Ben Owen #301
Seagrove, NC. Ceramics artist. Ben Owen III (B.1968) has
made pottery for sale since he was 13 years old at the site
where his grandfather and father established Old Plank
Road Pottery in the Seagrove area of Piedmont, North
Carolina in 1959. He worked at the potter’s wheen
during high school and in the early 1990s while in
college. He produced work in the shapes, glazes and
traditions of his grandfather. As he grew older and more
experienced, he traveled in the US attending workshops
and conferences. He also traveled abroad to Japan,
Australia, New Zealand and to Europe and recently to
China where he diversified his experience while taking
advantage of an exchange program and visiting local
artist. Over the years, Ben has been commissioned to
make work for Bob Home, Perry Como, Elizabeth Taylor,
Ronald Reagan and recently making a special gift for
musical artist James Taylor as a lifetime achievement
award on behalf of the University of North Carolina. He
has been the recipient of many awards and honors,
including NC Living Treasure in 2004 and being featured
in the 2005 N.C. Museum of Art show The Potters’ Eye.
Many of Ben’s one of a kind works have recently been
installed by interior designer Frank Nicholson in a series
of hotels including the Umstead Hotel in Cary, NC; the
Ritz Carlton in Tokyo, Japan; the Ritz Carlton in White
Plains, NY and the Boston Commons. Ben’s roots run
deep in clay in this area. As a traditional potter with a
unique style, he believes that an appreciation of his family
history creates a sense of direction in his life. Education:
Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree, East Carolina University,
Greenville, NC. Selected Museum Collections: Boston
Museum of Fine Arts; Dallas Museum of Art; The Chrysler
Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; Mint Museum of Craft +
Design; New Orleans Museum of Art; Cleveland Museum
of Art; North Carolina Governor’s Mansion, Raleigh, NC;
North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh, NC.
Danny Lane #303
London, England. Glass artist. Guest Artist for this year's
Mint Condition Gala.
Lesley Richmond #304
Vancouver, BC, Canada. Fiber artist. Lesley Richmond
was born in Cornwall, England. She received her art
teachers training in London, England and her MEd in the
USA. She has taught in the textile arts program at
Capilano College, Vancouver, Canada since 1973 while
continuing her practice as a studio artist. Lesley’s work is
in collections in the USA, Japan, Poland and Canada. Her
recent exhibitions include works in Palmbeach3, 2009,
SOFA Chicago and SOFA New York, 2008, the Fiberart
International 2007, Pittsburg, the 12th International
Triennial of Tapestry 2007, Lodz, Poland and the 5th.
Cheongju International Craft Competition 2007. Her work
is featured in Vol. 40 of the The Portfolio Collection and
Art Textiles of the World - Canada, by Telos Art
Publishing.
Pat Flynn #305
High Falls, NY. Goldsmith and metalsmith. What Pat
finds most compelling in building his work are contrasts.
In materials, he is exploring the painterly interplay of
fused gold on blackened steel with a reserved use of white
gemstones - all a contrast in inherent preciousness, color
palette, and the reflection of light. Another contrast exists
in the movements and skills to make the work: the broad,
powerful movements of forging followed by controlled
goldsmithing techniques. In creating sensuous forms that
respond to and echo the body, it is his wish that the work
go out into the world and communicate for him.
Education: Bachelor of Fine Arts, SUNY New Paltz.
Selected collections: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York; Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC; Smithsonian
Institute, Washington, DC; Art Institute of Chicago; Yale
University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT.
Michael Bauermeister #306
Augusta, MO. Wood artist. Michael says, “Wood has
become both my voice and my language. Over years
spent making things both useful and useless out of wood,
the physical work of sawing, carving, turning and
polishing has become my contemplation. The real effort
is in figuring out what to make next. Sometimes the wood
itself makes a suggestion. Sometimes I work just to keep
my hands occupied. And sometimes it all comes together
into a kind of wooden poem.” Education: Bachelor of
Fine Arts in Sculpture, Kansas City Art Institute. Selected
collections: Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC;
Renwick Gallery, Washington DC; University of Michigan
Museum, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Mesa Museum of
Contemporary Art, Mesa, AZ.
Rowland Ricketts, III #307
Bloomington, IN. Fiber artist. Through simple forms and
a straightforward presentation, Rowland strives to present
the viewer with a color with a color so rich that they see
beyond the dyed material to examine all that lies within a
color’s substance. Rowland is currently an Assistant
Professor of Textiles at the Henry Radford Hope School of
Fine Art at Indiana University. Education: Masters of Fine
Arts in Fibers, Cranbrook Academy of Art. Selected
Exhibits: Fabricate 09, Malvern Artists Society, Malvern,
Australia; Craft-ed!, Dunedin Fine Arts Center, Dunedid,
FL; Rowland Ricketts, New Harmony Contemporary Art
Gallery, New Harmony, IN.
