Blog
Leza Marie McVey
American pioneer potter Leza Marie McVey (1907–84) was an American studio potter, also known by her maiden name of Sullivan. McVey studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art from 1927–1932 and at the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center from 1943–-1944. In 1932 she married the sculptor William Mozart McVey, a successful artist in his own right.... Read More
June 12, 2019
Matsui Kosei
Japanese Master of Neriage Matsui Kosei is a master of Neriage, a time-consuming technique, whereby different colored clays are mixed, rolled out, cut and reassembled. Matsui was born in 1927 and started his studies in ceramics in 1946. In 1957, he became a priest at the Getsusoji Temple, where in 1960 he built a kiln so he... Read More
June 12, 2019
Patriciu (Patrick) Mateescu
Romanian-American ceramist Patrick Mateescu is a Romanian-born American ceramist. He received an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest, Romania and settled in the USA in 1979. Since 1998 Mateescu has distanced himself from decorative aspects in his previous work, such as color and symmetry, in favor of dramatic expression in his current abstract... Read More
June 12, 2019
Martin Brothers
Eccentric British potters (Click images to enlarge) The Martin Brothers pottery was founded by the eldest of the group, Robert Wallace Martin (1843–1923), who had trained in sculpture at Lambeth School of Art and later at the Royal Academy of Art. By the late 1860s he had set up his first workshop, making terracotta sculpture.... Read More
June 12, 2019
Michael Lucero
American clay sculptor During his early period Michael Lucero made composite sculptures using hundreds of thin, hand-made tiles which were attached to wire frames. Often these would be human figures, but sometimes animal forms. Already in these early works, one can see combinations of human/animal, culture/nature, architecture/organism that have remained an element in Lucero’s subsequent work. In... Read More
June 12, 2019
Marilyn Levine
American trompe-l’oeil sculptor Canadian ceramist Marilyn Levine studied sculpture in Canada and the USA. Levine has become well known for her hyper-realistic renderings of leather briefcases, handbags, jackets and the like, in the trompe-l’oeil tradition. Other artists have also worked in this tradition, e.g. Ah Leon and Richard Shaw, but Levine devoted her efforts with great effect... Read More
June 12, 2019
Charles Krafft
Controversial American ceramist. Article by Larry Reid Warning: This article contains images that may disturb some readers. Darkness in Delft “Never Look a Gift Shoppe in the Mouth” intones the inscription on one of Seattle artist Charles Krafft’s porcelain collector plates. So, it should come as no surprise that the creator of delft Disasterwaretm took advantage of a... Read More
June 12, 2019
Gerd Knäpper
German studio potter resident in Japan Gerd Knäpper’s story is truly an amazing one. Knäpper studied in Germany with Host Kerstan and in Japan with Seisei Suzuki. In 1968, he moved to the Japanese pottery town of Mashiko, building the first foreign owned workshop there. In 1975 he moved to Daigo, north of Mashiko. In 1971,... Read More
June 12, 2019
Kathy Butterly
American ceramist. American ceramist Kathy Butterly earned a BFA at Moore College of Art in 1986 and an MFA at the University of California, Davis in 1990. Her awards include the Evelyn Shapiro Foundation Grant in 1993, an Empire State Crafts Alliance Grant in 1995, an NYFA Grant in 1999 and the Anonymous Was a Woman... Read More
June 12, 2019
Jun Kaneko
American sculptor Born and raised in Japan, Jun Kaneko moved to the United States to study ceramics. Not able to speak the language, he was forced to focus purely on the visual. His painting background is evident in his work, where his monolithic ceramic “dangos” (the Japanese word for dumpling) become three-dimensional, inflated canvases. Working primarily with... Read More
June 12, 2019