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STATEMENT
My pieces are minimal, derived from nature, and intended to create a harmonious form in space. My work has been deeply inspired by artists who breakdown form to fundamental gestures such as Hepworth, Brancusi, Puryear, Kapoor, Arp and countless other visual artists. Dance and music have also had a huge influence on my approach to clay and how I think about an objects ability to control space.
Most of my forms are hand-built and a select few become molds for slip casting. That said, there are never two pieces that are identical. Each piece comes out of the kiln with a unique glaze surface, sometimes shiney, other times matt, depending on placement in my soda kiln. The atmosphere in the kiln also varies from firing to firing making the results always a surprise!

BIOGRAPHY
I've worked in clay for over 25 years, have an MFA Degree from RISD, and have been honored with the Massachusetts Cultural Council's Artist Fellowship.

STATEMENT
Form is everything; I stretch clay to make canvases for decoration.
Texture, pattern and color are successful additions when the shapes are impeccable.
My inspirations are many, from the classic forms of antiquity to the simple, graceful pots made by indigenous peoples and the work of modern studio potters. This current body of work deals with simple clean form. Handles and other flourishes are conspicuously lacking. Dramatic color and subtle texture accentuate what I hope is a mastery of the traditional vessel form.

BIOGRAPHY
Early experiences with clay as a child apparently left a mark. After school, apprenticeships and more school, making pots was, is and will continue to be a way of life for Nicholas Bernard. He has been a studio potter for nearly 30 years; living and working in Arizona for much of that time. His work as a professional has always been low fire earthenware. For many years, his Raku pots were shown nationally. The influences are scattered from the Southwest, Africa and Japan to the cultures of the Mediterranean. A museum full of 2000 year old pots in Rhodes was an epiphany. Simple forms with no contrivance or pretension filled room after room. He hopes to make one like that before he's done.  
Seeing those pots 10 years ago started this current evolution. It began with soft muted colors, totally classic shapes. Amphora, ewers, and jugs with an ancient vibe. Then, textured pots with extravagant handles, spouts and flourishes using brushed color. Over the last 18 months the current work has evolved. Hot colors, simple closed forms with very controlled textures dominate.
The last piece finished today--good, bad or indifferent--is the product of doing the work for many years. These pieces can’t be made without those experiences, successes and failures, lots of failures. Even after 30 years, everyday in the studio for Nicholas is an adventure. He can’t wait for tomorrow.

STATEMENT
Form is everything; I stretch clay to make canvases for decoration.
Texture, pattern and color are successful additions when the shapes are impeccable.
My inspirations are many, from the classic forms of antiquity to the simple, graceful pots made by indigenous peoples and the work of modern studio potters. This current body of work deals with simple clean form. Handles and other flourishes are conspicuously lacking. Dramatic color and subtle texture accentuate what I hope is a mastery of the traditional vessel form.

BIOGRAPHY
Early experiences with clay as a child apparently left a mark. After school, apprenticeships and more school, making pots was, is and will continue to be a way of life for Nicholas Bernard. He has been a studio potter for nearly 30 years; living and working in Arizona for much of that time. His work as a professional has always been low fire earthenware. For many years, his Raku pots were shown nationally. The influences are scattered from the Southwest, Africa and Japan to the cultures of the Mediterranean. A museum full of 2000 year old pots in Rhodes was an epiphany. Simple forms with no contrivance or pretension filled room after room. He hopes to make one like that before he's done.  
Seeing those pots 10 years ago started this current evolution. It began with soft muted colors, totally classic shapes. Amphora, ewers, and jugs with an ancient vibe. Then, textured pots with extravagant handles, spouts and flourishes using brushed color. Over the last 18 months the current work has evolved. Hot colors, simple closed forms with very controlled textures dominate.
The last piece finished today--good, bad or indifferent--is the product of doing the work for many years. These pieces can’t be made without those experiences, successes and failures, lots of failures. Even after 30 years, everyday in the studio for Nicholas is an adventure. He can’t wait for tomorrow.

STATEMENT
Form is everything; I stretch clay to make canvases for decoration.
Texture, pattern and color are successful additions when the shapes are impeccable.
My inspirations are many, from the classic forms of antiquity to the simple, graceful pots made by indigenous peoples and the work of modern studio potters. This current body of work deals with simple clean form. Handles and other flourishes are conspicuously lacking. Dramatic color and subtle texture accentuate what I hope is a mastery of the traditional vessel form.

