of accessibility sometimes lead to blind alleys of artistic inquiry. The material’s complexity and nuance can absorb decades, simply working to grasp, build on or rediscover what came before. Seduced first with clay’s receptivity to touch, the challenge of art is to wed knowing ways of the hand to social, conceptual and expressive aspirations. The sensory experience of art can be immediately gratifying, but it is only a first important stage of an unfolding correspondence with a creator’s work and mission. Following initial captivation by color, texture and form, it is through sustained looking, thinking and assessment that we enter more fully into the work. Ceramics is both an art form and a technology. For thousands of years humankind has fashioned useful, decorative and ritualistic articles from plastic earth. Subsumed in the heat of fiery chambers, raw earth materials become durable ceramic objects that survive the batter of everyday use and natural disasters to persist beyond the dangling thread ends of generations. The elemental mysteries of these materials, and the knowing hands that transform them into durable objects embody legacies of nuanced tradition critical to our understanding of who we are. The works we encountered in consideration of Transformations 9: Contemporary Works in Ceramics demonstrate that artists are re-imagining the ceramic medium as a continuing discourse within the broader realm of artistic expression. They are also reflective of other trends affecting art’s perception and role in society. In art history and criticism, the notion of the painterly is a term applied to works that display visually open form and evidence of gestural process. This sense of open form was apparent in the works of the artists that we singled out for awards and honors. The works of Linda Swanson, Lauren Mabry, Lee Somers, and Lauren Gallaspy share a sense of experimentation and freedom in their use of material and its formal

precedents. Moreover, their methods and inquiry embody fluent understanding of ceramic processes while opening new ways of looking at the material as a vehicle for ideas and expression. Rather than eschew ceramic history in search of untethered innovation, they are diving deep into the medium’s correspondence with a broader art-world and a culture marked by concerns for environmental fragility, the fleeting nature of time and continual reinvention of identity in a complex world. This is not to say that other works did not make strong impressions. The adjudication of the Raphael Founder’s Prize is somewhat unique in two respects. The first is that it involves a two-stage review with artists first submitting an array of digital images and a work statement. Following this, finalists are required to create and share new actual works. An additional unique feature is that artists are asked to respond to the theme of transformation. Each review of work demanded difficult decisions about what to include and ultimately what works to single out for special honor. The jury team approached this challenge from different backgrounds and perspectives. Shared respect, communication and dedication to the process of consideration were essential and valued. All the artists submitting work deserve commendation for responding to so rigorous a challenge. While history’s artifacts may seem immutable, craft is a living sensibility and continues to evolve. Lewis Hyde wrote, “the material world speaks back to us constantly, by its resistance, by its ambiguity, and by the way it changes as circumstances change…” Once understood through a vernacular of objects (vessels), utility, and purpose, craft is undergoing re-examination as an attitude about being in the world. Respectful of skill, time and mindfulness required to advance it, craft is responsive to the natural world of materials. It understands that mastery engages intimate correspondences of hand, eye and mind. Craft invites us to work autonomously in relation to tradition and guides us to align our concepts and labor with awareness of the earth’s limited resources. Craft is relational, teaching us that objects and environments inform our social interactions, aspirations and concepts of identity. Writing on craftsmanship, Richard Sennett uses the term “corporeal anticipation” to describe the embodied awareness that enables a creator to be one step ahead of where her material wants to flow. This sense of intuitive responsiveness is evident throughout the work of the Raphael Founder’s Prize finalists. It binds work to play, the wellspring of imagination, cooperation and invention. Joshua Green

Executive Director of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), Joshua Green studied ceramics at Bennington College and Cranbrook Academy of Art. His writings on clay, art, education and community have appeared in American Craft, Ceramics: Art and Perception, Studies in Art Education (NAEA) and publications of NCECA, the National Endowment for the Arts, and UNESCO.

SOME GIBBERISH ON THE ROAD...

JANUARY 8, 2013

SHOULD I DO IT?

I am considering serving as external juror for the Raphael Founder’s Prize and Exhibition. I can participate in this selection process as a practicing artist who knows what it is like to be a maker, then an exhibitor. What goes on in between? As juror, I can be in that limbo space between the private and the public, to notice strengths and weaknesses on other artists’ behalf. I found the Society for Contemporary Craft (SCC) fascinating from my first visit to Pittsburgh during the 2008 NCECA. Pittsburgh left on me an indelible impression and the city hosted NCECA wonderfully after a sudden shift from New Orleans due to disastrous hurricane Katrina. Learning about the Raphael Founder’s event, I am humbled to be asked to serve as a juror. To honor Elizabeth Raphael, the late SCC Founder, her three daughters made this event possible with their generosity and passion. AUGUST 12, 2013

IN & OUT

I recall a burger joint in California called In and Out. As the name indicates it was speedy to get your quality burger. One of the most daunting jury tasks is to judge other fellow artists’ long artistic endeavors with such a short time span of only a few hours. A diverse range of artistic expressions and technical approaches were assembled in this competition. Continual development in the field of contemporary ceramics toward outstanding artistic standards and technical mastery make the jurying process complex. The jury panel raised initial questions to make decisions; is this work in or out, why? We viewed and discussed all the entries, but most of the time, it was quick and agreeable to decide ‘in and out’ for the first round, to my dismay. What makes the ‘in’ category out of various styles and diverse approaches of ceramics practice? How do jurors come to a decision despite differing viewpoints and opinions? Six of us were polite in listening to and accommodating different viewpoints and tried to be fair and thoughtful, but the jury process is actually subjective and seemingly unkind. Selecting work sharpens my critical opinions. Some deliberations were followed by votes to a democratic arrival in selecting 31 artists. AUGUST 13, 2013

ACCEPTANCE VS. REJECTION

Leaving Pittsburgh, I felt relieved to have the first part of the job done, but also felt like a villain for rejecting those who didn’t make the list of 31. I applaud all the artists’ courage and hopefulness for entering this competition. A lot of us, artists, often enter the juried shows, quite reluctantly for various reasons. Waiting is no fun. Rejection hits hard. I know how discouraging it is, or even hurtful to the core, to be rejected and I felt the disappointment of those who must have felt that they failed. I have been there. Nobody seems to know we have been working so hard. We don’t want to enter art competitions any more. We can’t deal with rejections any longer. Enough is enough! I encourage all the artists who entered this competition to stay in the studio, keep exploring, testing, succeeding, and persevering through the rejection to keep making more. Being artists is not about wining or losing, but rejection is part of our lives. We simply keep moving forward. In the very same sanctuary of our studio, we continue our creative journeys with faith in our own work.

MARCH 1, 2014

HOW FAR CAN WE GO?

While driving back home in another blizzard in March in Michigan, I was pondering what comment I should write down on my role as an external juror. I’m heavily burdened by the uncertain safety of driving in the dark as well as by the jury task of selecting of prizewinners on February 22. I was shaken as the final result might differ if I weren’t on the jury panel. Honestly, when I embarked on my artist’s career path, I thought, if the work is good, then that good work naturally deserves recognition. People would recognize that quality of your work, but in reality? Not really. So not only young, emerging artists, but also established ones enter for juried shows and competitions for exhibiting their works in public. Art making is so serious and difficult that often I question how far I can go. But why do I still keep struggling with the beginner’s seriousness of creative life, in solitude, in anonymity, without much reward? Why? Because I can’t think of anything else I want to do. We are called to make things. We’ll see how far we can go. MARCH 5, 2014

ALL THE WAY...

“ Surely all art is the result of one’s having been in danger, of having gone through an experience all the way to the end, where no one can go any further. The further one goes, the more private, the more personal, the more singular an experience becomes, and the thing one is making is, finally, the necessary, irrepressible, and, as nearly as possible, definitive utterance of this singularity.” Rainer Maria Rilke Now, which work merits a prize? For my part, as I humbly firm up and embrace my 3H philosophy, I approach others’ artwork with the philosophy of Heart-Hand-Head. I expect that visual impact shakes my head to think hard and the compelling quality stirs something in my heart. It should do something for me-I should be smitten, moved, or disturbed. They should inspire me, so I want to return to my studio again, as a total novice, renewed. My head is clear, my heart pounding, and my hands busy… There is nothing new under the sun, but still I need to see the uniqueness and subjectivity that arrived in a new territory. I am drawn to work that manifests authenticity and sincerity. I congratulate the artists whose work was selected to the Transformation exhibition and especially those four prize-winning artists. Ceramic art is the material evidence, the most humanistic, honest, and humble kind (another 3H combo)… The selected works evidence artists’ hard work of trials and errors, developing and deepening concepts, and pushing all the way. Then material transformation occurs when an artist recognizes the harmony, to which viewers are aspired to hope again in their lives as human beings. It was my honor to serve as external juror with Joshua Green and I would like to thank Kate, Janet, and their staff for their hard work in organizing for the competition and preparing for the upcoming exhibition in April. I believe SCC will make this year’s Transformation 9 exhibition another excellent showcase of contemporary ceramics. Jae Won Lee

Jae Won Lee is Professor of Art at Michigan State University in East Lansing and has been visiting artist, educator, and artist-in-residence at many universities, museums, and residency programs. Her porcelain and mixed media work has been included in many collections and widely exhibited nationally and internationally.

