Panagiotis Harry Voulkopoulos, better known as Peter Voulkos, was born on January 29, 1924 in Bozeman, Montana. He was the third child of five born to his Greek immigrant parents. Just after graduating from Gallatin County High School, he was drafted into the United States Army, where he served for three years. Eight years after leaving the army, he married Margaret Cone. Peter’s groundbreaking works are best known for their unique visual weight and somewhat bizarre appearances. Seen in this picture with John Balistreri, Voulkos was fond of hammering, smashing, and gouging large holes in his pieces, and they clearly convey his passion and energy. He created a large number of plates, ice buckets, tea bowls, prints, paintings, and bronzes, most of which are non-conventional pieces. His King’s Chamber is a perfect example of this, though most of his stacks shared many common elements with this one. While most of his later work is wood-fired, his earlier projects were glazed, painted, and even cast in bronze.

It is likely that his heritage had a great impact on his creative mind, as much of his work is reminiscent of traditional Greek pottery. He studied painting and ceramics at Montana State University and earned an MFA from the California College of the Arts. He then founded the ceramics department at Otis College of Art and Design, then did the same at the University of California, Berkeley, where he proceeded to teach from 1959-85. He and Rudy Autio became the Archie Bray Foundation’s first resident artists. Receiving an astonishing number of awards and medals in his life, Peter was a highly decorated man. Most of Peter’s artwork is more sculptural than functional. Even with simple things like plates he defied conventional expectations by creating something that you almost couldn’t use even if you tried.

On February 16, 2002 he died of a heart attack after demonstrating his skill to a live audience during a college ceramics workshop. His artwork can be found in museums worldwide, including the National Gallery in Melbourne, Australia, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., and the Kyoto National Museum of Modern art, to name just a few.

Check out these links for more information on Peter Voulkos!

http://www.artnet.com/awc/peter-voulkos.html

http://www.voulkos.com/frameportfolio.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_voulkos

http://www.voulkos.com/petebio.html

BERNARD PALISSY

Bernard Palissy was believed to be born around 1509, either at Saintes or Agen in France. He is thought to be a potter, craftsmen and writter. Unfortunately he died nearly eighty years of age in Bastille in 1589. His father was a glass-painter and so he was very well trained by him. When he was first shown a white enameled cup, which caused him surprise and excitement, he decided to spend his life “to use his own expressive phrase, like a man who gropes in the dark, in order to discover the secrets of manufacture”.

Bernard Palissy was determined to imitate Chinese porcelain. Even though he failed with Chinese porcelain, he succeeded in making kinds of peasant pottery decorated with naturalistic colored applied reliefs with glazes and enamels. While searching some of his work, I was really impressed on how his work contains so much mythological history.
Bernard Palissy is known for his “rustic” earth ware, covered with colored lead glazes.
Also he almost never used the potters wheel. Few of his most characteristic productions were large plates,ewers, oval dishes and vases, which he would usually apply realistic figures of fish, plants, shells, reptiles and other objects. The colors he used to choose for his pieces were various shades of blue from indigo to ultramarine, greens, several tints of browns and greys and some yellow.

Some of Palissys best ware collections are in the museums of the Louvre, the hotel Cluny, and Sevres and also in England in the Albert Museum.
In 1565 he was appointed as “inventor of rustic pottery to the king and the queen mother”.

His work passed through many phases. After his “rustic figurines”, he made multiple dishes and plaques and also reproductions of the pewter dishes of Francois Briot and many other metalworkers of that period. Palissy was one of the first Europeans to articulate the correct theory of fossils and his pieces and ideas of spring and underground waters were thought to be far in advance of the general knowledge of his time.

George Ohr

George E. Ohr (1857-1918) was an American Ceramist who was also know by his self made name, “ Mad Potter of Biloxi”. He is considered an iconic figure of the American Abstract Expressionist movement. During his lifetime he produced over 10,000 pots, but was forced to rebuild his life after his pottery studio burnt down in Mississippi in 1893. Much of his inspiration came from the fire where he then produced some of the most innovative pieces of his career. His use of organic shapes, lines, brilliantly colored glazes and wheel techniques are fantastic and can be seen in the Orh-O'Keefe Museum of Art dedicated to his work.