BIOGRAPHY
Early experiences with clay as a child apparently left a mark. After school, apprenticeships and more school, making pots was, is and will continue to be a way of life for Nicholas Bernard. He has been a studio potter for nearly 30 years; living and working in Arizona for much of that time. His work as a professional has always been low fire earthenware. For many years, his Raku pots were shown nationally. The influences are scattered from the Southwest, Africa and Japan to the cultures of the Mediterranean. A museum full of 2000 year old pots in Rhodes was an epiphany. Simple forms with no contrivance or pretension filled room after room. He hopes to make one like that before he's done.  
Seeing those pots 10 years ago started this current evolution. It began with soft muted colors, totally classic shapes. Amphora, ewers, and jugs with an ancient vibe. Then, textured pots with extravagant handles, spouts and flourishes using brushed color. Over the last 18 months the current work has evolved. Hot colors, simple closed forms with very controlled textures dominate.
The last piece finished today--good, bad or indifferent--is the product of doing the work for many years. These pieces can’t be made without those experiences, successes and failures, lots of failures. Even after 30 years, everyday in the studio for Nicholas is an adventure. He can’t wait for tomorrow.

STATEMENT
My personal art work has shifted quite a bit in the last 5 years. An art tour of Spain during my sabbatical in the spring of 2013 and a public art mosaic project (funded by Quad-City Arts, Metro Arts) beginning in the summer of 2014, forced change in my art work.
I have made ceramic vessels which refer to the human form for many years. The traditional vocabulary of ceramics uses figurative references, so lip refers to the top edge of a form and the words belly, neck and foot to other appropriate parts. I attempt to communicate through these pieces as a poem would, in the improvised juxtaposition of form, color, design, narrative, and references.
The pieces in this exhibit span the last few years. Many of the earliest pieces reference art work by Hieronymus Bosch. I rediscovered Bosch while on a trip to Spain during a sabbatical in the spring of 2013. I encountered The Garden of Earthly Delights, Bosch’s painting from the early 16th century. In it, there are other worldly architectural forms which seem to be plant-like. Scholars have written that they may be portals for souls attempting to travel to their afterlife. I was so amazed at these beautiful and imaginative forms that I began to try to translate small parts of them to clay. Largely though, their delicacy wasn’t well suited to clay. From here, looking for similar organic plant-like forms I remembered that I had been introduced to the plant photography of the German artist Karl Blossfeldt. This really became the more direct references for these pieces. Different from my past work, many of these pieces are made by starting with paper templates on slabs of clay. Wheel thrown parts are often added to develop the forms sculpturally.

BIOGRAPHY
As a college teacher I tend to work in spurts, and more concentrated ones in the summer. The most recent work was begun from biking along the Mississippi where I noticed the variety of support structures combined under bridges. I was interested in the combinations of various volumetric forms with open, filigree-like metal work on the top. I was also influenced by a mosaic project I’ve been working on for the past two summers, which involves tiling the concrete portions of a large geometric/totemic sculpture. While the newer work is more geometric in form, it relates to older pieces in the totem like forms and surface details. I use both stoneware and porcelain and finish the process with gas and wood fired kilns.
Education 
M.F.A., Ceramics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 1980.
Apprenticeship/Production Potter, Ridker Pottery, Bethesda, Maryland 1976‑78. B.S., Crafts, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland: 1976.

STATEMENT
Slip casted porcelain clay is my current exploration of architectural form and concepts.
As a child I played with wooden blocks that my Father made for me. I now work with blocks of plaster, which I stack-up to form molds. Then I pour slip (liquid clay) into the plaster molds. The slip will take on the shape of the interior of the stacked plaster blocks. After the slip has set up the plaster block molds are taken apart. Now I have a piece of ceramics the shape of the negative space the stacked plaster blocks formed.
Each ceramic piece is unique because of the way the plaster blocks are stacked. I can make similar pieces but none are exactly the same as they would be if I used the conventional method of slip casting.

BIOGRAPHY
As a child I was very interested in art and architecture. I received my B.A. in Art and education from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville. After graduation I spent 39 years teaching art and trying to develop creativity in my students.
My summers were spent selling, designing and building Geodesic Dome homes. I also made full-size sculptures of Dinosaurs for museums and collectors.
My wife Carolyn, also an artist, and I live in a Geodesic Dome we designed and built. It is the first dome built in southwestern Wisconsin.
I have taken over my son’s ceramic studio we built together in an old barn on our property. Now I am spending my time exploring ceramics.