THE

ARTISTS 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70

BARTEL SUSAN BEINER BRIAN BOLDON PATTIE CHALMERS ANDRÉA KEYS CONNELL THADDEUS (TJ) ERDAHL HEATHER MAE ERICKSON MICHELLE ERICKSON LAUREN GALLASPY GERIT GRIMM CHUCK JOHNSON ALEXA KUS MARTINA LANTIN CALVIN MA LAUREN MABRY JONATHAN MESS ANDREA MOON JULIE MOON PETER MORGAN ERICA NICKOL SARA PARENT-RAMOS JESSICA PUTNAM-PHILLIPS KEVIN SNIPES LEE SOMERS MILES SPADONE LINDA SWANSON RYAN TAKABA IAN F. THOMAS SHALENE VALENZUELA VALERIE ZIMANY LILLY ZUCKERMAN TOM

BARTEL TOM

Fertility Figure My work is constructed to refer to the body and to stylized surrogates for the body, such as dolls, toys, and figurines. The questions that arise from this cultural mishmash fuel my creative practice. I use the human condition as a point of departure. Themes relating to gender, rites of passage, fertility and mortality are constant â&#x20AC;&#x153;threadsâ&#x20AC;? within my creative practice. The concepts of mask, disguise and transformation are fundamental to my concerns.

S O U R C E : Decorated skeleton, Chiesa di San Cristoforo, Siena, Italy

Fertility Figure, 2013 Ceramic, mixed media 40" Ă&#x2014; 20" Ă&#x2014; 18" Photo: Steve Paszt

BEINER SUSAN

Unintended Consequences As we continue to negatively impact our environment and deplete the earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s natural resources plant structures are adapting, releasing energy of color and becoming sterile. In trying to balance these changes, we are attempting to control the characteristics of plant life by promoting hybrids and germinating new species in laboratory environments. The results of these plant experiments performed in artificial environments and reproduced repeatedly for commercial needs, is the creation of a flora rich in color but artificial and sterile. Plantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; loss of pigment foreshadows future disruption of our ecosystem.

S O U R C E : Looking Out the Window, concept sketch for Unintended Consequences

Unintended Consequences, 2014 Wall Piece Porcelain, foam, wood 42" x 30" x 10" Floor Piece Stoneware, porcelain, foam 43" Ă&#x2014; 11" Ă&#x2014; 11" Photo: Susan Beiner

BOLDON BRIAN

to move like liquid Our relationship with technology is primal, it is how we access and navigate the world, extend ourselves beyond the limitations of our bodies, create meaning, and share ideas. Physical material transformation embedded in the human record reveals our intimacy and inseparability with technology as a pre-condition for creating our â&#x20AC;&#x153;World.â&#x20AC;? The synthesis that I create between digital images and clay suspends the viewer between what appears to be incompatible technologies as electronic imagery fuses into form in space. I use the physical materiality of clay and the ephemeral aspects of digital media to tap into our biological virtual selves, our internal framing, our inner sense of where we are in our bodies in the world.

SOURCE:

Concept sketch for to move like liquid

to move like liquid, 2014 Stoneware, digital ceramic prints, stainless steel 24" Ă&#x2014; 120" Ă&#x2014; 120" (installation variable) Photo: Amy Baur

CHALMERS PATTIE

Stumpland As a sculptor I create narrative tableaux rendering solid accounts that dance between the familiar and the unfathomable. By depicting a reduced distance between fact and fiction a new perspective from memory enhanced by imagination is revealed in an expanded pictorial space. Stories from a parent, a teacher, a movie, a dream â&#x20AC;&#x201D; bits and pieces exaggerated or diminished â&#x20AC;&#x201D; are collaged together in an order that corresponds to my memories. Emotion and honesty are the glue of the assemblage. The stories I depict are false and true, a merging of experience with imaginings, drifting together into semi-fictional vignettes. What results is a reflection on a family history, a layer of fancy, a misremembered fact and then the collision of ideas into something new.

SOURCE:

Concept image for Stumpland

Stumpland, 2013 Clay, mixed media 81" × 36" × 36" photo: Pattie Chalmers

CONNELL ANDRÉA KEYS

Don’t Forget We’re Connected Don’t Forget We’re Connected deals with the transformative power of relationships over time. Transformations are often considered abrupt, with a clearly defined before and after. The transformative power of a relationship is different if that transformation occurs over time. Two figures are connected, one growing from another’s windswept hair. The figure on the bottom appears distant, unaffected, and oblivious to unstable conditions. The top figure, in an undefined stage of development, is vulnerable, unsteady, and exposed. The hair that connects them is evocative of wet clay. This shared malleability suggests that, though who we become is our responsibility, our transformations are never ours alone.

SOURCE:

Concept sketches for Don’t Forget We’re Connected

Don’t Forget We’re Connected, 2014 Terracotta, oil paint, stains, india ink, acrylic paint 60" × 22" × 23" Photo: Andréa Keys Connell

ERDAHL THADDEUS (TJ)

King for a Day, Queen for the Night King for a Day, Queen for the Night is a narrative bust depicting an aging drag queen. Her cracked weathered skin is a testimony to layers of makeup, that create a veneer, hiding his true identity. Her pink hair, rigidly cut off at the ends is a glimpse into the structures underneath the facade. He is purposefully lacking much of the glamour and glitz associated with many drag queens, exposing the fading light of her youth. I am intrigued by the subculture surrounding drag queens; the double life, the secretiveness, and the concealment of identity. Masters at camouflage, they purposefully over-expose themselves through flamboyant showmanship and pride, theatrical makeup and costuming. Some lead double lives, while others exist primarily in drag. Visually and emotionally, their transformation is full of heightened drama as it exploits, almost via caricature, very specific and extreme feminine stereotypes.

Concept sketch for King for a Day, Queen for the Night SOURCE:

King for a Day, Queen for the Night, 2013 Ceramics, glaze, slip, underglaze, acrylic paint, fake eye lashes 34" × 24" × 23" Photo: Thaddeus (TJ) Erdahl

ERICKSON HEATHER MAE

Pick Mix/All Sorts Collection Composition No.1 Our knowledge of the objects used in the dining ritual, and their assigned functions, born of historical usage and innate familiarity, is limiting and lacks creativity and vision. I explore the possibility of changing the way we treat the vital ritual of dining. By designing functional tableware, I seek to direct the eye, hand and mouth to treat food differently. At the forefront of a trend where both industry and design play roles in studio art practice, my work raises awareness of the situation and sparks contemplation before merely devouring the elements. I question function by combining the common and understood methods of use, and proposing new formats.

SOURCE:

Candy composition

Pick Mix / All Sorts Collection Composition No.1, 2014 Porcelain (installation variable) Photo: Wes Magyar

ERICKSON MICHELLE

Rake’s Progress: The Orgy Scene Through my practice as a contemporary artist, I rediscover lost ceramic techniques and consider the social, political and environmental context of ceramic history during the age of colonialism. For the subject of this work, Rake’s Progress: The Orgy Scene, I have chosen to portray a curiously captivating character created by the 18th century satirist William Hogarth. An orgy of ceramic history, the portrait bust is writhe with Ming porcelain dragon tattoos, grotto conglomerations of shell dishes, life cast shells collected along the River Thames and octopi from London’s famed Billingsgate fish market.

S O U R C E : A Rake’s Progress: The Orgy, engraving from William Hogarth’s 1735 painting series (detail)

Rake’s Progress: The Orgy Scene, 2014 Porcelain 15" × 6" × 8" Photo: Robert Hunter

GALLASPY LAUREN

Honorable Mention

Giving Up the Ghost The things that I love and the things that I fear refuse to balance out. They scrap like cats, cloak and conceal like kudzu, terrify and delight like a large, shaky lake or a dog swimming hard towards a floating ball. My work is about imbalance: the vulnerability of living things, and the sometimes violent, sometimes pleasurable, almost always complex consequences that occur when bodies and objects in the world come into contact with one another. I use ornamentation, obsessive mark making, and imagery as a kind of devotional or transformational act, a way to render interior spaces and intense psychological experiences physically. For me, clay is a covert material, a wilderness in which animals of association hide, a co-operative contradiction both molecularly and metaphorically.

SOURCE:

Concept sketch for Giving Up the Ghost

Giving Up the Ghost, 2014 Porcelain, glaze, china paint 16" Ă&#x2014; 9" Ă&#x2014; 7" photo: Lauren Gallaspy

GRIMM GERIT

Looting of the Farnese Bull On my last trip to Italy I was so blown away by the artwork I saw that I created a series of sculptures that reinterpreted my favorite masterworks from the history of European art and exhibited them in my installation Triumphzug (Triumphal procession) at the Northern Clay Center. For instance a tree I created, one of the 30 pieces in the show, was inspired by the fresco from Andrea di Bonaiuto in the Spanish Chapel of Santa Maria Novella. Looting of the Farnese Bull is inspired by the Farnese Bull sculpture now on view in Naples, one of the most impressive sculptures I have ever seen.

