Steve Hansen - Propaganda Series

The new works in the Propaganda Series continue the themes established in the Gods of Commerce series, but focus on the selling of ideology or “truth” rather than the sale of products. In the Gods of Commerce works, I concentrated on using pre-existing trademarks and logos that used mythology as a means of establishing a sales platform for current consumer culture and products. With the Propaganda series I have widened the net from products to ideology and the permeable nature of truth. The best efforts of painters, writers and graphic designers have historically been used to promote often diametrically opposed versions of “truth”. Like mythology or religion the version of political truth that becomes the most accepted, or the most popular in a society frequently reigns as indisputable; at least until the next paradigm shift. MORE

Chuck Aydlett - creative soul

For the past eighteen years Chuck has been teaching at various universities. They include Penn State University in Pennsylvania, St Cloud State and Winona State University in Minnesota. His teaching responsibilities range from foundation courses to all levels and methods in ceramics. He has his BFA and MFA from the New York College of Ceramics at Alfred University. In 2003 he received a McKnight Artist Fellowship for Ceramic Artists, and in 2002 a Jerome Artists Project Grant, both awarded by the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, MN. He is currently the manager of the Clay Business at the Archie Bray Foundation. It has been a dream in waiting to find his way back to Montana. What could get any better than big sky and a fine place to work.

white ewer and pitcher set
mid-range whiteware
9" x 7.5" x 10"

Michael Lucero at RAM

A real eye opening exhibition! 12 newly acquired Lucero pieces have been donated to Racine Art Museum (RAM) within the past 18 months by six different families across the US. The arrival of so many works by one artist at the same time allowed the museum to curate a focused exhibition featuring his work. The exhibition highlights Lucero’s career development and aesthetic explorations in ceramics between 1983 and 2007.

Beginning with the simplest techniques of hand-building, pinching, and rolling out forms, Lucero created an enduring affinity between himself and his chosen material that has lasted for over two decades. But Lucero’s maverick vision presented the artist with challenges unlike any he imagined. Lucero was immersed in figuration at a time when Minimalism, performance, and earth art were among the dominant and critically accepted art forms. An ardent admirer of global culture, he often incorporates specific stylistic references to one culture or another into his work, creating complex, hybrid forms. Throughout his career, he was discouraged by many in the art world from describing those interests in his work. But he persevered, and the stunning results of this career-long odyssey are a provocative and enduring body of sculpture that illustrates the fluid, dynamic character of global culture. MORE ON MICHAEL LUCERO

Chihiro Makio ... from jewlery to teapots

Simple, yet interesting jewelry is what I like to create. The most basic shapes such as circles and squares can be very interesting if they have character. I do not use decorative gemstones in my pieces because those stones tend to become the focal point of the jewelry. Rather, I create something interesting and pleasing to the eye and skin, by combining different shapes and textures of the metal. The colors I use on my pieces are often glass seed beads and sequins, and they are as beautiful as precious stones. I believe that it is my techniques and labor that’s making this jewelry valuable, not the value of precious stones.

I feel that the most important aspect to my jewelry is its craftsmanship. I often feel under-appreciated when I am referred to as a “designer”, because it sounds so far removed from the creation of the work itself. When I start working on a piece, a lot get changed in the process. Sometimes it evolves into something completely different than what was originally in my sketchbook. More often than not, something much better is created. Even though I have been working with silver for approximately thirteen years now, each design offers a completely different way of working with the material. Every design gives me new ideas but also some challenges I have to “figure out” a solution for.

Another very important aspect of my jewelry is its functionality. I find a lot of very innovative and beautiful jewelry out there that are non-functional as jewelry. I can’t imagine some of those would be comfortable to wear. My jewelry needs to be worn for a full appreciation. That is why I pay great attention to its shape, weight and volume so that the wearer can be totally comfortable while wearing it.

Jeff Lloyd Dever - Polymer Clay Teapots and Jewlery

Jeff Dever received his Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from Atlantic Union College in 1976 and has been in the field of graphic design and illustration ever since. He is founding partner of the award-winning studio Dever Designs (1985) and its subsidiary Fresh Art, located in Laurel, Maryland. He is on the adjunct faculty for illustration and graphic design at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, and as a teacher/consultant at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee. He is a consulting Art Director for American Style Magazine and is responsible for the design of the article "Movers and Shapers" on polymer clay in the summer 1999 issue in which editors selected some of his polymer work. Jeff's 3-D illustrations have received numerous awards and his vessels have been represented in several national survey exhibitions. One of the highlights of his polymer clay career was to be present at Ravensdale 2000 and to have the privilege of being on its faculty.

http://www.finecraftnetwork.com/AM/Artists/DeverJ/DeverJ.html

Greg Fidler - Crude

ARTIST STATEMENT

The familiar essence of glass is derived from a manufactured utilitarian need. Processes in hand forming glass undermine these attributes and in effect give my work purpose.
It is my desire to produce sculpture that communicates progression while paying respect to traditional processes and their survival in the present. My ideas owe more to natural forms and my deference for the material than to consciousness obscurity.

ARTIST BIO

Greg was born in 1970 and raised in the Catawba Valley of North Carolina. He received a Bachelor of Science in Cultural Anthropology from Franklin Pierce College in 1993.
Greg has worked with numerous glass artists from Maine to Seattle, while attending classes at the Penland School of Crafts, Pilchuck Glass School, and Haystack School of Crafts. He graduated from The University of Illinois MFA Sculpture program in 2001 and is currently an Artist in Residence at Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC.

Richard Swanson

FIGURATIVE SCULPTURE/TEAPOTS
An important aspect of all my figurative sculpture, teapots included, is the way forms relate and flow together. I am constantly combining and simplifying to enhance movement/rhythm/unity. My work is informed by historical examples--Yixing teapots, Inuit carvings, Pre-columbian ceramics, African sculpture and Japanese netsuke carvings. I admire the concise vocabulary of these pieces, their use of every day life as subject matter, their compact format and their straightforword but unique way of relating figurative elements. In much of this work, the traditions of sculpture and function come together in a way that transcends ordinary ornamentation.