In order to better understand why some grad programs are right for me I am researching the professors at the universities I am applying to.
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| Dean Adams |
Dean Adams and Josh DeWeese teach at Montana State. Dean Adams seems to be split between creating large vessels and small penis birds, between wood-firing and electric kilns. Dean’s large vessels are reminiscent of car parts or architectural supports. They are often pierced or have a void through them showing a consideration for the inside and out. Dean says he constructs his pieces considering the kiln, how the fire moves through and around and affects his work. Dean hopes that his work encourages the viewer to move their body, circle the piece, even bend down and allow their eye to become the flame moving through the piece. Inspired by the ceramic process and the architecture of wood-fired kilns these pieces show the relationship between the space of the kiln, other pieces in the kiln and the fire. Deans other work consists of kitsch penis birds made from molds pulled off of found objects. More intimate in size they are often fried in electric kilns using bright glazes. These birds comment on male sexuality.
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| Dean Adams |
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| Josh DeWeese |
Josh DeWeese, on the other hand, creates functional wares to bring art into our daily lives. DeWeese uses the constraints of comfortable usage, engaging to look at, and interesting to think about to help create his work. Using atmosphere firing allows for extreme surfaces in the subtle qualities of clay. These “by chance” surfaces imbue his work with the wonder of the natural world, bringing nature to our daily lives. DeWeese’s work often has painted lines that have become blurred or sag from the firing process. Layering images and materials creates a depth of information, some obscured lending a since of curiosity. DeWeese sees pots as friends with developed personalities; he believes that pottery’s greatest power lies in its association with the human body reflecting our humanness.
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| Brad Schwieger |
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| Tom Bartell |
Brad Schwieger from Ohio University says that form is the most essential element to his work, how can it transcend the parts? How can each piece become its own individual? Brad’s pots are wheel thrown then altered often using an atmospheric firing process to finish the piece. Using different flashing slips and glazes Brad enhances and supports his forms. Brads show pieces are sculptural decorative objects and are based on traditional pottery and the making process. These pieces also explore architecture and how it is like pottery with a focus on form and structure, interior/ exterior, utility and containment, and surface detail and adornment. Tom Bartel, Also at OU is a figurative artist. The process of lifes many beginnings and ends, many births and deaths of a single individual drives his work. The subtle changes that take place over time direct Tom’s hand when creating the finish of his pieces. Often he makes them appear antique, cracked, dirty and dusty. This antique finish on modern art transforms our reality of understanding history. The “skin” of his work appears heavily panted alluding to the passage of time and the build up of memory. He is also concerned with the relationship between clothing, growth, and skin. Patterning the skin references clothing at the same time bending the viewers’ eye to understand that there is no clothes. By doing this Bartel reveals the façade we create for ourselves by using clothing as a summation of who we are.
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| Dan Murphy |
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| John Neely |
Dan Murphy and John Neely teach at Utah State.
Reading Dan’s artist statement and looking at his work it seems that he is a no-nonsense potter.
His vessels are loose, made on a slow wheel, showing Dan’s presence in the finished form.
Creating vessels in this way allows Dan to produce families of pots, not sets.
The pots are inevitably related, however, each can stand alone as a one-of-a-kind piece.
Dan allows his pieces to mature organically using the wood-firing process to color and texture his pieces.
John Neely is at functional ceramicist as well.
John believes that most of life’s great questions boil down to plumbing and lunch, or at least his artist’s statement says so.
John’s dry since of humor is juxtaposed to his serious pots.
His teapots are tight and right with crisp lines and acceptable proportions.
Some have what look like slip cast spouts while others are wheel or hand built.
John’s work heralds a Japanese aesthetic.
There is no funny business with Neely’s pots.
John’s pots do not have glaze on the outside; they are dark grey to black in color from carbon trapping during the wood firing.
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