S O U R C E : The Farnese Bull (AD 222â&#x20AC;&#x201C;235), Farnese Collection, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Naples, Italy PHOTO: Marie-Lan Nguyen, ÂŠ Creative Commons, The Farnese Bull, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Farnese_Bull_MAN_Napoli_Inv6002_n07.jpg

Looting of the Farnese Bull, 2013 Stoneware 23" × 33" × 13" Photo: Gerit Grimm

JOHNSON CHUCK

Goat This work is part of an ongoing series that references ideas of social mobility, institutionalized religion, cultural conflict, and especially our declining environment. I combine these broad concepts with my more formal interest in three-dimensional forms including Gothic architecture, industrial objects, and endangered animals. Basically, I am interested in exploring contemporary issues by creating narratives using imagery with metaphorical possibilities. In this piece, the goat is sculpted in a rough and organic fashion emphasizing its temporary and vulnerable qualities. Contrasting the goat are the hard-edged and linear portions of the sculpture including the accordion imposed on the animalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s back.

SOURCE:

Concept images for Goat

Goat, 2014 Unglazed clay 36" × 30" × 10" Photo: Chuck Johnson

KUS ALEXA

Everything I need to say, everything you need to hear Shifting between the familiar and the unrecognizable, that which is considered solid and certain is redefined. Often presenting risks and opportunities for disaster, this shifting state of the unknown creates doubt, confusion and frustration. Even so, rearrangement and alternative interpretations are essential for transformation. The uncertainty they create allows meanings of the indistinguishable to become infinite.

S O U R C E : Concept sketch for Everything I need to say, everything you need to hear

Everything I need to say, everything you need to hear, 2013 Porcelain, found wood 45" × 85" × 2" Photo: Alexa Kus

LANTIN MARTINA

where we meet I strive to create work that synthesizes historical modes of display and contemporary design sensibility. This installation exemplifies my continued exploration of the interface between the functional and the decorative. Drawn from a map of the center of Pittsburgh, the lines of asphalt and water delineate the heart of the city. Repeated, these lines become the wallpaper motif that, in turn frame and display plates ready for use. This interaction fosters the mutable relationship between usable object, display, and viewer that forms the core inquiry of my work.

S O U R C E : Map of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania overlaid with concept sketches for where we meet

where we meet, 2014 Thrown and altered earthenware, slip, glaze, digital print Installation: 96" × 72" × 1½" Plates: 13" diameter × 1½" photo: Martina Lantin

MA CALVIN

Not Out There I utilize action figures in my sculptural work to explore personal struggles with social anxiety. As an adult, I face difficulties in the social environment. Even as a child I was reserved and apprehensive, so I turned to toys to keep me entertained. I believe the tactile activity of playing with them coupled with my active imagination helped establish this passion for the action figure early on. There was something about picking up your favorite character and creating adventures that captivated me. It felt only natural to tap into this childlike sense of storytelling through my artwork.

SOURCE:

Concept sketch for Not Out There

Not Out There, 2014 Ceramic, glaze, stain, glass 15" Ă&#x2014; 11" Ă&#x2014; 11" Photo: Calvin Ma

MABRY LAUREN

Merit Award

Curved Plane I make painterly, abstract, ceramic art. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a calculated risk-taker with a keen attraction to color, movement, and material. Primarily my work communicates directly through its formal and aesthetic qualities, but it may also be understood in relationship to Post-Minimalist and Process Art. Ultimately, my work is a synthesis of intuitive, expressive surfaces and elemental forms. The intricately glazed surfaces sometimes look weathered and aged, but at the same time colorfully lush and wet. There is a sense of immediacy to the mark making, and at moments a sense of play.

SOURCE:

Process image for Curved Plane

Curved Plane, 2013 Red earthenware, slips, glaze, burned resin 24" Ă&#x2014; 60" Ă&#x2014; 15" Photo: Lauren Mabry

MESS JONATHAN

Reclaim No.9 My artwork is characterized by experimental abstraction. Using reclaimed ceramic materials and referencing natural landforms, I constantly push my materials and processes into new territory. Conventional wisdom says never to make solid clay objects, but I have learned how to break that rule. I created Reclaim No.9 by slowly pouring layers of colored casting slip and reclaimed materials from Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts â&#x20AC;&#x201D; slop clay, cast-aside glazes, discarded, and broken work â&#x20AC;&#x201D; into a manipulated cardboard box mold. This sculpture delivers a monumental impact on a restrained scale, bridging painting and sculpture in three-dimensional abstract expressionism.

SOURCE:

Reclaimed ceramic material

Reclaim No.9, 2013 Various reclaimed ceramic materials from Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts 16" Ă&#x2014; 11" Ă&#x2014; 10" Photo: Kate Mess

MOON ANDREA

Between In my practice I create sculptures that confront personal transitions and challenge structure. I use multiple clay parts to create volume, form, and balance. Through the raw surfaces and physicality of the material, I obsessively preserve stability and the importance of structure in my everyday life. I constantly strive to maintain a balance between feelings of calmness and apprehension. My forms visually demonstrate the contrast between a state of control and one of unsteadiness. Slight bends or subtle gestures in the clay are intended to express a timid strength. I use the negative space to question emptiness and fulfillment.

SOURCE:

Concept sketch for Between

Between, 2014 Glazed stoneware 27" × 18" × 16" Photo: Andrea Moon

MOON JULIE

Cornucopia My work focuses on the notion of excess and explores aspects of materialism and relationships between form and surface and bodies and culture. An amorphous and bloated form, Cornucopia embodies the idea of abundance and accumulation, and its brightly colored, horror vacui surface addresses the fear of empty space. As with most artists and creators, the transformation of materials is inherent to the process of creation. For me this process of making relies heavily on play and invention, and is what motivates my practice.

S O U R C E : Concept images for Cornucopia

Cornucopia, 2014 Stoneware, glazes, enamel, plastic fruit 30" Ă&#x2014; 18" Ă&#x2014; 13" Photo: Hiroe Hanazono

MORGAN PETER

The Awful Waffle Walrus Surprise The Awful Waffle Walrus Surprise is the most recent iteration of my sculptural series in which I combine food and animals to create landscape. These works seek to transform the known and familiar into the grandiose and absurd. This is achieved by juxtaposing dissimilar objects, and shifts in scale, to generate an expanding and contracting spatial experience. This continues my exploration of how representations affect our perception of the world. Sure, few people have experienced an iceberg up close and personal, but undoubtedly whipped cream topping a waffle would make an excellent environment for a walrus.

SOURCE:

Concept sketch for The Awful Waffle Walrus Surprise

The Awful Waffle Walrus Surprise, 2014 Low-fire ceramic 16½" × 24" × 25" Photo: Peter Morgan

NICKOL ERICA

The Tie that Binds Porcelain is an ideal material to express movement, tension, and emotion in my sculptures. During the different stages of working with clay, transformations occur which allow me to stop a moment. An impression becomes permanent. A slump that occurs when the kiln reaches temperature freezes time. Through this process, the work captures physical and ethereal elements, transforming material into gesture; a trace preserves the energy present during the moment of creation.

SOURCE:

Concept sketch for The Tie that Binds

The Tie that Binds, 2014 Ceramic, steel, wood 63" × 34" × 11" Photo: Joseph Nickol

When I was a child I spent many summers in Rome, the place where my mother grew up before immigrating to America from Italy in the 1970s. During those summers, on walks with my grandmother, I noticed medieval churches covered in baroque adornments wedged in between fading â&#x20AC;&#x2122;70s apartments. Since childhood, I have traveled extensively witnessing firsthand how the accumulation of everyday debris can lend a physical presence to history. In my work I draw upon this awareness recombining recognizable architectural and historical imagery. In this manner, the layering of visual information becomes a stand-in for the temporally fleeting passage of human events.

SARA

PARENT-RAMOS

Amassing Presence

Neo-Baroque - Through the gratuitous use of accumulated objects, the vulgar is lent elegance.

SOURCE:

Concept sketch for Amassing Presence

Amassing Presence, 2013 Nichrome wire, porcelain, glaze 36" Ă&#x2014; 12" Ă&#x2014; 12" Photo: Mike Fleming

Reflecting on my own military experience, my work explores the juxtaposition of US service women in combat with the domestic and decorative nature of heirloom ceramic tableware. Playing on the notion of â&#x20AC;&#x153;servingâ&#x20AC;? I create objects associated with dining ritual, and use military iconography with traditional elements of transferware patterns to depict military women serving their country. Through non-traditional imagery I seek to challenge the entrenched ideas of domesticity and gender roles while exposing the social and cultural issues faced by military women.