STATEMENT
Form is everything; I stretch clay to make canvases for decoration.
Texture, pattern and color are successful additions when the shapes are impeccable.
My inspirations are many, from the classic forms of antiquity to the simple, graceful pots made by indigenous peoples and the work of modern studio potters. This current body of work deals with simple clean form. Handles and other flourishes are conspicuously lacking. Dramatic color and subtle texture accentuate what I hope is a mastery of the traditional vessel form.

BIOGRAPHY
Early experiences with clay as a child apparently left a mark. After school, apprenticeships and more school, making pots was, is and will continue to be a way of life for Nicholas Bernard. He has been a studio potter for nearly 30 years; living and working in Arizona for much of that time. His work as a professional has always been low fire earthenware. For many years, his Raku pots were shown nationally. The influences are scattered from the Southwest, Africa and Japan to the cultures of the Mediterranean. A museum full of 2000 year old pots in Rhodes was an epiphany. Simple forms with no contrivance or pretension filled room after room. He hopes to make one like that before he's done.  
Seeing those pots 10 years ago started this current evolution. It began with soft muted colors, totally classic shapes. Amphora, ewers, and jugs with an ancient vibe. Then, textured pots with extravagant handles, spouts and flourishes using brushed color. Over the last 18 months the current work has evolved. Hot colors, simple closed forms with very controlled textures dominate.
The last piece finished today--good, bad or indifferent--is the product of doing the work for many years. These pieces can’t be made without those experiences, successes and failures, lots of failures. Even after 30 years, everyday in the studio for Nicholas is an adventure. He can’t wait for tomorrow.

STATEMENT
Form is everything; I stretch clay to make canvases for decoration.
Texture, pattern and color are successful additions when the shapes are impeccable.
My inspirations are many, from the classic forms of antiquity to the simple, graceful pots made by indigenous peoples and the work of modern studio potters. This current body of work deals with simple clean form. Handles and other flourishes are conspicuously lacking. Dramatic color and subtle texture accentuate what I hope is a mastery of the traditional vessel form.

BIOGRAPHY
Early experiences with clay as a child apparently left a mark. After school, apprenticeships and more school, making pots was, is and will continue to be a way of life for Nicholas Bernard. He has been a studio potter for nearly 30 years; living and working in Arizona for much of that time. His work as a professional has always been low fire earthenware. For many years, his Raku pots were shown nationally. The influences are scattered from the Southwest, Africa and Japan to the cultures of the Mediterranean. A museum full of 2000 year old pots in Rhodes was an epiphany. Simple forms with no contrivance or pretension filled room after room. He hopes to make one like that before he's done.  
Seeing those pots 10 years ago started this current evolution. It began with soft muted colors, totally classic shapes. Amphora, ewers, and jugs with an ancient vibe. Then, textured pots with extravagant handles, spouts and flourishes using brushed color. Over the last 18 months the current work has evolved. Hot colors, simple closed forms with very controlled textures dominate.
The last piece finished today--good, bad or indifferent--is the product of doing the work for many years. These pieces can’t be made without those experiences, successes and failures, lots of failures. Even after 30 years, everyday in the studio for Nicholas is an adventure. He can’t wait for tomorrow.

STATEMENT
My personal art work has shifted quite a bit in the last 5 years. An art tour of Spain during my sabbatical in the spring of 2013 and a public art mosaic project (funded by Quad-City Arts, Metro Arts) beginning in the summer of 2014, forced change in my art work.
I have made ceramic vessels which refer to the human form for many years. The traditional vocabulary of ceramics uses figurative references, so lip refers to the top edge of a form and the words belly, neck and foot to other appropriate parts. I attempt to communicate through these pieces as a poem would, in the improvised juxtaposition of form, color, design, narrative, and references.
The pieces in this exhibit span the last few years. Many of the earliest pieces reference art work by Hieronymus Bosch. I rediscovered Bosch while on a trip to Spain during a sabbatical in the spring of 2013. I encountered The Garden of Earthly Delights, Bosch’s painting from the early 16th century. In it, there are other worldly architectural forms which seem to be plant-like. Scholars have written that they may be portals for souls attempting to travel to their afterlife. I was so amazed at these beautiful and imaginative forms that I began to try to translate small parts of them to clay. Largely though, their delicacy wasn’t well suited to clay. From here, looking for similar organic plant-like forms I remembered that I had been introduced to the plant photography of the German artist Karl Blossfeldt. This really became the more direct references for these pieces. Different from my past work, many of these pieces are made by starting with paper templates on slabs of clay. Wheel thrown parts are often added to develop the forms sculpturally.