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George Ohr manipulated finely potted vessels by twisting, bending, folding, and crimping. He experimented with both structural form and glazes, and his idiosyncratic works, each one a kind of nonrepresentational sculpture, presaged abstraction by several decades. One example is of this slumped footed vase with a pocked blue glaze. Its off balance vertical shape gives it an unexpected gestural quality. The curvy designs of each pot establishes a modern, exotic form. His work was unpopular during his life because it was incredibly advanced for his time.

Ohrs eccentric persona and imaginative aesthetics were condemned throughout his life, but he remained diligent in continuing the creative process. It wasn’t until well after his death in the 1960’s where his work became rediscovered and praised for its modern qualities. His work displayed in the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art experienced the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina where portions of the building were destroyed. This event draws a parallel to the disaster Ohr’s studio had experienced in the fire of 1893. The ceramics that George Ohr had created post-catastrophe were his most masterful and spirited, therefore the theme of triumph resonates throughout displays of his work. His pottery is currently extremely valuable because he was considered a pioneer of modern ceramics; a small pot can sell in the six-figure range. There are many knock off George Ohr pieces that are made to try and fool buyers, but the few who fanatically collect know the signature traits of the originals.

Kristen Kieffer

Kristen Kieffer is a magnificent ceramicist who aligns her work with the detail, sophistication, and beauty of a bygone era. She explores textures and patterns through her pieces and is able to create soft, intricate pieces.

Kristen Kieffer grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. As a little girl she enjoyed going to Louisville Stoneware on school field trips, and visiting the Louisville Art Museum with her parents. When she was in high school she moved to Rockville, Massachusetts where she had access to the Smithsonian’s and began her pursuit of ceramics. In 1993 Kristen received her Associates degree in Studio Ceramics from Montgomery College in 1993. Later in 1995 she recieved her Bachelor in Fine Arts from the NYSCC at Alfred University.

After pursuing ceramics from the educational perspective Kristen moved to Detroit where she got her hands dirty as an Intern for the Greenfield Village Pottery at the Henry Ford Museum. There Kristen threw pots in front of visitors for fourteen months. From there, Kristen took up Artist-In-Residence positions at John Glick’s Plum Tree Pottery in Michigan and at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.

In1998 Kristen returned to school as a graduate student at the Ohio University. In 2001 she received her MFA .

Kristen's primary infludences in her work come from clothing and metal working. She like the idea of soft materials, such as fabric, creating hard ridged lines as in a corset or Elizabethan dress. Conversely how hard material, such silver or brass, yield soft forms. This influence is clearly illustrated in this corset vase. Kristen takes the clay and transforms it into fabric using bold, but soft lines, and detailed decorations all over the corset.

A common theme with Kristen’s work is her use of patterns and stamps. Here are a set of stamped bowls.

Pretty much all of Kristen’s work is soda fired, which really emphasizes her form with its addition of shadows.

Chris Gustin

Chris Gustin was born in Chicago in 1952 and went to the University of California studying biology and sociology. Because of his family business in working on several commercial ceramic manufacturing companies, he always had an interest in clay and realized that he wanted to continue to work in ceramics. In 1970, he quit school and became the factory foreman and manager at Wildwood ceramics. It wasn’t until 1972 that he went on to attend Kansas Art Institute and got his BFA in ceramics in 1975. Two years later he was invited to be an assistant professor in ceramics in Boston University and later became associate professor at the University of Massachusetts. He retired 1999 from teaching to fully devote himself to his studio work and tile production company “Gustin Ceramics Tile Production.”

His work is exhibited at several museums, including the Collection of the Currier Museum in Manchester, New Hampshire and the Collection of the Fuller Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts.

With his work, he aspires to create work that connect to the human figure and the personal touch of its maker; creating interesting asymmetrical and almost organic vessel. His work is meant to be explored, both with the eye and through touch that changes in different perspectives. He works with many different forms, including platters, teapots and vases. His platters are decorated with different abstract forms, some in which appear to lift up from the surface. His teapots and vases create an interesting form of abstractness, almost alluding to the collision of many different parts of vessels from throughout time. “The enormous ceramic vessels are beautiful and imposing,” said Kaizaad Kotwal, or the Columbus Dispatch. “Their scale, lyrical curves and detailed patinas are unique.” Gustin’s work is rather grand, sometimes measuring to 50 inches in width. Glen R. Brown describes his works “reflect an abstract logic of accretion that is only grasped by the viewer through a ‘rational’ assessment of the vessels’ structural properties. The balance between emotion and logic, gut reaction and reasoned response.” To see more of his work, visit his website here: http://www.gustinceramics.com/index.html and a link to Glen R. Brown’s article: http://www.gustinceramics.com/sculpture/Arts&Perceptionarticle/artsandperception.html