HONMA Hideaki #308
Sado Island, Japan. Bamboo artist. As a young man
Honma was a soldier in the Japanese air force. After an
accident caused a loss of sight in one eye, he was forced
to resign. His uncle and adopted father, the esteemed
bamboo artist Honma Kazuaki, had no heir so Honma,
who loved to draw and work with his hands, stepped in to
carry on the family’s bamboo business. On his native
Sado Island, Honma is inspired by the abundant natural
beauty. Bamboo provides a vehicle for expressing his
passion and appreciation for the plants and animals that
surround him in his daily life. He uses menya, a type of
soft, pliable bamboo, that only grows on the island.
Selected collection: Ruth and Sherman Lee Institute for
Japanese Art.
Jennifer Trask #309
High Falls, NY. Jewelry artist. Jennifer’s latest series,
entitled Unnatural Histories: Flourish, incorporates
removable jewelry on encaustic framed panels.
Adornment Magazine editor Elyse Korn wrote in an
article, “One cannot help but have a sense of wonder
when viewing Jennifer Trask’s jewelry. It is exquisite in its
subject matter, choice of materials, and execution. It is art
imitating life and making it even more beautiful than the
original - more fragile and heart-rending.” Education:
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Metalsmithing, Massachussetts
College of Art; Masters of Fine Arts, SUNY New Paltz.
Selected collections: Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC;
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY; Arkansas Art
Center, Little Rock, AR.
Giles Bettison #310
Adelaide, Australia. Glass artist. Giles says, “Movement
through life is manifest in the things we do and patterns
that we live by consciously and unconsciously. My work
is an exploration of my movement through life, expressed
in colors, patterns and forms. The light and color in rural
and outback Australia are part of my experience of
connecting to places and people. I use abstract
representations of these and other places to explore my
feelings. I want to include some essence of what these
places mean to me. The objects I make are references to
places, ideas an feelings that I have or am connected to.
As I move through my life, the way I see things changes,
my proximity to things changes. My understanding grows
as I explore new and different ways to express the things I
see and ideas that are important to me.” Giles’ work is
exhibited regularly in the United States, Europe and
Australia and is represented in major collections around
the globe. Giles’ innovative combination of hotshop and
kilnforming techniques has allowed him to create works
which have earned him a number of prestigious awards,
including the 2001 Bavarian State Prizes’ Gold Medal and
Urbanglass’s Best New Talent in 1999. Education: B.V.A.,
Canberra School of Art, Australian National University.
Cristina Cordova #311
Penland, NC. Ceramics artist. Cristina says, “Through the
primary vehicle of the figure and the materiality of clay I
am in constant search for a presence. The recombination
of elements that resonate with a personal sense of gender,
culture and time give place to compositions that become
alternate means of immersion into reality. A reality where
the boundaries between the sensorial and psychological
become indistinct and where a profound language rooted
in intuition and archived experience dictates paradigms. It
is through these objects that I begin to understand the
indeterminate and ever changing aspects of our
humanity.” Education: Bachelor of Arts, University of
Puerto Rico in Mayaguez; and Masters of Fine Arts, New
York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.
Cristina completed a three-year residency at Penland
School of Crafts in North Carolina. She was the recipient
of an American Craft Council Emerging Artist Grant as
well as a North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship Award.
She has taught workshops in Puerto Rico and the US.
Malene Müllertz #312
Denmark. Ceramics artist. Selected exhibitions: View
from Denmark, Lacoste Gallery; From the Kilns of
Denmark, traveling exhibition beginning at American Craft
Museum; Gallery Nørby, Copenhagen. Education: The
Danish School of Arts and Crafts, Copenhagen. Selected
collections: The Danish Museum of Decorative Art,
Copenhagen; The National Museum of Fine Arts,
Stockholm, Sweden; Palmer Museum of Art, University
Park, Pennsylvania; Victoria and Albert Museum, London,
England; Museum Boijmans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam;
The Netherlands.