BIOGRAPHY
As a college teacher I tend to work in spurts, and more concentrated ones in the summer. The most recent work was begun from biking along the Mississippi where I noticed the variety of support structures combined under bridges. I was interested in the combinations of various volumetric forms with open, filigree-like metal work on the top. I was also influenced by a mosaic project I’ve been working on for the past two summers, which involves tiling the concrete portions of a large geometric/totemic sculpture. While the newer work is more geometric in form, it relates to older pieces in the totem like forms and surface details. I use both stoneware and porcelain and finish the process with gas and wood fired kilns.
Education 
M.F.A., Ceramics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 1980.
Apprenticeship/Production Potter, Ridker Pottery, Bethesda, Maryland 1976‑78. B.S., Crafts, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland: 1976.

STATEMENT
I make functional and sculptural pottery, often combing both concepts. Traditional shapes from ancient cultures, and found in archeological sites or museum collections, inform my work. I’m influenced by the ideas found in art movements – Dada, American Regionalism, and Pop – as well as the forms found in the Peruvian and Etruscan cultures. My work always has a strong sensory quality – both visually and tactilely. My pots are fun to hold.

BIOGRAPHY
Steven Skinner grew up in a small, rural community in northern Illinois. After Steven’s military service, he graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he studied lithography, photomechanical lithography, oil painting, drawing, and sculpture.
Early in his art career, Steven painted in oil and encaustic. But a desire to work in more challenging mediums led him to experiment with watercolors which he discovered brought a spontaneity and expressiveness to his technique.
From 1988 to 2006, Steven worked exclusively with watercolors: his first watercolor series, (1989 to 1999), focused on Chicago’s viaducts, roadways, and bridge structures; a subsequent watercolor series (1999 to 2002), combined interior structural architecture with tropical plants found in the Chicago botanical conservatories. From 2003 to 2006, Steven painted The Little Things, a watercolor series of objects selected for their shape, color, patina, and personal or social significance and rendered representationally, though Steven enhanced each object’s individualistic qualities to subtly change their original character.
While making art, Steven Skinner also devoted time to teaching painting and drawing at Columbia College Chicago, and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as Indiana University (South Bend). During the summer of 2006 he taught watercolor painting in Florence, Italy for Columbia College Chicago in conjunction with Santa Reparatta International School of Art.
For several years Steven worked as an exhibit preparator at the Shedd Aquarium and Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. As a preparator, he worked with artifacts and designed and fabricated custom-fit mounts, which required an appreciation of each artifact’s uniqueness.  Steven was especially drawn to the Field’s outstanding collection of pre-Columbian pottery, which, he often sketched during his lunch hour.  When Steven began to study pottery at Lill Street Art Center (Chicago) in 2006, the lasting impact of those beautiful, ancient functional objects, began to inform his artwork.
Steven and his wife make their home in rural northwestern Indiana. There he works in his pottery studio and utilizes a downdraft gas fired kiln that he constructed.

STATEMENT
Slip casted porcelain clay is my current exploration of architectural form and concepts.
As a child I played with wooden blocks that my Father made for me. I now work with blocks of plaster, which I stack-up to form molds. Then I pour slip (liquid clay) into the plaster molds. The slip will take on the shape of the interior of the stacked plaster blocks. After the slip has set up the plaster block molds are taken apart. Now I have a piece of ceramics the shape of the negative space the stacked plaster blocks formed.
Each ceramic piece is unique because of the way the plaster blocks are stacked. I can make similar pieces but none are exactly the same as they would be if I used the conventional method of slip casting.

BIOGRAPHY
As a child I was very interested in art and architecture. I received my B.A. in Art and education from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville. After graduation I spent 39 years teaching art and trying to develop creativity in my students.
My summers were spent selling, designing and building Geodesic Dome homes. I also made full-size sculptures of Dinosaurs for museums and collectors.
My wife Carolyn, also an artist, and I live in a Geodesic Dome we designed and built. It is the first dome built in southwestern Wisconsin.
I have taken over my son’s ceramic studio we built together in an old barn on our property. Now I am spending my time exploring ceramics.