Elisa Helland-Hansen

Elisa Helland-Hanson was born in 1950 in New York but now resides in Bergen, Norway. Elisa began school at the Trondheim school of art which she attended for two years and then continued her education at the National College of Art and Design in Bergen, Norway and graduated from the ceramics department. She taught at HDK, Gothenburg University in Sweden and has visited Universities, including CU, as a visiting artist where she talked and has done workshops and has been a guest lecturer all over the world. Elisa works with ceramics and her focus for her work is domestic use and how they relationship between their function and form, color and surface, and her biggest challenge still is the works social and cultural context. http://www.kunst.no/elisa/info-eng.html


Elisa had her first of wood firing during a kiln building course at the National College of Art and Design. Her ceramic work is wood fired which she built in her studio after graduating and establishing her own studio. Her decision to work with wood firing was due to the success of the different results. With wood firing the results vary because the ash and different burning technique can add a different texture and color to the glazes. Most of her work is thrown on the wheel and altered after and on her pouring vessels and cups most of her handles are pulled strait from the body of work. When decorating her pots she uses many different techniques such as wax resist, slip and paper stencil, and over glazing. Her body of work has been many different exhibitions all over Europe with a few in the USA.

http://books.google.com/books?id=8OkXtdbOoJUC&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=elisa+helland-hansen+ceramics&source

All of her work is done in a stoneware or porcelain and is meant to be strong and durable so that the pieces can be functional and used in everyday activities. However, her use of the different decorating techniques that she uses on her work makes the aesthetic view of the domestic pieces seem much more delicate and valuable. She describes her work in “Song From My Pot” where each line describes that her work should be used, looked at, enjoyed, filled, touched, and more. Each pot that she makes definitely follows this and each one has a different look and feel and is enjoyable to look at.

Bernard Leach

Bernard Leach was born in 1887 in Hong Kong and went to the Slade School of Art in London, where he studied under Henry Tonks. However, he didn’t discover pottery until he attended a raku tea part in Tokyo, where guests were asked to decorate already fired raku pieces. It was here that Leach discovered his passion. (Prior to this tea party, Leach had studied etching and considered himself an etching artist). It was in Japan that he encountered a group of young Japanese art enthusiasts, called Shirakaba. Through this group, he was able to broaden his artistic horizons and shortly after, Leach began his ceramics career under the direction of Shigekichi Urano.

Leach’s first claim to fame was a book he published in 1940 called “A Potter’s Book”. This book is still considered a must read for any aspiring potter. He was an avid instructor of ceramics, believing anyone could learn to throw on the wheel. While schooling in Japan, became friends with another young potter named Shoji Hamada whom with he set up Leach Pottery at St. Ives, Cornwall in 1920. At this studio, he produced the pottery for which he became famous. This work consisted mainly of modest, functional forms with clean slip designs. Often the subjects of his designs are simplified or abstracted animal forms. This minimalist theme in his work is most likely pulled from his ceramic training in Japan, as well as his British heritage. Leach often saw his art as a conveyor between these two desperately different cultures.

The hand-painting aesthetic of Leach's slip designs allow the viewer to follow the artist's hand. One is able to physically see where the weight of the brush was heavy, and where it was lifted off. Despite this handmade quality, the designs are very crisp and clean, adding a professional and finished quality to Leach's work. My personal favorite piece by Leach is his 'Slipware Plate' (made around 1950), which features a an abstracted rabbit form. The contrast between the swooping and flowing quality of the rabbit's feet and ears really contrast with the rigid and geometrical crosshatched decoration around the outer ring of the plate. Also, this piece is a perfect example of Leach bridging British and Japanese aspects into his work. The outer rim and signed name are very reminiscent of Thomas Toft's (a famous English potter) style, while the rabbit form is resemblant of Japanese design.

Unfortunately, due to loss of sight, Leach had to stop producing work in 1972. However, he continued to publish writings about ceramics, even after he’d lost his eyesight. In 1977, the Victoria and Albert museum in London hosted a exhibition of his retrospective work. Bernard Leach died in 1979.

