Tag Archives: learning ceramics

From The Centre To The Edge – pottery par excellence

 

In 2011, the Archie Bray Foundation held a live auction called From The Centre To The Edge to celebrate 60 years of innovation and creativity in the ceramic arts at their wonderful facility. Based at Helena in Montana, the foundation offers residencies and specialized workshops to ceramic artists from around the world. Over the years it has become a premier testing ground for ceramic artists working together to share ideas and techniques. Some prominent ceramicists have studied and lectured at this colony for potters. I think the pieces that were on  offer at this auction are a testimony to the quality of ceramic arts and artists that have been influenced by Archie Bray.

 

Gail Kendall

Tureen, 2011
earthenware, slip, glaze, china paint,gold luster

  Gail Kendall

 

 

Eva Kwong

The Immortal Peach, 2006
stoneware, wood fired

  Eva Kwong

 

 

Sarah Jaeger

Dinner Plates, 2011
porcelain, glaze

  Sarah Jaeger

 

Kevin Snipes

Datz Hot, 2010
porcelain

Kevin Snipes

 

 

Warren Mackenzie

Platter, 2011
stoneware

 Warren Mackenzie

 

 

Peter Voulkos

Anasazi S13, 2010

 Peter Voulkos

 

 

Gustin

Platter #1019, 2010
stoneware, gas-fired reduction

Christopher Gustin

 

 

 

Shaner

Four-Square, 1987
stoneware, maria crystalline glaze

David  Shaner

 

 

 

Antemann

Happy 60th Archie Bray, 2010
porcelain, decals, luster

Chris Antemann

 

 

 

Ayumi Horie

Cherry Blossom Plates, 2011
porcelain, gold luster, silver luster

Ayumi Horie

 

 

 

Matthew Metz

Covered Jar, 2010
porcelain, salt glazed

Matthew Metz

 

 

Sunkoo Yuh

Untitled (Candle Holder), 2010
porcelain, cone 10, salt fired

Sunkoo Yuh

 

 

 

Josh Deweese

Jar, 2011
salt soda fired stoneware

Josh Deweese

 

 

 

 

C

East West, 2010
porcelain, cobalt inlay, glaze

Steven Young-lee

 

 

 

Ken Ferguson

Tri Udder Ewer with Mermaid Handle, 2003
stoneware, chrome slip

Ken Ferguson

 

 

 

Sandy Simon

Gathering Green, 2011
red earthenware, porcelain slip, Orr’s green glaze fired in oxidation to cone 02, nichrome wire, red “lucky” seed from the Amazon, wax thread or reed

Sandy Simon

 

 

 

Jun Kaneko

Untitled, 2009
glazed ceramic

Jun Kaneko

 

 

 

John Utgaard

Sentinel, 2007
glazed earthenware

John Utgaard

 

 

 

Randy Johnson

Large Bowl with Black & White Trailed Pattern, 2010
stoneware, wood fired, kaolin flashing slip

Randy Johnson

 

 

 

473px-473px-patti-warshina

Pouring Ewer Woman with Crocus, 2004
porcelain

Patti Warshina

 

 

 

Wayne Higby

Skywell Falls, 2009
ceramic, stoneware tile, earthenware glaze

Wayne Higby

 

 

 

Victor Babu

Small Footed Cannister, 2008
porcelain

Victor Babu

 

 

 

Gail Busch

Portraits, 2007
terra cotta, terra sigillata

Gail Busch

 

 

 

Robert Archambeau

Bottle, 2011
stoneware, wood fired, shino glaze

Robert Archambeau

Ed Eberle

October 8th 2009, 2009
porcelain

Ed Eberle

Oshiko Takaezu

Three Closed Forms, 1995
gas fired, porcelain cone 10

Oshiko Takaezu

Linda Sikora

Covered Jar, 2010
porcelain, polychrome glaze, wood fire

Linda Sikora

John Glick

Stoneware Plate, 2009
stoneware, multiple slips, glazes, reduction fired

John Glick

Robert Brady-sm

Bomb, 2007
clay, cone 3

Robert Brady-sm

Don Reitz

Jar, 2008
anagama fired stoneware, 7 day fire with oak, hickory, pine

Don Reitz

vase in window

Vase in window – Archie Bray Foundation

photo – Tharwell

The keeper

The keeper – Archie Bray Foundation

photo-Tharwell

More info on the auction here

 
 
 
 
 

 

Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts.

The Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts is located near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Helena, Montana, on the grounds of what was once Western Clay Manufacturing Co. brick manufacturing company. Bray, an avid patron of the arts, envisioned an art center and built the Pottery centre  in the spring of 1951, the first step in his dream to ” make available for all who are seriously interested in the ceramic arts, a fine place to work.”

The foundation is a  nonprofit, educational institution founded  by brickmaker Archie Bray. ” Its primary mission is to provide an environment that stimulates creative work in ceramics.”

Probably the most important reason for coming to the Bray is the opportunity to work within a community of artists actively creating art. At the Bray, artists from around the world with a vast range of experiences and diverse aesthetic approaches, cultures and perspectives come together. Sharing discoveries, frustrations and triumphs, and working together over an extended period of time establishes friendships and connections that open new paths, develop careers, and change lives.

Since its inception, the Bray has drawn more than 200 ceramic artists from around the world to work, including such well-known ceramists as Tre Arenz, Val Cushing, John and Andrea Gill, Wayne Higby, Clary Illian, Jun Kaneko, Eva Kwong, Jim and Nan McKinnell, Ron Meyers, Robert Sperry, Chris Staley, Akio Takamori, and Arnie Zimmerman.