STATEMENT
Slip casted porcelain clay is my current exploration of architectural form and concepts.
As a child I played with wooden blocks that my Father made for me. I now work with blocks of plaster, which I stack-up to form molds. Then I pour slip (liquid clay) into the plaster molds. The slip will take on the shape of the interior of the stacked plaster blocks. After the slip has set up the plaster block molds are taken apart. Now I have a piece of ceramics the shape of the negative space the stacked plaster blocks formed.
Each ceramic piece is unique because of the way the plaster blocks are stacked. I can make similar pieces but none are exactly the same as they would be if I used the conventional method of slip casting.

BIOGRAPHY
As a child I was very interested in art and architecture. I received my B.A. in Art and education from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville. After graduation I spent 39 years teaching art and trying to develop creativity in my students.
My summers were spent selling, designing and building Geodesic Dome homes. I also made full-size sculptures of Dinosaurs for museums and collectors.
My wife Carolyn, also an artist, and I live in a Geodesic Dome we designed and built. It is the first dome built in southwestern Wisconsin.
I have taken over my son’s ceramic studio we built together in an old barn on our property. Now I am spending my time exploring ceramics.

STATEMENT
Slip casted porcelain clay is my current exploration of architectural form and concepts.
As a child I played with wooden blocks that my Father made for me. I now work with blocks of plaster, which I stack-up to form molds. Then I pour slip (liquid clay) into the plaster molds. The slip will take on the shape of the interior of the stacked plaster blocks. After the slip has set up the plaster block molds are taken apart. Now I have a piece of ceramics the shape of the negative space the stacked plaster blocks formed.
Each ceramic piece is unique because of the way the plaster blocks are stacked. I can make similar pieces but none are exactly the same as they would be if I used the conventional method of slip casting.

BIOGRAPHY
As a child I was very interested in art and architecture. I received my B.A. in Art and education from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville. After graduation I spent 39 years teaching art and trying to develop creativity in my students.
My summers were spent selling, designing and building Geodesic Dome homes. I also made full-size sculptures of Dinosaurs for museums and collectors.
My wife Carolyn, also an artist, and I live in a Geodesic Dome we designed and built. It is the first dome built in southwestern Wisconsin.
I have taken over my son’s ceramic studio we built together in an old barn on our property. Now I am spending my time exploring ceramics.

STATEMENT
Slip casted porcelain clay is my current exploration of architectural form and concepts.
As a child I played with wooden blocks that my Father made for me. I now work with blocks of plaster, which I stack-up to form molds. Then I pour slip (liquid clay) into the plaster molds. The slip will take on the shape of the interior of the stacked plaster blocks. After the slip has set up the plaster block molds are taken apart. Now I have a piece of ceramics the shape of the negative space the stacked plaster blocks formed.
Each ceramic piece is unique because of the way the plaster blocks are stacked. I can make similar pieces but none are exactly the same as they would be if I used the conventional method of slip casting.

BIOGRAPHY
As a child I was very interested in art and architecture. I received my B.A. in Art and education from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville. After graduation I spent 39 years teaching art and trying to develop creativity in my students.
My summers were spent selling, designing and building Geodesic Dome homes. I also made full-size sculptures of Dinosaurs for museums and collectors.
My wife Carolyn, also an artist, and I live in a Geodesic Dome we designed and built. It is the first dome built in southwestern Wisconsin.
I have taken over my son’s ceramic studio we built together in an old barn on our property. Now I am spending my time exploring ceramics.

STATEMENT
Slip casted porcelain clay is my current exploration of architectural form and concepts.
As a child I played with wooden blocks that my Father made for me. I now work with blocks of plaster, which I stack-up to form molds. Then I pour slip (liquid clay) into the plaster molds. The slip will take on the shape of the interior of the stacked plaster blocks. After the slip has set up the plaster block molds are taken apart. Now I have a piece of ceramics the shape of the negative space the stacked plaster blocks formed.
Each ceramic piece is unique because of the way the plaster blocks are stacked. I can make similar pieces but none are exactly the same as they would be if I used the conventional method of slip casting.