JESSICA

PUTNAM-PHILLIPS

Polly, Poppy and Delilah

SOURCE:

Transferware platter

Polly, Poppy and Delilah, 2014 Porcelain with mishima inlay, slip, underglaze, glaze 42" Ă&#x2014; 17" Ă&#x2014; 1" Photo: Jessica Putnam-Phillips

SNIPES KEVIN

Thug I think of myself primarily as a storyteller. I use ceramic forms ornamented with animated narrative drawings, and am fascinated by the concept of otherness. With this in mind, my work explores human conflicts on a personal level and the ways in which the fringes of society are consumed by popular culture.

S O U R C E : Lisbon street art featuring artists, Os GĂŞmeos and Blu

Thug, 2014 Porcelain, underglaze, glaze, oxide wash 9½" × 4" × 3" Photo: Kevin Snipes

SOMERS LEE

Honorable Mention

Scape IV My process is a coupling of fleeting notions and physical realities. Collage is a key strategy in both the physical and conceptual organization of my work. Drawing from a variety of sources, ongoing acts of sampling, collecting and cataloging lead to a critical mass of components. Weaving a matrix of relations between these parts, I find compositional epiphanies â&#x20AC;&#x201D; parallels to aesthetic experiences etched in my memory. Within the framework of landscape, my work explores ceramics as material metaphor for the intersection of natural and cultural processes. Fragmentary glimpses of place and time underscore the temporality of our present location.

SOURCE:

Concept image for Scape IV

Scape IV, 2014 Roof tile, earthenware, shards 41" × 26" × 5" Photo: Lee Somers

SPADONE MILES

Mytosis I am interested in the essence of form through reduction. Void of decoration, the surface of my work is expressed like skin over ribs, where rigid meets languid. The work strives to suspend an emerging moment, the point when impression and inflation clash. My work captures a tactile image of materials moving in oppositionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; like the instant before an object rips through taut plastic, water sheds off your hand, or bone protrudes through elastic skinâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;moments in transformation. This work expresses the conflicting space in-between.

SOURCE:

Concept image for Mytosis

Mytosis, 2014 Ceramic, tinted shellac, lacquer 16½" × 6" × 4" Photo: Jay York

SWANSON LINDA

The Elizabeth R. Raphael Founderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Prize Winner

Cypreus Lumen Despite our ability to scientifically explain the natural world, there is still a certain mystery to how matter changes form, seeming at first to be one thing, then becoming another. Light things become dark, soft things become hard, solid things begin to flow. Such transformations open onto questions of our own being and becoming and how we find ourselves in a world of flux. Processes of change, formation and dissolution are caught in this crystalline glazed surface a flow of molten colorants frozen into an optically ambivalent and luminous moment, recalling geology as well as biology to elicit material affinities between the body and the world around us.

SOURCE:

Concept image for Cypreus Lumen

Cypreus Lumen, 2013 22" diameter Ă&#x2014; 5Â˝" Crystalline glazed porcelain, painted aluminum Photo: Linda Swanson

TAKABA RYAN

49 to a new In Buddhist ritual, the spirit moves to a new place every seven days. On the 49th day, a service is held to mark the spiritâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new resting place. Every morning my grandmother visits my deceased grandfather through daily prayer at an altar in her bedroom. One of the adornments is an arrangement of flowers she clips from her garden. I am interested in aspects of daily ritual, specifically in relation to a flower and a vase, the cutting, assembling, and connecting of the mums to complete a composition and the sorting of stem sizes to regulate its flow of water. This process of transformation engages themes of longing, waiting, and return.

SOURCE:

Shrine to the artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family

49 to a new, 2014 (two views) Porcelain, 49 mums, water, steel, neodymium magnets 12" Ă&#x2014; 18" Ă&#x2014; 2" Photo: Ryan Takaba

THOMAS IAN F.

Persistence Ceramic material is by nature transformative. In traditional practice, clay is worked from a moist state to a fired object. With Persistence I have chosen to begin at the end with a commercial plate. Through compulsion, persistence and patience I have reworked the object offering a new ideological context, removed from its mass produced similitude and repositioned as an individualized art object.

S O U R C E : Concept

sketch for Persistence

Persistence, 2013 Industrial porcelain 9" Ă&#x2014; 6" Ă&#x2014; 1" Photo: Ian Thomas

Upon first glance, my work is a form of trompe l’oeil with a twist. Using clay to transform a common item, I toy with the notion that things are not what they initially seem to be. I explore women’s issues that speak to perception, how they’ve been recognized historically and how they’re understood in society today. Issues addressing self-perception and expectations reach beyond feminist concerns. It’s a question of how we all attempt to transform ourselves in ways to attain impossible ideals based on what others define we should be.

SHALENE

VALENZUELA

Cinched In

S O U R C E : Concept

sketch for Cinched In

Cinched In, 2013 Porcelain 16" Ă&#x2014; 11" Ă&#x2014; 9" Photo: Shalene Valenzuela

ZIMANY VALERIE

Chigiri-e (Moonwalker) I visually examine complex relationships between the East and West, nature and technology, and intimate and public worlds through the lens of my American background and extended education in Japan. Borrowed and appropriated images from the histories of art, nature, and society transform my surfaces, and I develop forms that suggest symbolic intersections between these different cultures. Distantly familiar archetypes from 1970s electronics and design, traditional textile patterns, vintage enameled china, and manga or graffiti overlap to create seemingly improbable combinations. By clashing colors, patterns, and imagery I force relationships or question compatibility, and parallel a feeling of wandering out of place at just the right time.

S O U R C E : Concept

sketch for Chigiri-e (Moonwalker)

Chigiri-e (Moonwalker), 2014 Wheel thrown & slip-cast porcelain, glazes, silkscreen and vintage decals, Kutani raised overglaze enamels, gold, white gold 13" Ă&#x2014; 12" Ă&#x2014; 11" Photo: Valerie Zimany

ZUCKERMAN LILLY

Flow I seek to translate the emotional senses of curiosity, sincerity, and generosity into tangible form. Clay has the ability to be both tactile yet intelligent. I work to create and invite contemplative moments, where experiences of the physical hand and intellectual mind can coexist. Starting with a solid block, I methodically pinch the form. Encompassing many changes of state, from the uncomplicated lump heavy with potential, through precarious and fluid chaos, ending with the form. Pinched clay has a remarkably clear and straightforward trace of touch, from maker to user my moment of touch can be experienced by others today or in thousands of years.

SOURCE:

Process image for Flow

Flow, 2013 Earthenware 5" × 14" × 12" Photo: Lilly Zuckerman

ARTIST

BIOGRAPHIES

Lives: Athens, OH

2011 21st Vallauris Biennale Internationale, Magnelli Museum, Ceramics Museum of Vallauris, Vallauris, France (catalogue)

Education

Alchemy, From Dust to Form, Harn Museum of Art, Gainsville, FL

M.F.A., Ceramics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 1996

Earth Matters, The Galleries at Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, PA, (catalogue)

B.F.A., Ceramics, Kent State University, Kent, OH, 1993

brianboldon.com

Selected Exhibitions

2009 The Familiar Unknown, Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, San Antonio, TX

2013 NCECA Biennial, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX (catalogue)

2008 Shared Journeys: Chinese/American Ceramic Art, Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, Jingdezhen, China

PATTIE CHALMERS

The Figure/Sculptor in Ceramics, Nassauische Sparkasse Talent Award, Keramikmuseum, Westerwald, Germany

Synthetic Reality, Installation, Ceramics Research Center, Tempe, AZ

Lives: Carbondale, IL

TOM BARTEL Born: Cleveland, OH, 1969

2008 Group Exhibition, Nostic Pallace, Prague, Czech Republic 2007 Group Exhibition, International Museum of Ceramics, Bechyne, Czech Republic Selected Grants and Awards

“The Familiar Unknown.” Sculpture Magazine, October 2010: 77-78. Print. Buck, Andrew. “Organic Dissolution.” Ceramics Monthly, March 2012: 44-46. Print. Cooper, Emmanuel. Contemporary Ceramics. London, England: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 2008.