Some current artists at Archie Bray :

Andrew Martin-

Andrew Martin currently lives in the Netherlands and earned his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and his MFA from Alfred University in New York. He has been a resident at the Archie Bray Foundation and the Arts-Industry Program at the Kohler Company, and was awarded two Artist Fellowship Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. His book, “The Essential Guide to Mold Making and Slip Casting” has become the standard text on the subject.

 

Andrew Martin tumbler
 Marbled tumbler

 

Andrew Martin tumbler

 

Lorne Meaden –

Lorna grew up in the western suburb of Chicago, La Grange. After receiving a B.A. from Fort Lewis College in 1994, she established a studio in Durango, Colorado. She worked as a studio potter for the next eight years. She received an MFA in ceramics from Ohio University 2005. She has recently been a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation.

Lorna Meaden Teapot

Lorna meaden

 

 

Jeff Campana –

I draw lines by dissecting and immediately reassembling each pot. The result is a surface decoration with structural implications. The fault lines that decorate the surface threaten to, but do not actually undermine the vessel’s ability to contain, display or deliver.

Jeff Campana Vase

Jeff Campana JarJeff Campana Jar

Mel Griffin- 

     “I believe that the capacity to empathize can be developed through attentive engagement with daily landscape, and that the health of that landscape affects the health of our minds. In my work, animals serve as both playful and solemn metaphors for my own interactions with the environment, as well as those of society as a whole. Through imagery and metaphor, line and clay, my work seeks to capture the viewer’s emotional interest and to rekindle her sense of wonder and discovery.”

Mel Griffin Salad PlateMel Griffin Salad Plate

Sean O’Connell – 

Sean O’Connell is a functional potter living and working in Helena, MT and currently the 2011- 2012 Matsutani Fellow at the Archie Bray Foundation.

“I make functional pottery based on the idea that beauty and purpose should be a part of everyday use. It is my pleasure to make these objects and my desire to see them in the hands and on the tables of people, who like me, have a passion for that which is tended and thoughtful.”

Sean O'connell 

Melissa Mencini –

Melissa Mencini received her BFA from Bowling Green State University in 2000 and her MFA from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 2003. She teaches at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Melissa has also taught at Eastern Washington University and at the University of Washington in Seattle. She was the recipient of the Lincoln Fellowship during her residency at the Archie Bray Foundation. Mencini became interested in art at an early age and enrolled in classes at a local art center in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.

She makes pottery embellished with bright designs and decals and also maintains a body of sculptural work.

Melissa Mencini mug

Kenyon Hansen –

“I believe that finely crafted, thoughtfully made pottery can contribute to a renaissance of tradition and habit. My hope is that the pots I make can play a role and be a factor in a renewal of ritual. Clay allows me to play with a physical language. When I throw or hand build, I’m engaged in the conversation, curiosity often pushes the dialog, while the desire to find something new guides me forward. I strive to create pottery that is both considered and balanced containing a healthy dose of spirit and care. “

Kenyon Hansen Jar

Jennifer Allen –

 Jennifer received her BFA from the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2002. In addition to a formal education, she worked full time as a studio assistant for Bliss Pottery from 1998 to 2002. For post baccalaureate study, Jennifer attended Rochester Institute of Technology School for American Crafts from August 2002 until June 2003. In the summer of 2003, she was awarded the Eric Myhre Scholarship at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. In 2006, Jennifer received her MFA in ceramics from Indiana University. Jennifer was awarded the Taunt Fellowship at the Archie Bray Foundation in 2006-7.

Jennifer Allen

Jennifer Allen Vase

Andrew Gilliat –

” I am fascinated how, culturally, we define ourselves and personalize ourselves through the objects we use and accumulate. The clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the shoes we buy- all of these objects reflect our personality and aesthetic proclivity both publicly and privately. Within this body of work I want to provide a framework that allows for the user to search out a bowl or cup that suits their need for function and their desire for aesthetic. With my functional pottery I am designing and fabricating objects in the want of creating visibly dynamic forms that, with the use of color and imagery, are expressive, visually inviting, and easily accessible as objects for domestic use. ”

Andrew Gilliat Bowl

Tom Jaszczak –

Tom received a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Art and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Bemidji State University. After graduating, Tom apprenticed for Simon Levin at Mill Creek Pottery for a year and learned the process of wood firing and developed his work further. Following Tom he was an artist in Resident at the Cub Creek Foundation.

Tom Jaszczak

Martha Grover –

I seek to enhance the experience of interacting with functional objects. Creating a sense of elegance for the user while in contact with each porcelain piece. Reminiscent of orchids, flowing dresses, and the body, the work has a sense of familiarity and preciousness. Direct curves are taken from the female figure, as well as the fluidity of a dancer moving weightlessly across the floor. The space between elements is electrified with anticipation and tension. I think of the fluid visual movement around a piece, as a choreographer would move dancers across a stage. Transmitting desire- there is a sense of revealing and concealing, a layering of details that serves to catch our attention immediately and then the details draw us in, to make a closer inspection.

Martha Grover Pitcher

◊◊◊

Larry Clark –

Chilly Aroma - Stoneware Lowfire glaze

Jordan Wood ” Chilly Aroma ” 2009

Stoneware Lowfire glaze

Katherine Taylor LandBody2,

2008 Porcelain Glaze

Patricia Sannit Amphora 2007

StonewareSlipStainGlaze

Jim Connell Green carved vase

Jim Connell Green carved vase

Vince Palacios Alchemy Series

Jose Sierra – El Nudo  2009

For more Archie Bray Foundation information on their artists and programs click here.