Hella Jongerius

Born in 1963 in the town of De Meern, in the Netherlands, Hella Jongerius is a Dutch designer who works with many different ceramic mediums. She studied industrial design at the Eindhoven Design Academy. Droog, an influential Dutch design collective, manufactured many of Jongerius’ early designs. From 1998-1999, Hella taught at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, where from 2000-2004 she served as head of the Department of Living/Atelier. In 2000 she founded the design studio JongeriusLab in Rotterdam where she creates, produces, and markets many of her designs such as dishware, vases, textiles, and furnishings. Hella’s work blurs the border between design and handicraft, or art and technology. In addition, she fuses traditional and contemporary influences through the use of high tech and low tech, as well as the industrial and artisanal themes. This juxtaposition is what distinguishes her style from other ceramic artists.

When she first became interested in art and design she started off studying carpentry. But, she came to the conclusion that carpentry was too much about “making” and not enough about creating the actual design of the object. Therefore, Hella looked to industrial design where she could deal with practical questions about work and life that bordered a profession, which was the inspiration for her work. The main theme of her work is her craft. Her goal is to find ways to make unique pieces from industrial processes and use archetypal forms through new techniques or materials. A reoccurring theme is the fusion of craftsmanship with industrialization. Much of her work deals with the relationship between modernity and traditionalism. Take this teapot (to the right) for example. The top portion of the teapot displays classical antiquity that expresses traditional elements. Whereas the cosey that encompasses the base of the pot is structured with a more industrial approach. There is a combination of craftsmanship, which is evident in the hand-made cosey, and a traditional element with the classical bust that sits atop the teapot. She tends to create a capsule that obtains information about stories and layers that add to her ceramic works.

Her work entitled Animal Bowls places greater emphasis on the manufacturers’ handcrafted products and shows the observer the numerous steps involved in finishing a product. What I love the most about this medium is the attention to detail. The animals that sit in the center of each vessel is oddly beautiful and precious in the sense that they are unexpected, but unusually functional. Both the “Unique Plates” and the bowls with animal figures are created exclusively by hand, not following defined patterns or matrices, but rather based on a system. Accordingly, no two plates are identical. They vary in size and depth and the marks left behind by the craftwork are made visible. This particular shape of the plate or the bowl is an archetypical concept that has existed for centuries and represents an attractive basis for a décor.

Reflecting on historical ceramic works, Hella creates Prince and Princess. Her choice was for two of the museum’s most highly regarded pieces: a 14th century copper-red vase from China and a 15th century cobalt blue Ming vase, which inspired her to design her Prince and Princess ceramic works. Decorative forms such as dragons and flowers on these vases were used to allow for a new pattern of openwork. Hella Jongerius translates the age-old under-glaze technique by perforating the walls in a specific decorative pattern. She then fills the holes with colored silicon rubber. In this way, the perforated vases are made waterproof.

As you can see, Hella produces a variety of works by different mediums through ceramics. It demonstrates the possibility of how far you can push a simple material like clay. Her work is extremely inspirational towards my work. I would love to emulate many of her techniques. I appreciate the simplicity of the majority of her work. She adds small, beautiful details that make her piece a gem in disguise.

Feel free to watch a YouTube video on Hella discussing her trials and tribulations of working chicle (a extremely new and challenging materials in the ceramics world). (click on "YouTube")

Warren Mackenzie

Warren Mackenzie was born February 16, 1924 in Kansas City, Missouri. His family moved near Chicago and Warren spent his childhood growing up in Evanston, Illinois. His parents tell him he was always interested in art, but never very good at it. When he graduated from high school he decided he would become a painter and he attended the Chicago Art Institute. In 1943, in the middle of his second year at school, Warren was drafted into the army and spent three years away. He returned home from the war expecting to continue his painting education but was met with completely full courses due to all the returning GI’s. Warren searched the course catalogue and found space in a ceramic course, so he registered. His first several months learning ceramics were uneventful and he wasn’t that interested, but that all changed the day he discovered A Potters Book, by Bernard leach. Leach talked about ceramics in a utilitarian manner saying such things like, “Any person should be able to make 50 pots easily in a day’s time,” and, “Any person should be able to throw a 15-inch-tall cylinder.” Warren was sparked by Leach’s philosophy and found himself sneaking into the ceramic studio on off days to try and do the things leach said he should be able to. Later Warren Mackenzie would study under Bernard Leach as his apprentice. Warren has been practicing his career in ceramics for nearly sixty years, and has always been focused on the functionality of his work. Mackenzie has described his goal as the making of "everyday" pots, although his work is found in major museums and goes for high prices among collectors. Warren makes pots with integrity; understated and comforting; his work is often described as warm and inviting to use, as simple, casual, and dignified. As decades have passed, MacKenzie's dedication has been unwavering. He tries to keep his prices within reach with the belief that having access too, and making use of handmade objects truly does add something to one's life especially in an ever increasing mechanized world. For a while Mackenzie sold his work through the honor system, where people could walk into his gallery and take a piece while leaving the money in a basket. At 86 years old Warren Mackenzie is still making pots although he suffers from silicosis or impaired lung function.