Bruce Metcalf #313
Bala Cynwyd, PA. Jewelry artist. Figure Pin #130 was
made at the same time as many of the works in The
Miniature Worlds of Bruce Metcalf. It features a painted
wood and metal figure complete with mother-of-pearl
nimbus in an architectural setting. Education: Masters of
Fine Arts, Tyler School of Art, Temple University; Bachelor
of Fine Arts, Syracuse University. Fellowships and awards:
Pew Fellowship in the Arts; National Endowment for the
Arts Fellowships in 1992 and 1977; Fulbright Teaching
and Research Fellowship. Selected collections: Cooper
Hewitt Museum of American Design, Smithsonian
Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Museum of
Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada; Mint Museum of Craft +
Design; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY;
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY; The Helen
Williams Drutt Collection, The Museum of Fine Art, Houston,
TX;
National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh,
Scotland; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA;
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Museum of American Art,
Washington, DC; Victoria and Albert Museum, London,
England.
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Einar and Jamex de la Torre #314
Los Angeles, CA. Glass artists. Einar and Jamex de la Torre
moved to California in 1972 and both graduated from
California State University in Long Beach, CA. Their work
is based on their Mexican-American bi-cultural
experiences, and because they use a combination of
critical thinking, glass, found objects, and mixed media,
their work is known for being unique. Selected
collections: Arizona State University Art Museum; Kanazu
Museum of Art; the San Diego Museum of Art.
Binh Pho #315
Maple Park, IL. Wood artist. Binh says, “What do I do? I
put a soul into every piece I create. I don’t make objects, I
create characters. If the viewers can pick up on that soul,
I’ve accomplished it. Creating figurative and abstract
imagery on delicately pieced wood vessels opns the doors
for me to share my life and interests. There was a period
of time that I looked through the window and asked
myself the question, ‘What is it like on the other side of
that window?’ I then just let my imagination go.” Selected
collections: Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, WA;
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA; Cincinnati Art
Museum, Cincinnati, OH; The Detroit Institute of Arts,
Detroit, MI; Mint Museum of Craft + Design; Long Beach
Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA; Museum of Arts &
Design, New York, NY; Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian
American Art Museum, Washington, DC; The White
House Collection of American Crafts, Washington, DC;
Wood Turning Center, Philadelphia, PA.
Polly Barton #316
Santa Fe, NM. Fiber artist. Polly was born in New York
City. In 1981 she moved to Kameoka, Japan to study with
master weaver, Tomohiko Inoue, living in the religious
heart of the Oomoto Foundation. She returned to New
York in 1982, married, and continued to weave on her
Japanese tsumugi silk kimono looms. In 1989, she and her
husband bought land in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico. Their
family moved to this remote area in 1992, where they
lived for 15 years. They are now based in Santa Fe. Her
work has been published in numerous magazines
including Hali Magazine, FiberArts, Surface Design
Journal and American Craft. She is a member of the Textile
Society of America, Friends of Fiber Arts International, the
Surface Design Association and the Textile Arts Alliance of
Santa Fe. Selected collections: Art Institute of Chicago,
Chicago, IL; Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA;
Daphney Farago Collection, Boston, MA; Oomoto
Foundation, Kameoka, Japan.
Michael Sherrill #317
Hendersonville, NC. Ceramics artist. A self taught potter,
Sherrill combines references to archetypal forms and
shapes, such as Southern whiskey jugs, with contemporary
design. He reassembles the teapot’s basic elements,
forming them into a sculptural object, by explorations in
the use of color, surface, line and shape. “I want my pots
to pull people in and then play with perceptions.”
Selected collections: Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
Los Angeles, CA; Smithsonian Museum, Renwick Gallery,
Washington, DC; Mint Museum of Craft and Design; The
White House Collection of American Crafts; Columbus
Museum, Columbus, GA; The Hickory Museum of Art,
Hickory, NC; The American Craft Museum, NYC, NY;
Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI.
Zora Palova #318
Bratislava, Slovakia. Glass artist. Zora says, “Water
shares the most properties with glass. Water is liquid and
solid, it can be transparent and opaque, and it can acquire
a variety of colors. Many years of living and working in
Sunderland on the shore of the North Sea had a powerful
influence on my work.” Zora studied at the School of
Applied Arts in Bratislava (1967) and taught at the Public
School of Arts in Nitra (1969). She then resumed her
studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, Bratislava,
specialising in painting (1971) and later in glass and
architecture (1975). She became President of the
Association of Applied Arts and Designers in 1995 and
Research Professor at the University of Sunderland in
1996, a post she holds today. Selected collections: Slovak
National Gallery, Bratislava, SK; Museum of Applied Arts,
Prague, CZ; Museum of Glass, Graz, A; Museum of IGS,
Lemberk, CZ; Shimoniseki Museum of Modern Arts,
Sapporo, Japan; Nationale Netherland, Rotterdam,
Netherlands.