2004 Individual Artist Fellowship, The Kentucky Arts Council, Frankfort, KY

Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, Netherlands

Selected Collections

susanbeinerceramics.com

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

FuLe International Ceramic Art Museum, Shaanxi, China

New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan, China The Mutter Museum, The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA tombartel.net

SUSAN BEINER Born: Newark, NJ, 1962 Lives: Phoenix, AZ Education M.F.A., Ceramics, University of Michigan, School of Art, Ann Arbor, MI, 1993 B.F.A, Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Brunswick, NJ, 1985 Selected Exhibitions 2013 Organic Dissolution, solo exhibition, The Art League, Houston TX, (catalogue) 2012 Ceramica Multiplex 2012, Herzer Palace of the City Museum of Varazdin, Varazdin, Croatia (traveling)

BRIAN BOLDON Born: Milwaukee, WI 1958 Lives: Minneapolis, MN Education M.F.A., Rhode Island School of Design. Providence, RI, 1988 B.S., Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 1982 Selected Exhibitions 2014 Red River Reciprocity: Contemporary Ceramics in Minnesota and North Dakota, Plains Museum of Art, Fargo, ND 2013 Brian Boldon 2012 McKnight Fellow, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN Clay Prints, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN The Shape of Wind, public art commission, Omnitrans Rapid Transit Station, San Bernardino, CA

M.F.A., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 2001 B.F.A., University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 1993 B.A., University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 1986

2014 McKnight Fellowship Exhibition, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN 2013 Closely Becomes Wonderful, Gallery 13, Minneapolis, MN 2012 Bill O'Donnell + Pattie Chalmers, McClean County Art Center, Bloomington, IL 2011 67th Scripps Ceramic Annual, Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, CA Intimations of Candor and Culpability, Pavel Amromin & Pattie Chalmers, Red Lodge Clay Center, Red Lodge, MT 2010 Transcending the Figure, Invitational Exhibition, the Dairy Barn Arts Center, Athens, OH (catalogue) 2008 Voices, NCECA Invitational Exhibition, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA (catalogue) Selected Publications Garcia, Edith. Ceramics and the Human Figure. London, UK: A & C Black Publishing, 2013. Seckler, Judy. “Clay’s Good Humour.” Ceramics Art and Perception, Issue 87, 2012: 13-17. Print. Selected Grants and Awards 2012 McKnight Artist Residencies for Ceramic Artists Award, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN

This Promises Water, public art commission, Ralph Carr Colorado Judicial Center, Denver, CO

Selected Collections

Trainscape, public art commission, Union Depot Carriage Way Tunnel, St Paul, MN

Kamm Teapot Foundation, Sparta, NC

2012 Push Play: 2012 NCECA Invitational, Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, WA 2011 Craft Meets Technology, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, KY The New Materiality: Digital Dialogues at the Boundaries of Contemporary Craft, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI Tidal Forces: The Next Wave, NCECA Biennial, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL

Born: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 1965

Selected Exhibitions Selected Collections

Jingdezhen Ceramic Art Museum, Jingdezhen, China

Riddle, Mason. “Brian Boldon 2012 McKnight Fellow.” Four McKnight Artists. Minneapolis, MN: Northern Clay Center, 2013.

Education Selected Publications

2011 Individual Artist Fellowship, The Ohio Art Council, Columbus, OH

International Museum of Ceramics, Bechyne, Czech Republic

Selected Publications Brown, Glen R. “Brian Boldon. Digital Technology, the Body and Experience.” Ceramics: Art and Perception, Issue 83, 2011: 8–12.

The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA

pattiechalmers.com

ANDRÉA KEYS CONNELL

Selected Collections

Selected Publications

Born: Manassas, VA, 1980

Hearst Center for the Arts, Cedar Falls, IA

Erickson, Michelle. “Spotlight: History Lesson.” Ceramics Monthly. September 2012. Print.

Lives: Richmond, VA

University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA Waterloo Center for the Arts, Waterloo, IA

Education M.F.A., Ohio University, Athens, OH, 2009 Postbaccalaureate, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 2004

Selected Publications Garcia, Edith. Ceramics and the Human Figure. Cleveland, OH: American Ceramic Society, 2012.

B.F.A., Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD, 2000

Martin, Brigitte. Humor in Craft. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2011.

Selected Exhibitions

tjerdahl.blogspot.com HEATHER MAE ERICKSON

2012 Andréa Keys Connell: Gently Down the Stream, solo exhibition, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA

Lives: Boulder, CO

2011 Figurative Association: Celebrating the Human Form in Clay, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN Matters of Size: Ceramic Figurines, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA The Pursuit of Hercules, solo exhibition, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA 2010 Third Generation, solo exhibition, Florida Holocaust Museum, Tampa, FL Transcending the Figure: Contemporary Ceramics, The Dairy Barn, Athens, OH, (catalogue) Portraiture Beyond Likeness, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA, (catalogue)

Selected Collections The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA The Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA

2013 NCECA Biennial, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX (catalogue)

Somewhere, Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, In Space Gallery, Grand Rapids, MI

Pasori, Cedar. “Portfolio Review: Ceramic Artist Michelle Erickson…” Complex Magazine Art & Design. April 2013.

Born: Wilmington, DE, 1977

Education M.F.A., Ceramics, Cranbrook Academy of Arts, Bloomfield Hills, MI, 2004

michelleericksonceramics.com

LAUREN GALLASPY Born: Livingston, TN, 1982 Lives: Salt Lake City, UT

B.F.A., Crafts-Ceramics, Art Education, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 2000

Education

Selected Exhibitions

M.F.A., New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY, 2007

2012 Prototype, Red Lodge Clay Center, Red Lodge, MT Rituals of the Maker, solo exhibition, Robert C. Turner Teaching Fellowship, Cohn Gallery, Alfred, NY

B.F.A., University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 2005 Emory University, Atlanta GA, 2001 Selected Exhibitions

2011 Ceramics: Post-Digital Design, The American Museum of Ceramic Art, Los Angeles, CA

2013 NCECA Emerging Artist Exhibition, Houston Expo Center, Houston, TX

Extreme Dirt, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO

New Work on Clay and Paper, Blue Spiral Gallery, Asheville, NC

Selected Collections

Un-Home-Like, solo exhibition, The Sculpture Center, Cleveland, OH

Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT

Restless II: A Mix, Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, NY

2009 Andréa Keys Ceramic Sculptures, solo exhibition, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, KY

The Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY

Science as Muse, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA

Guldagergaard-International Ceramic Research Center, Skælskør, Denmark

2012 Lauren Gallaspy: New Work, AKAR Gallery, Iowa City, IA

heathermaeerickson.com

Fragile, Seattle Design Center, Seattle, WA

MICHELLE ERICKSON

2011 Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition, The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta, GA

andreakeys.com

THADDEUS (TJ) ERDAHL Born: La Porte City, Iowa, 1977

Born: Hampton, VA, 1960 Lives: Hampton, VA Education

Education M.F.A., University of Florida, Gainesville FL, 2009

B.F.A., The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, 1982

B.A., University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA, 2004

Selected Exhibitions

A.A., Hawkeye Community Collage, Waterloo, IA, 2001 Selected Exhibitions 2013 Don’t Box Me In, Signature Contemporary Craft, Atlanta, GA Hirotsune Tashima and TJ Erdahl, Obsidian Gallery, Tuscon, AZ 2012 Mounted, Red Lodge Clay Center, Red Lodge, MT Show of Heads, NCECA, Seattle Design Center, Seattle, WA 2011 FRESH FIGURINES: A New Look at A Historic Art Form, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA The Figure Has Soul, Lacoste Gallery, Concord, MA 2010 Crafting Contemporary Art: Studio Craft in Appalachia, Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN Figurative Association: The Human Form in Clay, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN

Selected Grants and Awards 2013 Emerging Artist Award, NCECA, Erie, CO

Lives: Princeton, NJ

2013 Animal Stories, The Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada In Dialogue With The Baroque, Galerie Handwerk, Schleissheim Palace, Oberschleissheim, Germany New Blue and White, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA

2013 Painters and Sculptors Grant, Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York, NY 2010 Emerging Artist, Ceramics Monthly Magazine, Westerville, OH Selected Publications Kopp, Linda. The Best of 500 Ceramics. Asheville, NC: Lark Books, 2012. West, Christina. “Lauren Gallaspy’s Workmanship of Risk.” Ceramics Art and Perception, No. 90, 2012: 54–57. Print. Selected Collections

2012 Covet, Ferrin Gallery, Sculptural Objects and Functional Art, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY

Porter-Price Collection of Figurative Ceramics, Mobile, AL

Here & Now, Selection of New Acquisitions, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA

laurengallaspy.com

Selected Grants and Awards 2013 Artist Fellowship Award, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA 2013 Visiting Artist, Influence and History: Blue and White Chinese Ceramics, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, MA 2012 Artist in Residence, The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England

National Ceramics Invitational Exhibition, The Mimi and Ian Rolland Art and Visual Communication Center, School of Creative Arts, University of Saint Francis, Fort Wayne, IN

GERIT GRIMM

Selected Grants and Awards

Born: Halle, Germany, 1973

1999 Fellowship in Crafts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Harrisburg, PA

Lives: Madison, WI Education M.F.A., New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY, 2004 M.A., University of Michigan School of Art & Design, Ann Arbor, MI, 2002

1994 Artist in Residence, Kohler Company, Kohler, WI Selected Collections John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI

2014 Flow, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI 2013 Alabama Clay Conference, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL Ceramic Top 40, Red Star Studios inside Belger Crane Yard Studios, Kansas City, Missouri Triumphzug, solo exhibition, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN 2012 Beyond the Figurine, Contemporary Inspirations from the Museum’s Collection, solo exhibition, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA 2011 67th Scripps Ceramic Annual: Making Fun, Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, CA

Rendered Motives, Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainsville, FL 2011 Passage & Four Eyes, solo exhibition, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, VT

McDonalds Corporation, Chicago, IL Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI

Selected Grants and Awards 2010 Individual Artist Fellowship, Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville, TN

Diploma (M.F.A.), Burg Giebichenstein—University of Art and Design, Halle, Germany 2001 Selected Exhibitions

2012 International Cup Show, The Clay Studio of Missoula, Missoula, MT

ALEXA KUS Born: St. Johns, MI, 1990 Lives: St. Johns, MI

2008 Beuys Memorial Scholarship, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Selected Collections

Education

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN

B.F.A., Ceramics; B.A., Organizational Communication; Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, 2013

The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Selected Exhibitions

Selected Publications

2013 ArtPrize, Western Michigan University-Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids, MI

Schultz, Katey. “Adding to the Story.” Ceramics Monthly, February 2014. Print.