Liz Quackenbush!

Mouse
terracotta, majolica, lusters and glass enamel (cone 04), 2005

At first glance, the artwork of Liz Quackenbush appears whimsical, playful and cosmic. An underlying theme of nature is inherent in her forms, which range from hand-built, frog sculptures, to colorful, floral plates and vases. As in the above Mouse, Quackenbush creates multidimensional forms, some functional and some not so functional, that are varied and dynamic and hold one's attention. According to Quackenbush, "the specific visual syntax that forms such a central part of my work is derived primarily from my own, very personal, experience of nature as an intimate part of daily life."

































Star Vase
terracotta, majolica, lusters and glass enamel (cone 04), 2007

Quackenbush's recent work is primarily made from terracotta, majolica, lusters and glass enamel (cone 04). Her choice of materials is very intentional and creates the conceptual narrative of her work. Quackenbush explains that she is inspired by work from "the medieval folk traditions of Europe and the Middle East, and the charm of 19th century Staffordshire porcelain." This is evident in the visually prominent gold luster on the Star Vase, layered on top of the majolica (which creates the whiteness of the form). The majolica is layered on the terracotta. Interestingly, her artworks are made to appear like porcelain, with light, refined qualities, but they are indeed terracotta.
While Quackenbush literally layers these materials, she is symbolically referencing the layering that exists in nature, specifically in ecosystems. She sends this theme home with the decorative content of flowers and animals.


Quackenbush plays with concepts of form and dimension, material, ornamentation, craftsmanship, tradition, and nature. It is the dynamic of her materials, technique, and forms that create beauty and intrigue in her pieces.



Dinner Plate
terracotta, majolica, lusters and glass enamel (cone 04), 2007


Quackenbush received her B.F.A. from CU in 1980. She went on to apprentice at the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown, PA., before going on to earn her M.F.A. at the School for American Craftsmen at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY. She is currently a professor of art at Penn State, but she spends her summers in rural Vermont which "allowed me to produce more direct, less mediated interpretations of natural forms, and integrate this new knowledge back into the historically determined iconography of traditional ceramics that have informed my work for many years."

Liz Quackenbush, awesome ceramicist!
















http://artaxis.org/ceramics/quackenbush_liz/liz_quackenbush.htm

MATT LONG

Matt Long has been a ceramic artist for 22 years. He received his Bachelor degree of fine art from The Kansas City Art Institute in 1995, before acquiring his Masters from Ohio University in 1997. His pottery tends to be cone 10 soda-fired porcelain. Aside from being a well-known ceramic artist, Matt Long is also an assistant professor at the University of Mississippi and is currently running this university's Ceramics Department.

Although I had heard about Matt Long and his work before this past summer when I was fortunate enough to take a kiln building class from him, my interest in his art was sparked after meeting him and observing his passion for functional pottery. Long’s zeal for pottery can be observed in his artist statement when he says, “hand made pottery is a complete human expression, not an interpretation of usable objects that only address a standard.” This statement is expressed in the care and thought that Long includes in the creation of his pottery. Long typically decorates his ceramic art with slips and washes that are then covered by a variety of different soda-fired glazes. Personally, I enjoy the diversity of functional-ware that Matt Long creates, which can be seen in the gallery of his personal website http://www.fullvictory.com/gallery.html.