Daniel Johnston #319
Seagrove, NC. Ceramics artist. Daniel makes functional
and decorative pieces using ashe and salt glazes, as well
as celadon. He digs his own clay locally and fires his pots
in a 900 foot wood-burning kiln. Daniel studied in
England and Thailand and adds his experience and
learning from other cultures to his own work. Daniel
apprenticed to Mark Hewitt (NC), Clive Bowen (England)
and Sawein Silakhom (Thailand). Selected exhibitions:
North Carolina Pottery Center; Mint Museum of Craft +
Design.
Sandra Enterline #320
San Francisco, CA. Jewelry artist. Sandra has narrowed her
focus to a handful of simple shapes and forms and has
emphasized construction so spare that it might almost
seem severe. In the first decade of her career, she often
made spheres, but found herself frustrated by what she
calls the “industrial” feeling of the shape. Around 1992,
she began elongating the halves. “If I raised them up a
little bit more, it was an egg form,” she recalls, noting that
the shape still remained simple and abstract, yet was
suggestive of the natural world. Since the early 1990s, she
has evolved a library of signature forms-egg, sphere,
truncated cone, cylinder, circular medallion, and fourlobed
star fruit-that she repeats with endless variation.
Each one employs a biomorphic geometry that straddles
both the natural world and the constructs of
mathematics.Education: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Jewelry
and Metalsmithing, Rhode Island School of Design.
Selected collections: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Racine Art
Museum, Racine, WI; American Craft Museum, New York,
NY; Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, CA, Wustum
Museum, Racine, WI.
George Peterson #321
Lake Toxaway, NC. Wood artist. George says, “I take an
intuitive and spontaneous approach to my work. The
action o fshaping the wood with my hand-held tools is
satisfying in a very basic way. As I work the wood, I
collaborate with it. The wood has a voice and I have a
voice. We interact.” George is a self-taught turner and
sculptor. Selected collections: Mint Museum of Craft +
Design; Boston Fine Arts Museum, Boston, MA; Wustum
Museum, Racine, WI; Woodturning Center, Philadelphia,
PA.
SHONO Tokuzo #322
Japan. Bamboo artist. “As I compose the work I carry an
image of transparency, like a work of clear glass,” he says.
“The purity of the bamboo is what I am looking for, to
express the beauty of openness in the work. I want to
create something that is original and filled with energy.”
Shono Tokuzo apprenticed to his father, Shono Shounsai,
the first Living National Treasure in bamboo arts. After his
father’s death, he was commissioned by the office of the
prime minister to make a special white bamboo flower
vase to be displayed at the state guesthouse in Tokyo
where visiting dignitaries reside. Shono won the grand
prize at the Japan New Craft Arts Exhibition in 1984 and
1998, which led to his full membership in the
organization. In 1999, he received a Tokusen grand prize
at Nitten, thus taking an important step towards full Nitten
membership. He studied at Musashino Art University,
graduating with a degree in sculpture. Selected
collections: San Francisco Asian Art Museum; the Oita
Prefecture; Oita City Museum; Japan’s Imperial House
Collection.
Mark Hewitt #323
Pittsboro, NC. Ceramics artist. Mark Hewitt specializes in
the production of very large planters, storage jars and
vases, along with a full range of high quality tableware.
He mines and refines local stoneware clays, and his
principal glazes are the traditional Southern alkaline glaze
and salt glaze. All his work is fired in a big wood burning
kiln the size of a school bus, which he fires three times a
year. Education: Bachelor of Arts in Geography, University
of Bristol, England. Selected collections: Renwick Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; National
Arboretum, Washington, DC; Frederick R. Weisman Art
Museum, Minneapolis, MN; Chrysler Museum, Norfolk,
VA; Mint Museum of Craft + Design; Ackland Museum,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC; Cameron
Art Museum, Wilmington, NC; Minneapolis Institute of
Art, MN; High Museum, Atlanta, GA; Philadelphia
Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA.
Beppe Kessler #324
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Jewelry artist. Beppe
describes her works of art as “little treasures”; miniature
sculptures composed of age-old and contemporary
materials, brazenly combined and not bound to the
traditions of jewelry-making. They express my feelings
and thoughts about life. They invite touching and they tell
a story, summarized in titles justifying their existence.
Selected awards: Herbert Hofmann Award in 2009 and
1997. Selected collections: Stedelijk Museum,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Kunstindustrimuseum,
Trondheim, The Netherlands; Museée des arts decoratifs,
Montreal, Canada; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX,
USA. |