In-Between & Incomplete, solo exhibition, Richmond Center for Visual Arts, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI

Lark Crafts. 500 Prints on Clay. Asheville, NC: Lark Books, 2013. mlceramics.com

In Circles, Saniwax Gallery, Park Trades Center, Kalamazoo, MI

Lirum Larum Loeffelstiel and other Miraculous Stories, solo exhibition, Greenwich House Pottery, New York, NY

Multiemergence, DeVries Student Gallery, Richmond Center for Visual Arts, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI

CALVIN MA

2010 Fantasia in Clay, solo exhibition, Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane, WA

Print | Works, Juried Group Exhibition, DeVries Student Gallery, Richmond Center for Visual Arts, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI

Lives: San Francisco, CA

Hermaphrodites: Living in Two Worlds, Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Re/Trans, South Kohrman Hall, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI

M.F.A., Sculpture, Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA, 2012

2009 Devine Decadence, solo exhibition, Lux Center for the Arts, Lincoln, NE

2012 Gwen Frostic School of Art/Western Michigan University Trace + Gestures La EspIRA Espora – Rapaces/Traces, Palace of Culture, Granada, Nicaragua

B.A., Industrial Arts, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, 2007

Selected Collections Jingdezhen Ceramics Museum, Jingdezhen, China John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygen, WI

Tangled in the Empty Spaces, solo exhibition, South Kohrman Hall, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI

geritgrimm.com

CHUCK JOHNSON

2013, 2012 Robert and Eleanor DeVries Annual Student Art Award, Gwen Frostic School of Art, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI

The Association of Clay and Glass Artists of California National Clay & Glass Exhibition, City of Brea Art Gallery, Brea, CA

2012 Angie Gayman Carmer Art Scholarship, Gwen Frostic School of Art, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI

Calvin Ma Homebodies, solo exhibition, Roscoe Ceramic Gallery, Oakland, CA

Lives: Venango, PA Education

alexakus.com

M.F.A., Studio Ceramics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1989 B.A., Studio Art, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, 1982 Selected Exhibitions 2013 43rd Annual Ceramics Invitational, Crossman Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, WI Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Annual, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA 2012 Erie Spring Show, Erie Art Museum, Erie, PA 2011 398 Exhibition, Meadville Council on the Arts, Heeshen Gallery, Meadville, PA Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Annual, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA Erie Spring Show, Erie Art Museum, Erie, PA 2010 National Invitational, Manchester Craftman’s Guild, Pittsburgh, PA

Selected Exhibitions 2013 Affordable Art Fair, Abmeyer + Wood Fine Art, Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, Seattle, WA America’s ClayFest, Blue Line Arts Gallery, Roseville, CA

2012, 2011 School of Art Enrichment Grant, Gwen Frostic School of Art, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI

Born: Beloit, WI, 1959

Education

Selected Grants and Awards

Oregon School of Arts & Crafts, Portland, Oregon, Burg Giebichenstein – University of Art and Design, Halle, Germany

Born: San Francisco, CA, 1984

SOFA Chicago, Navy Pier, Abmeyer + Wood Fine Art, Chicago, IL 2012 2nd Annual Workhouse Clay National, McGuire Woods Gallery, Lorton, VA California Clay Competition, The Artery, Davis, CA Calvin Ma Blending In, solo exhibition, The Cannery Gallery, San Francisco, CA

MARTINA LANTIN Born: Montreal, Canada, 1974 Lives: Marlboro, Vermont Education M.F.A., Craft, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 2009 Erhvervs Uddannelses Center Syd, Sonderborg, Denmark, 1998

Selected Grants and Awards 2013 First Place, The Association of Clay and Glass Artists of California National Clay & Glass Exhibition, City of Brea Art Gallery, Brea, CA 2012 Best of Show, 2nd Annual Workhouse Clay National, The Lorton Arts Foundation, Lorton, VA 2012 Clay Planet Award, California Clay Competition, The Artery, Davis, CA

B.A., Art, Earlham College, Richmond IN, 1996

Select Collections

Studio Art Center International, Florence, Italy, 1995

Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA

Selected Exhibitions

calvinmasculpts.com

2013 Affiliation through Sequence, solo exhibition, Focus Gallery, Penland, NC Disaster Relief and Resiliance; Crimson Laurel Gallery, Bakersville, NC Further On, Whitefish Pottery, Whitefish, MT

LAUREN MABRY

Selected Grants and Awards

Born: Cincinnati, OH, 1985

2013 Grant, Ruth & Harold Chenven Foundation, New York, NY

Lives: Philadelphia, PA Education

2013 Emerging Artist Grant, St. Botolph Club Foundation, Boston, MA

M.F.A., Ceramics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 2012

2004 Maine Arts Commission for Spreads, Governor’s Conference on the Creative Economy, The Bates Mill, Lewiston, ME

Post Baccalaureate, Ceramics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 2008

Selected Publications

B.F.A., Ceramics, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO, 2007 Study Abroad, International Ceramics Studio, Kecskemèt, Hungary, 2006 Selected Exhibitions 2014 Flow, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI 2013 Lauren Mabry at Heidmann Art Salon, solo exhibition, Heidmann Art Salon, Kansas City, MO NCECA Biennial, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX (catalogue) Running, solo exhibition, The Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE

Kany, Daniel, “Treat yourself to a fine Mess at a fine young gallery space,” Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. March 24, 2013. Print. Kany, Daniel, “Everyone should see this show,” Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. February 27, 2011. Print. Keyes, Bob. “Artist’s run of the mill is anything but,” Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, May 2, 2004. Print.

Transcendent Materiality, M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition, Eisentrager-Howard Gallery at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE

B.F.A., 3-D Studies, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, 2002 Selected Exhibitions

Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS

Linear Perceptions, Valley City State University, Valley City, ND

The Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE

2011 Clay Come Lately, Associated Students of Montana State University Exit Gallery, Montana State University-Bozeman, MT

Selected Exhibitions 2014 Jonathan Mess: Reclaim, Jane Hartsook Gallery, Greenwich House Pottery, New York, NY The Futures: The Next Generation of Ceramic Trailblazers, Vessels Gallery, Boston, MA 2013 Touch The Earth, Museum of Art, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 2012 Center for Maine Contemporary Art Biennial Exhibition 2012, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME 2011 Fertile Ground, Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, NM Rooted In Place, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, KY

Born: Abingdon, VA, 1978 Lives: Philadelphia, PA

B.F.A., Ceramics, California College of Arts & Crafts, Oakland, CA, 2003

Inspite of Ourselves, Red Lodge Clay Center, Loft Gallery, Red Lodge, MT

B.F.A. University of Montana-Missoula, Missoula, MT, 1998

PETER MORGAN

Going Big, Betz Gallery, Houston, TX

The Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT

Education

juliemoon.ca

Education

Selected Collections

M.F.A., Ceramics, State University of New York at New Paltz, New Paltz, NY, 2008

Pretty Please, MFA Thesis Exhibition, Fosdick Nelson Gallery, Alfred, NY (traveling)

2013 Conversance: A Sculptural Ceramics Exhibition, The Frontier Space, Missoula, MT 2012 Celebrating 20: Building and Maintaining a Community Exhibition, Arrowmont School of Art and Craft, Sandra Blain Galleries, Gatlinburg, TN

Lives: Jefferson, ME

2010 DIY: A Revolution in Handicrafts, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA

Terra Nova, Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

M.F.A., Ceramics, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, 2009

Born: Columbus, OH, 1975

Pretty, Strange, solo exhibition, Narwhal Art Projects, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Pulse Art Fair with Narwhal Art Projects, Miami, FL

Lauren Mabry—Cylinders, solo exhibition, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS

JONATHAN MESS

New work, solo exhibition, Katzman Kamen Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Born: Oregon, OH, 1980

Education

laurenmabry.com

2011 Annual Awards Exhibition, Ontario Craft Council Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ANDREA MOON

2012

2012 Rudy Autio Grant for Creative Initiatives, The Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT

RBC People’s Choice Emerging Artist Award Exhibition, The Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2009 Man’s Ruin, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Lives: Red Lodge, MT

2014 Emerging Artist Award, NCECA, Erie, CO

2012 Lavish and Lush, Seattle Design Center, Seattle, WA (traveling)

jonathanmess.com

Top 40: Leslie Ferrin, Red Star Studios inside Belger Crane Yard Studios, Kansas City, MO

Selected Grants and Awards

This is Not a Toy, co-curated by Pharrell Williams, Design Exchange, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Craftsmanship: Concept: Innovation, Red Lodge Clay Center, Red Lodge, MT 2010 Assemble: New Work by Andrea Moon, Ingham Chapman Gallery, University of New Mexico, Gallup, NM Intricate Spaces, Brazos Gallery, Richland College, Dallas, TX Selected Publications Bliecher, Stephen. Introduction to 3-D Foundations. London, UK: Laurence King Publishing, July 2013. Mills, Maureen. Surface Design for Ceramics. Asheville, NC: Lark Books, 2008.