BIOGRAPHY
As a child I was very interested in art and architecture. I received my B.A. in Art and education from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville. After graduation I spent 39 years teaching art and trying to develop creativity in my students.
My summers were spent selling, designing and building Geodesic Dome homes. I also made full-size sculptures of Dinosaurs for museums and collectors.
My wife Carolyn, also an artist, and I live in a Geodesic Dome we designed and built. It is the first dome built in southwestern Wisconsin.
I have taken over my son’s ceramic studio we built together in an old barn on our property. Now I am spending my time exploring ceramics.

STATEMENT
Slip casted porcelain clay is my current exploration of architectural form and concepts.
As a child I played with wooden blocks that my Father made for me. I now work with blocks of plaster, which I stack-up to form molds. Then I pour slip (liquid clay) into the plaster molds. The slip will take on the shape of the interior of the stacked plaster blocks. After the slip has set up the plaster block molds are taken apart. Now I have a piece of ceramics the shape of the negative space the stacked plaster blocks formed.
Each ceramic piece is unique because of the way the plaster blocks are stacked. I can make similar pieces but none are exactly the same as they would be if I used the conventional method of slip casting.

BIOGRAPHY
As a child I was very interested in art and architecture. I received my B.A. in Art and education from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville. After graduation I spent 39 years teaching art and trying to develop creativity in my students.
My summers were spent selling, designing and building Geodesic Dome homes. I also made full-size sculptures of Dinosaurs for museums and collectors.
My wife Carolyn, also an artist, and I live in a Geodesic Dome we designed and built. It is the first dome built in southwestern Wisconsin.
I have taken over my son’s ceramic studio we built together in an old barn on our property. Now I am spending my time exploring ceramics.

STATEMENT
Slip casted porcelain clay is my current exploration of architectural form and concepts.
As a child I played with wooden blocks that my Father made for me. I now work with blocks of plaster, which I stack-up to form molds. Then I pour slip (liquid clay) into the plaster molds. The slip will take on the shape of the interior of the stacked plaster blocks. After the slip has set up the plaster block molds are taken apart. Now I have a piece of ceramics the shape of the negative space the stacked plaster blocks formed.
Each ceramic piece is unique because of the way the plaster blocks are stacked. I can make similar pieces but none are exactly the same as they would be if I used the conventional method of slip casting.

BIOGRAPHY
As a child I was very interested in art and architecture. I received my B.A. in Art and education from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville. After graduation I spent 39 years teaching art and trying to develop creativity in my students.
My summers were spent selling, designing and building Geodesic Dome homes. I also made full-size sculptures of Dinosaurs for museums and collectors.
My wife Carolyn, also an artist, and I live in a Geodesic Dome we designed and built. It is the first dome built in southwestern Wisconsin.
I have taken over my son’s ceramic studio we built together in an old barn on our property. Now I am spending my time exploring ceramics.

STATEMENT
My personal art work has shifted quite a bit in the last 5 years. An art tour of Spain during my sabbatical in the spring of 2013 and a public art mosaic project (funded by Quad-City Arts, Metro Arts) beginning in the summer of 2014, forced change in my art work.
I have made ceramic vessels which refer to the human form for many years. The traditional vocabulary of ceramics uses figurative references, so lip refers to the top edge of a form and the words belly, neck and foot to other appropriate parts. I attempt to communicate through these pieces as a poem would, in the improvised juxtaposition of form, color, design, narrative, and references.
The pieces in this exhibit span the last few years. Many of the earliest pieces reference art work by Hieronymus Bosch. I rediscovered Bosch while on a trip to Spain during a sabbatical in the spring of 2013. I encountered The Garden of Earthly Delights, Bosch’s painting from the early 16th century. In it, there are other worldly architectural forms which seem to be plant-like. Scholars have written that they may be portals for souls attempting to travel to their afterlife. I was so amazed at these beautiful and imaginative forms that I began to try to translate small parts of them to clay. Largely though, their delicacy wasn’t well suited to clay. From here, looking for similar organic plant-like forms I remembered that I had been introduced to the plant photography of the German artist Karl Blossfeldt. This really became the more direct references for these pieces. Different from my past work, many of these pieces are made by starting with paper templates on slabs of clay. Wheel thrown parts are often added to develop the forms sculpturally.

