Michigan Mud 2011 - Presenters and Demonstrators
Robert Piepenburg - Keynote Speaker, Artist & Author
Robert Piepenburg was born in Detroit, MI and received his Bachelor’s, Master’s degree and MFA degree from Eastern Michigan University. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, three Michigan Council for the Arts Creative Artists Grants and an Outstanding Teacher of the Year award from Oakland Community College. His works appear in public and private collections from the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. His previous two books, Treasures of the Creative Spirit and The Spirit of Ceramic Design won a total five book awards in 2009.
Robert Piepenburg Book Signing at the MI Mud 2011
The Spirit of Ceramic Design - Cultivating Creativity with Clay
This beautifully assembled book is a pivotal resource for all who work in clay. As the winner of two national book awards it is as unique as it is insightful in its understanding of the cause and effect relationships between human spirituality and quality design. In addition to being a link to artistic empowerment, it is an engaging guide to timeless strategies used by designers to realize their visual objectives.
Treasures of the Creative Spirit - An Artist’s Understanding of Human Creativity
As an exploration of the universal connections between creativity and the human spirit, the second edition of this insightful book received three awards in the categories of Inspirational and Spirituality. Thoughtful and visionary, each page is a fresh passage into the essence of our humanness: trusting and loving, faith and courage, intuition and passion, an invite to the blossoming of our own spirituality and to the awakening of a creative life.
Website: www.piepenburgstudios.com
Jeremy Brooks will discuss the progression of his artwork over the past ten years as it relates to integrating ceramics with mixed media and materials. Jeremy will speak about his influences and various material choices present in his studio practice. His lecture will also present the work of other like-minded ceramic artists whose work moves beyond the traditions and material constraints of clay, incorporates a variety of materials, and deals with issues greater than those typically addressed by the ceramics community.
Jeremy Brooks received his BFA from Grand Valley State University and his MFA from Alfred University. He has taught classes in the local community through Pewabic Pottery, and he has held academic appointments at Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University, and the University of Michigan. In 2011, Jeremy was awarded the title of Emerging Artist by The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts / NCECA. Jeremy currently resides in Hazel Park, MI and continues to exhibit his work both nationally and internationally.
Website: www.klai-body.com
Craig Clifford will demo his slip cast, college construction techniques. In addition he will present his glazing techniques and talk about getting depth of color with cone 06 glazes. His pieces are made by the assemblage of hundreds of press molded, kitsch forms to create a texture in the forms that at first glance seems to be a mere surface, but draws the viewer in with slices of recognizable imagery. In his work he transform these hollow, commercial reproductions of 'art' to create his work. The forms themselves are cast from found objects like refined teacups and serving pieces from cast off china sets. For Craig, color acts as another layer for the work both hiding and accenting the texture and form. As an artist he works in assemblage and uses material culture to create works that recontextualize the familiar until it is transformed and unrecognizable. Craig Clifford currently teaches at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
Website: www.craigcliffordceramics.com
Daria Kim – Brush Making Workshop: Pre-registration required, $10.00 additional for materials. Workshop limited to the first 20 who resister for the workshop. If there are sufficient registrations a second workshop may be added.
Those attending this workshop will make two brushes to take home. Daria has been making brushes for herself for many years and her brushes are now available at galleries and ceramic studios in Michigan. She tailors each brush by its original attributes and hairlines; no two are alike in shape or design. Hair is used from a variety of sources, including fox, mink, deer, horse or even skunk. The hair goes through an arduous process to ensure cleanliness and usability. For functional a lightweight handles is chosen for holding comfort, others are an artwork in themselves with ornate deer horn or bone handles. Daria tailors each brush by its original attributes and hairlines; no two are alike in shape or design. Born and raised in Seoul, Korea Daria moved to the US in 1988 and attended the University of Alabama where she gained a foundation in ceramics. She is the studio technician for WCC's ceramic department, a member of the Ann Arbor Potter's Guild and teaches a variety of ceramic classes for adults and children in the Ann Arbor area.
Website: www.dariawhitepottery.com
Paul Kotula's lecture presentation will include work from the early 90's to the present. He will discuss issues within his studio practice ideas of supplementation, the perception of touch and the reconsideration of Modernism. He will also delve into his role as a dealer/curator and how it relates to the concepts of his art.
Paul received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Wayne State University, Detroit, MI and his Master of Fine Arts degree from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 1989. Currently he is an Assistant Professor in Ceramics at Michigan State University; owner and director of Paul Kotula Projects, a contemporary art gallery in suburban Detroit; and a practicing artist creating tableware. The potential of utility and its social context, the abstract language of the pot, and clay's ability to accept such unique expressions fascinate Kotula. He has redefined ceramics and the use of clay in contemporary art practices and in creating tableware.
