Nationally-Known Ceramic Artists Exhibition
Diverse styles from acclaimed ceramic artists from around the country are on display in Narrowing the Variables: Seven Approaches to the Vessel, a new exhibition at Bard College at Simon’s Rock from January 23 to March 10 in the Daniel Arts Center.
During a reception on Thursday, February 16 at 6:00 p.m., exhibition curator and faculty
member Ben Krupka will deliver a gallery talk followed by a slide presentation by
exhibition participant, Massachusetts ceramicist Sam Taylor. Free and open to the
public, the exhibit is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Hillman-Jackson Gallery.
Krupka, who has led the ceramics program at Simon’s Rock for over 10 years, chose
artists working in a variety of styles from all over the country for this show, they
include Sunshine Cobb (California), Mike Helke (Wisconsin), Bryan Hopkins (New York),
Lindsay Oesterritter (Kentucky), Emily Schroeder Willis (Illinois), Mark Shapiro (Massachusetts),
and Sam Taylor (Massachusetts).
This exhibit represents various artists’ highly refined interpretations of a shared
theme, the vessel, and urges its viewer to reconsider this humble and versatile object.
In his introduction to the exhibit, Krupka writes “Minimally decorated, their work
focuses on strong form and an overall sensibility of intentional touch, allowing softness
and natural characteristics of the material to remain present.”
Sunshine Cobb (sunshinecobb.com) is owner of Sidecar Ceramic Studio in Sacramento, California and curator of a delightful
Instagram full of her inspirations (@shinygbird). Mike Helke (mikehelke.com), a studio potter in River Falls, WI, writes that his work “records an animate sensibility
derived from my experiences.” Bryan Hopkins (hopkinspottery.com) is adjunct professor, Ceramics & Three Dimensional Design at Niagara County Community
College, Sanborn, NY and cites both Bugs Bunny and the Chinese Song Dynasty (11th
-13th centuries) pottery as influences. Lindsay Oesterritter (loceramics.com) is assistant professor of ceramics at Western Kentucky University and writes that
her work “is punctuated by the concept of the inseparable relationship form and surface
develops though subtle and progressive erosion of time.” Mark Shapiro (stonepoolpottery.com) lives in Worthington, MA, where he splits his time between art and research; he writes
that he is “glad just to leave a record of my own touch in this most receptive fragile
and enduring material.” Sam Taylor (dogbarpottery.com) is based in Westhampton, MA
and writes that “each piece of pottery that comes out of the kiln has its own story
to tell.” Emily Schroeder Willis (emilyschroeder.com) is an instructor at the Art Institute of Chicago and part of a ceramics collective
called Objective Clay.