BIOGRAPHY
As a college teacher I tend to work in spurts, and more concentrated ones in the summer. The most recent work was begun from biking along the Mississippi where I noticed the variety of support structures combined under bridges. I was interested in the combinations of various volumetric forms with open, filigree-like metal work on the top. I was also influenced by a mosaic project I’ve been working on for the past two summers, which involves tiling the concrete portions of a large geometric/totemic sculpture. While the newer work is more geometric in form, it relates to older pieces in the totem like forms and surface details. I use both stoneware and porcelain and finish the process with gas and wood fired kilns.
Education 
M.F.A., Ceramics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 1980.
Apprenticeship/Production Potter, Ridker Pottery, Bethesda, Maryland 1976‑78. B.S., Crafts, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland: 1976.

STATEMENT
My personal art work has shifted quite a bit in the last 5 years. An art tour of Spain during my sabbatical in the spring of 2013 and a public art mosaic project (funded by Quad-City Arts, Metro Arts) beginning in the summer of 2014, forced change in my art work.
I have made ceramic vessels which refer to the human form for many years. The traditional vocabulary of ceramics uses figurative references, so lip refers to the top edge of a form and the words belly, neck and foot to other appropriate parts. I attempt to communicate through these pieces as a poem would, in the improvised juxtaposition of form, color, design, narrative, and references.
The pieces in this exhibit span the last few years. Many of the earliest pieces reference art work by Hieronymus Bosch. I rediscovered Bosch while on a trip to Spain during a sabbatical in the spring of 2013. I encountered The Garden of Earthly Delights, Bosch’s painting from the early 16th century. In it, there are other worldly architectural forms which seem to be plant-like. Scholars have written that they may be portals for souls attempting to travel to their afterlife. I was so amazed at these beautiful and imaginative forms that I began to try to translate small parts of them to clay. Largely though, their delicacy wasn’t well suited to clay. From here, looking for similar organic plant-like forms I remembered that I had been introduced to the plant photography of the German artist Karl Blossfeldt. This really became the more direct references for these pieces. Different from my past work, many of these pieces are made by starting with paper templates on slabs of clay. Wheel thrown parts are often added to develop the forms sculpturally.

BIOGRAPHY
As a college teacher I tend to work in spurts, and more concentrated ones in the summer. The most recent work was begun from biking along the Mississippi where I noticed the variety of support structures combined under bridges. I was interested in the combinations of various volumetric forms with open, filigree-like metal work on the top. I was also influenced by a mosaic project I’ve been working on for the past two summers, which involves tiling the concrete portions of a large geometric/totemic sculpture. While the newer work is more geometric in form, it relates to older pieces in the totem like forms and surface details. I use both stoneware and porcelain and finish the process with gas and wood fired kilns.
Education 
M.F.A., Ceramics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 1980.
Apprenticeship/Production Potter, Ridker Pottery, Bethesda, Maryland 1976‑78. B.S., Crafts, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland: 1976.

STATEMENT 
The pottery making process is magical. Things existing only in our imaginations become tangible objects which add value to people’s everyday life. The pottery creation is measured by the human senses at nearly every stage of the  process. This process reflects our emotion and passion in the tangible result. It affirms our Asian heritage and the American influence on us.
We aspire to make unique functional pottery that reflect ourselves, fits the American life style and enriches our customers’ everyday life. As we are making pottery, we think about how individual customers use our pieces and how it affects them. This gives us a unique connection with the people who use our pots.
We achieve our goal by making functional pottery as a collaborative work between us and our customers. Our functional-ware completes as art when customers use it. Our dinnerware is complete as art when customers place their food and use it in their everyday life. Our ikebana flower vases are only complete when customers include their flower arrangements and place the completed piece in the perfect location in their home.

BIOGRAPHY
In 2009 Thomas Arakawa was working as an auditor at a large accounting firm when he enrolled in a workshop at Blossom Hills Crafts pottery studio. He was hooked. In the following years he was mentored by studio owners Joanne Brice and David Johanson. He continued his education in Wood firing under Phil Park at Spring Valley Anagama, and Hiroshi Ogawa at Hikarigama Anagama in Elkton, Oregon. In 2014 Kathy began working with him and they began a professional relationship that blossomed into a life partnership.
Most of their pieces are collaborative efforts. Thomas throws most of the pots, and Kathy does slab work, decoration and glazing. They use three types of stoneware for the work and gas fire to 2300F. Their wide variety of functional and sculptural designs are both sturdy and delicate. Their striking Ikebana vases are now receiving national acclaim.