Kotula's incredibly thoughtful surface treatments created through the use of glaze become inspired contemplative paintings. Matte surfaces in combination with shiny ones reflect light in different ways; a simply glazed line interacts with an organic shape of a different glaze color. Kotula removes all that is extraneous, reducing both form and surface to their most base elements and greatly emphasizing the importance of each decision he makes. His sensitivity to his material choice, the strength and originality of his forms, and his beautifully designed compositions pay homage to the field of design.
Website: www.paulkotula.com
Debbie Kupinsky will present figurative handbuilding and assemblage techniques in porcelain as a demonstration. Her work references the doll and emphasizes the metaphorical qualities of the figure as a way to talk about interior life and memory. The figures are coil-built porcelain and use both the interior and exterior space as well as exaggerated features and cast found objects to create loose narratives. The demonstration will include process images of building with coils and cast elements, as well as presenting images and examples of finished work. Debbie will partially prepare a large porcelain bust shape in advance and use the demonstration to create features and detail. In addition she'll use a separate piece to demonstrate building the basic forms and will talk about the figure as metaphor and the use of found objects as a symbol of nostalgia.
Debbie Kupinsky is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor and Uihlein Fellow in Studio Art at Lawrence University where she teaches ceramics and foundations. She previously taught at California State University Long Beach, USC and CSU San Bernardino and received her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and MFA from Louisiana State University. She has held residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana and the Appalachian Center for Crafts in Smithville, TN. Her work will be featured in the upcoming group exhibition, Fresh Figurines at the Fuller Museum of Craft in Brockton, MA and is on view at the Pacini Lubel Gallery in Seattle, Washington and the Archie Bray Foundation.
Website: www.debbiekupinsky.com
Nicole Marroquin works in terracotta clay. In her demonstration she will show how she constructs her pieces, surface decoration with velvet underglazes and how she uses decals. She will include a short presentation of her work and influences to compliment her demonstration.
Nicole Marroquin is an interdisciplinary artist whose creative practice includes collaboration, studio art, research, teaching, and strategic intervention. As a classroom art teacher in Chicago and Detroit, Marroquin taught and collaborated with youth on art-based action research projects. She makes art, exhibits and writes about participatory cultural production with youth and in communities. Marroquin received her MFA from the University of Michigan in 2008 and is now living in Pilsen in Chicago. She is an Assistant Professor of Art Education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Website: www.nicolemarroquin.com
Gail Piepenburg will demonstrate how she creates raku wall pieces from soft slabs of clay. Her working style is quick and done at a pace that infuses the artwork with personal bursts of creative energy. Throughout her working process she discusses her forming strategies and aesthetic philosophy while simultaneously articulating the critical roles various elements and principles of 3-D design play in the successful transformation from clay as material to clay as art. Gail was born in Detroit, MI and received an Illustration degree from Kendall College of Art and Design before receiving a BFA degree and an MFA degree from Eastern Michigan University. Her works of art have won many awards and appear in many of the contemporary books on ceramics. She currently teaches ceramics and design full-time at Oakland Community College in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Website: www.piepenburgstudios.com
Greg Stahly's lecture presentation will cover his work since approximately 2005 to the present and will be based on how he ended up where he is, how ideas, conceptual themes and aesthetics have evolved for him over time. His work since 2005 has been primarily based on functional systems (electric, plumbing, roadways, etc.) that have similar functional properties. More recently his work has been geared towards the mechanization of the landscape and how we are essentially attempting to turn the landscape into a machine using similar conceptual principles that have guided the development of functional systems.
Paul started in clay working for Dick Lehman at his pottery in Goshen, Indiana in 1997, the same year he began his undergraduate studies at Goshen College under Marvin Bartel. Throughout his undergraduate career he focused primarily on wheel thrown vessels and atmosphere firing processes (both soda vapor and wood). In 2002 Greg began his graduate studies at Indiana University under the guidance of John Goodheart, Tim Mather, Malcolm Mobutu Smith, and Christyl Boger. It was during this time that Greg began working primarily in sculpture, making mixed media work based on industrial and scientific systems and structures. Since 2006, Greg has been an Assistant Professor of Ceramics at Central Michigan University.
Ian Thomas earned his BFA in ceramics and Painting studies from Slippery Rock University in PA and his MFA from Texas Tech University. A self-proclaimed pluralist, his research explores traditional and non-traditional ceramics, sculpture, printmaking, painting, and installation. Ian has also studied at the Academy of Fine Art in Bratislava, Slovakia and had a residency in Jindezhen, China. He exhibits and conducts workshops nationally and will be demoing large platter (30”-40”) construction on the wheel and utilizing different image transfer techniques (screen printing, low-tech litho, newspaper transfer, etc.). He will construct hand-built sculptures using the platters and a frame.