M.F.A., New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY, 2005

B.A., Fine Art, Roanoke College, Salem, VA, 2000 Selected Exhibitions 2013 Animalia, Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred, NY 2012 All Aboard, Evelyn Shapiro Foundation Fellowship Exhibition, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA Color Me Bad, William King Museum, Abingdon, VA 2011 67th Scripps Ceramic Annual: Making Fun, Williams Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, CA Other Possible Titles, Grizzly Grizzly, Philadelphia, PA 2010 Mish-Mash Strikes Back: Contemporary Ceramic Art, Noyes Museum of Art, Oceanville, NJ Pretty Young Things, Lacoste Gallery, Concord, MA Something’s Fishy, solo exhibition, The Arts Depot, Abingdon, VA 2009 POP Craft, The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA Selected Grants and Awards

andreamoon.com

JULIE MOON

2012 Evelyn Shapiro Foundation Fellowship, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA 2009, 2008 Summer Resident, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT

Born: Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1973

Selected Publications

Lives: Philadelphia, PA

Newhall, Edith. “Railroad, White and Blue.” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 14, 2012. Print.

Education M.F.A., New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY, 2010 B.F.A., Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2005

Seckler, Judy. “Clay’s Good Humor.” Ceramics Art and Perception. Issue #87, 2012. Print. petergmorgan.com

Selected Exhibitions 2014 Bring Down the Mountain, solo exhibition, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA

ERICA NICKOL

Selected Grants and Awards

Selected Exhibitions

Born: Fort Thomas, KY, 1981 Lives: Pittsburgh, PA

2013 Thayer Fellowship Program/Patricia Kerr Ross Award, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY

2013 Kevin Snipes: When in Rome, C.R.E.T.A. Rome, Rome Italy

Education

2013 Marge Brown Kalodner Award, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA

M.F.A., Ceramics, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 2011

2013 Cite Residency Fellowship, Cite International des Arts, Paris, France

2012 Kevin Snipes, solo exhibition, Duane Reed Gallery, St. Louis, MO

B.Arch., University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 2005

2013, 2011 Bernstein Fellowship, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY

Selected Exhibitions

2012 Graduate Student Fellowship, NCECA: 46th Annual Conference, Seattle, WA

2013 Flat Floor Fiesta, solo exhibition, The Union Project, Pittsburgh, PA 2012 Baum Gallery, M.F.A. Biennial, solo exhibition, Baum Gallery, Conway, AR The Space Between: M.F.A. Thesis Exhibit, Borowsky Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 2011 M.F.A. Juried Exhibition, First Street Gallery, New York, NY 2010 Future Excavations, 224 Gallery, Philadelphia, PA Works in Progress, Aronson Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 2009 2D or Not 2D, Aronson Gallery, Philadelphia, PA Works in Progress, Rosenwald Wolf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2011 The Ruggiero Morigi/Vincenzo Palumbo Award, Italian Cultural Society, Washington, DC 2005–2006 William J. Fulbright International Educational Exchange Scholarship, Università Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy saraparentramos.com

JESSICA PUTNAM-PHILLIPS Born: Hanover, NH, 1973 Lives: Arlington, VT Education M.F.A., Visual Arts, Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, Boston, MA, 2013

Boston Young Contemporaries, Commonwealth Gallery, Boston, MA New England Collective IV, Galatea Gallery, Boston, MA

Education

“What-Evaah!” Kevin Snipes, Taunt Fellowship Exhibition, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT, (catalogue) 2008 China Shared Journey’s: American Art in China, Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, Jingdezhen, China (traveling exhibition) Voices, NCECA Invitational, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA Selected Grants & Awards

2006 Individual Excellence Award, Ohio Arts Council, Columbus, OH

ericanickol.com

Lives: Austin, TX

Recent Ceramics: Kevin Snipes, solo exhibition, AKAR, Iowa City, IA

Selected Exhibitions 2013 AIB MFA Graduate Exhibition, Lesley University, Boston, MA

Born: Washington, DC, 1982

2009 Color Blind: Kevin Snipes, solo exhibition, Plinth, Denver, CO

2008 Taunt Fellowship, Long Term Artist Residency, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT

2012 Visiting Artist, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR

SARA PARENT-RAMOS

2010 Kevin Snipes Constructed: A Handbuilt Review, solo exhibition, MudFire, Decatur, GA

B.A., Studio Art, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, NC, 2006

Selected Grants and Awards 2013 Artist in Residence, The Union Project, Pittsburgh, PA

2011 Childhood Lost: Current Work by Kevin Snipes, solo exhibition, The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA

2012 100 for 100 2012, Better Bennington Corporation, Bennington VT Hot Pots, Fresh Paint III, North Adams Artists’ CoOp Gallery, North Adams, MA

2005 Guest Artist in Residence, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA kevinsnipes.com

LEE SOMERS Born: Durango, CO, 1977 Lives: Montevallo, AL Education

M.F.A. Ceramics, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY, 2013

2011 1st Annual Membership Exhibition, Schacht Gallery Saratoga Clay Arts Center, Saratoga, NY

M.Ed., Framingham State University, Framingham, MA, 2005

Clay, Buttondown Gallery, Glens Falls, NY

B.F.A., Ceramics & Glass, Alfred University School of Art & Design, Alfred, NY, 1999

Sacred Vessels and Vantages, North Adams Artists’ CoOp Gallery, North Adams, MA

Selected Exhibitions

B.A. Psychology, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA, 2003 Selected Exhibitions 2013 NCECA National Student Juried Exhibition, Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX 2012 Contemporary Clay Biennial, The Art Center of Western Colorado, Grand Junction, CO 2011 54th Annual Chautauqua Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Logan Galleries, Chautauqua, NY 2006 Filippo Scimeca E Suoi Studenti Di Brera, Arianna Satori Gallery, Mantua, Italy

Summer in New England, solo exhibition, Canfield Gallery, Arlington, VT 2010 100th Anniversary of the Scarab Vase Exhibition, Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY Carved Vase Juried Exhibit, Clayscapes Gallery, Syracuse, NY Panache, Southern Vermont Art Center, Manchester, VT Selected Grants and Awards 2013 Artist-in-Residence, Saratoga Clay Arts Center, Saratoga, NY jessicaputnamphillips.com

KEVIN SNIPES Born: Philadelphia, PA, 1963 Lives: Cleveland, OH Education M.F.A., Ceramics, University of Florida, School of Art and Art History, Gainesville, FL, 2003 B.F.A., Ceramics with Drawing Minor, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1994

M.F.A., Ceramics, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY, 2006

2013 New Faculty Exhibit, University of Montevallo Art Gallery, Montevallo, AL Some Places I’ve Been, solo exhibition, University of North Alabama Art Gallery, Florence, AL 2012 Rescue and Redemption, Fort Collins Lincoln Center, Fort Collins, CO Tiempo Colorado-ART 342 Residents’ Exhibition, Rendition Gallery, Fort Collins, CO To Wander Out of Place, Seattle, Design Center, Seattle, WA 2011 Ceramic Experiments with Contemporary Nomads, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China 2010 Conversations, Collaborations and Coincidences, Snyderman Works Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 2008–2009 Sanlun Yishu, Interactive Public Art Project, Beijing, China 2008 China-China, Shanghai Craft Museum, Shanghai, China Selected Grants and Awards 2012 Artist in Residence, Art 342, Fort Collins, CO 2008 Grant, Sanlun Yishu Project, Blackrock Arts Foundation, San Francisco, CA

2011 Co-Modify, Nave Museum, Victoria, TX

MILES SPADONE

RYAN TAKABA

Born: Kennebunk, ME, 1987

Born: Honolulu, HI, 1976

Lives: Portland, ME

Lives: San Antonio, TX

Response with Ben Lewis, Tjaden Gallery, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Education

The ReUse and Resist Project, #24 Bialik Square, Tel Aviv, Israel

B.F.A., Ceramics and Furniture Design, Maine College of Art, Portland, ME, 2013

M.F.A., Crafts/Ceramics, Kent State University, Kent, OH, 2005

Selected Exhibitions:

B.F.A., Ceramics, University of Hawai`i, Honolulu, HI, 2000

2013 Boomerang, June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland, ME

Selected Exhibitions

Open, Corey Daniels Gallery, Wells, ME Solo Show, Engine Gallery, Biddeford, ME 2012 B.F.A. Show, Maine College of Art, Portland, ME Ceramic Showcase, Maine College of Art, Portland, ME Free For All, Space Gallery, Portland, ME

2011 Commonplace: Ryan Takaba & Barbara Smith, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX

ianfthomas.com

Relative Distances, University of Texas-San Antonio, San Antonio, TX (catalogue)

Navigation (Chime), North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND

Ryan Takaba: New Work, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA

Up and Comers, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland, OR

Selected Grants and Awards 2010 Emerging Artist, Ceramics Monthly, Westerville, OH

Education M.F.A., Ceramics, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY, 2005 B.F.A., Ceramics, California State University, Long Beach, CA, 2002 Training in Ceramics, Tekisui Bijutsukan Workshop, Ashiya, Japan, 1990–1994 B.A., Art History, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 1990

2009 Chalk it Up Featured Artist, Artpace, San Antonio, TX 2007 Teaching Assistant, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME Selected Publications “Economic Impact and Significance.” San Antonio Creative Industry 2011 Report. 5. Print Foritano, Jim. “The Figure Explored: Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture.” Art Scope: New England’s Culture Magazine. Sept/Oct 2006: 30. Print.

2013 Elemental, installation, The Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN New Directions, Lacoste Gallery, Concord, MA SOFA Chicago, Lacoste Gallery, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL 2012 Earth & Alchemy, Massart, Boston, MA

SHALENE VALENZUELA Born: Santa Barbara, CA, 1972 Lives: Missoula, MT Education M.F.A., Ceramics, California College of Arts & Crafts, Oakland, CA, 1997 B.A., Art Practice, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 1994 Selected Exhibitions 2014 Alterations, solo exhibition, Texas Women’s University, Denton, TX 2013 Top 40: Leslie Ferrin, Red Star Studios inside Belger Crane Yard Studios, Kansas City, MO

“Ryan Takaba, Emerging Artist 2010.” Ceramics Monthly. May 2010: 40. Print.

Herstory, Reed Smith Gallery, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA

ryantakaba.com

2012 Finding Place, Seattle Design Center, Seattle, WA

Selected Exhibitions 2014 Flow, installation, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI

500 Prints on Clay: An Inspiring Collection of Image Transfer Work. Asheville, NC: Lark Crafts, 2013.

2010 Bellwether 2010, Bellevue, WA

2011 B.F.A. Show, Maine College of Art, Portland, ME

Lives: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Selected Publications

Copeland, Colette. “Incidental Transformations,” Ceramics: Art and Perception. No.91, 2013. Print.

Earth Matters, NCECA Invitational, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA (catalogue)

Born: Los Angeles, CA, 1967

The Pottery Workshop, Jingdezhen, China

Fresh Figurines: A New Look at an Historic Form, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA

Merit Show, Maine College of Art, Portland, ME

LINDA SWANSON

Selected Collections Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX

IAN F. THOMAS Born: Butler, PA, 1976 Lives: Slippery Rock, PA Education M.F.A., Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, 2006

Following Patterns, solo exhibition, Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, MT 2011 A Recipe for Disaster, solo exhibition, Plinth, Denver, CO No Place Like Home, solo exhibition, Paris Gibson Square Museum, Great Falls, MT

B.F.A., Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA, 1999

Tidal Forces: The Next Wave, NCECA Biennial Exhibition, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL

Academy of Bratislava, Slovakia, 1997

Resolutions, solo exhibition, Luce Gallery at Cornell College, Mt Vernon, IA

Selected Exhibitions

2009 Shalene Valenzuela: New Work, John Natsoulas Center for the Arts, Davis, CA

2011 InFormation, solo exhibition, McClure Gallery, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

2013 Filtered Permeability, Barr Gallery, Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, IN

2008 Trying to Blend In, solo exhibition, The Clay Studio of Missoula, Missoula, MT

Prima Materia, solo exhibition, Florida Aquarium, Tampa, FL

Milk Money, solo exhibition, 4Most Gallery, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

INFESTATION, public installation, Parcs Canada Lachine Canal National Historic Site, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

2012 Push Play, NCECA Invitational, Bellevue Arts Museum, Seattle, WA

2007 Reorientations, solo exhibition, Galerie Maria Lund, Paris, France

Sculpture in So Many Words, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX

Selected Grants and Awards 2013 Emerging Artist Award, NCECA, Erie, CO

Translatory Motion, Pottery Workshop Gallery, Jingdezhen, Shanghai, China Yesterday’s Tomorrow, Spring Street Gallery, Houston, TX

2007 (Dys)Functional, solo exhibition, Tinlark Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Selected Awards 2013 Recipient Artist's Innovation Award in Ceramics, Montana Arts Council, Helena, MT shalene.com

Selected Publications 2014 Frangos, Naomi “Palpable Vision: The Work of Contemporary Ceramic Artist Linda Swanson.” Ceramics Art & Perception, March 2014, No. 95. Print. lindaswansonstudio.com

VALERIE ZIMANY

LILLY ZUCKERMAN

Born: Morristown, NJ, 1973

Born: Pittsburgh, PA, 1987

Lives: Central, SC

Lives: Missoula, MT

Education

M.F.A., Crafts/Ceramics, Kanazawa College of Art, Kanazawa, Japan, 2002

B.F.A., Fine Arts, Ceramics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 2010

B.F.A., Crafts/Ceramics, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 1995

Selected Exhibitions

2013 Duets, The Clay Arts Center, Port Chester, NY

2013 Earth Moves: Shifts in Ceramic Art and Design, NCECA Juried Exhibition, Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Arvada, CO

Gesturing into Consciousness, College of Arts and Architecture’s 50th Anniversary Alumni Exhibition, Edwin W. Zoller Gallery, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

Valerie Zimany: Porcelain Fever, solo exhibition, Gallery M2, Houston, TX

Object Focus the Bowl Part 2 Engage + Use, The Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, OR

2012 To Wander Out of Place: Artists and Asia, Seattle Design Center, Seattle, WA

Red Lodge Clay Center Juried National II, Red Lodge Clay Center, Red Lodge, MT

2011 9th International Ceramics Competition Mino, International Ceramics Park, Tajimi, Japan

2012 Pots at Rest, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA Winter Crop, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA

2009 5th World Ceramic Biennale Korea (CEBIKO), Icheon World Ceramic Center, Icheon, Korea

Uncommon Ground, Trax Gallery, Berkley, CA

2007 Mergence and Abundance: Alternating Personalities in Clay, two-person exhibition, Front Street Gallery, Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI

2011 Artists to the Edge and Resident Artist Exhibition, Warehouse Gallery, The Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT

Art-Stream, Nomadic Gallery, Seattle, WA

Selected Publications Selected Grants and Awards 2011 Fulbright Hays Faculty Research Abroad Grant awarded for Porcelain Fever: Contemporary Kutani Practitioners and Processes, U.S. Department of Education, Kanazawa College of Art, Kanazawa, Japan 2008 Emerging Artist, Ceramics Monthly, Westerville, OH

“Emerging Artists.” Ceramics Monthly. Volume 60, Number 5, May 2012. Print. Hulch, Kevin. The Art of Contemporary Pottery. Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2013. PDF e-book. Marquis, Andrea. “Pots at Rest.” Ceramics Monthly. January 2013, 54-58. Print.

Selected Publications

Loder, Claire. The New Ceramics: Sculpting and Handbuilding. London, UK: A&C Black Publishers, 2013.

Dillingham, Dawn, ed. 500 Prints on Clay. Ashville, NC: Lark Publishing, 2013.

lillyzuckerman.com

Seckler, Judy. “To Wander Out of Place: Artists and Asia.” Ceramics Art & Perception. March 2013. Print. Selected Collections American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT Icheon World Ceramic Museum, Icheon, Korea valeriezimany.com

We acknowledge with appreciation the following staff and volunteers for their contributions to Transformation 9: Contemporary Works in Ceramics:

Janet McCall Executive Director Kate Lydon Director of Exhibitions Natalie Sweet Exhibitions Apprentice Rachel Saul Education Coordinator Samantha Skelton Studio Apprentice Norah Guignon Marketing Manager Stephanie Selya 2013 Fine Intern Meghan Hipple Store Intern Pamela Quatchak Director of Development Sara Ryan Development AssistantIndividual Giving Yu-San Cheng Executive Assistant/ Financial Coordinator Megan Crowell Store Sales Manager Marguerette Sokol Sales Associate Andrew Sokol Sales Associate

ISBN 978-0-9960989-0-8

Design: Paul Schifino, schifinodesign.com Printing: Print Tech, printtechofwpa.com

Society for Contemporary Craft 2100 Smallman Street Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222 www.comtemporarycraft.org 412.261.7003