Along with the standard functional-ware created by most potters, Long tends to make vessels such as flasks, wine bottles, and sake sets. His theme and thought behind these vessels suggests more than just alcohol consumption, something that intrigued me when listening to a lecture of his this past summer. Long expressed that his work is not about the alcohol, but instead is about the company that surrounds someone when vessels such as a flask are in use. This idea of community is also applicable to the coffee and tea pots that Long often creates and is explained in this quote from a 2004 article in Cermaics Daily (accessible for download at the bottom of this webpage http://ceramicartsdaily.org/bookstore/vessles-for-victory-by-matt-long/) “To be in the front of the cupboard, to be on the counter top, to be set on a table where someone is having a conversation with someone they care about: that matters more to me than making money or driving a better car. Maybe my flasks get passed around at a family gathering to celebrate the new year, an anniversary, or the birth of a child—events that really define who we are.”

The importance of community and the company of others is obviously a central aspect of Matt Long’s life and I believe this is his inspiration for creating the pottery that he does. As he explains, “I have a wife, two children and a dog. I have a studio to work in and I have friends around me. A lot of those things exist because of my choice about pots, about making pots and being a part of a particular kind of community.” This theme of community is reinforced by Long’s style. His tendency to use glazes and heavy slips that create curvy lines on the surface of his vessels suggesting elegance, courtliness, and class, which are not aspects that typically come to mind \when thinking of alcohol consumption.

Mark Pharis

Vase

This work combines a thrown base with a top that is constructed using clay slabs and hand-built handles. The design on the façade consists of defined geometric patterns then bring attention to the geometric form of the work and its sharp angles through the use of color. These shapes characterize the decoration on the exterior of many of Pharis’ works.

Mark Pharis

Mark Pharis is a ceramic artist who currently resides in Roberts, Wisconsin. Pharis is the Chair of the Department of Art at the University of Minnesota, and has worked there since 1985 and held a variety of different positions. He was first introduced to ceramics in the fall of 1967 at the University of Minnesota. Pharis began at the University experimenting with many different art classes, and was encouraged by many family members and friends to study with Warren MacKenzie; a renowned potter and teacher who eloquently combines form and function through ceramics. Through MacKenzie’s mentorship Pharis fell in love with the clay studio, and has continued to produce ceramic works ever since. Pharis is interested in the variation of functional forms, and most of his works serve a utilitarian purpose. He is known for his delicate incorporation of clay slabs which he combines with thrown pieces.

Pharis’ work is highly influenced by the work of his early professor, Warren MacKenzie, whom began this conversation for Pharis between form and function; and ultimately Pharis’ interest in the variation of functional forms. His work is most notable for his use of clay slabs; that creates a combination of sharp angles and curvaceous form, formed by thrown volumes, that ultimately makes Pharis’ work very recognizable and distinct. He often refers to this technique as similar to the traditions of patternmaking, as seen in sewing and sheet metal work. Pharis’ works incorporate various geometric designs and decoration that force the viewer to look at the piece from multiple perspectives and also allows a set to be distinguished as a set through these pattern’s orientations. Pharis’ work has been exhibited in many different galleries including the Lacoste Gallery in Chicago, the Essex Museum in MA, the Yingge Ceramics Museum in Taiwan and multiple others.

Pharis’ work explores the concept of a functional object through this variation in form. This variety of form created through the combination of thrown volumes with clay slabs, creates an interesting collaboration of strong angles and curvilinear form that defines Pharis’ works. Pharis chooses to make utilitarian objects, he states, “I was in love with the whole functional world and I could operate confidently in that world- I like the fact that it is functionally structured- functional pots happen in a structural framework, both defining and liberating at the same time. It is interesting to explore the boundaries of that…I want my pots to have the potential to flip or alternate, to appear to be about use at one time, but to be visually independent and clear enough to be other than functional as well. ”

Piet Stockmans

Piet Stockmans was born in October of 1940, in Leopoldsburg, Belgium. He now lives and works out of Genk, Belgium. For the last 10 years he has worked with his daughter Widukind and her husband Frank Claesen incorporating their designs into the business.








"Sonja" Piet Stockmans design while at Royal Mosa, sold over 30 million

The Piet Stockmans Philosophy ~

HOW NICE IT IS TO BE CREATIVE

How nice it is to be creative

with a simple material such as clay

I have done it my whole life

and still have new ideas

How wonderful to express myself

every day

with this white gold

as porcelain is called

Always

in the same philosophy

of tactility and vulnerability

and my own harmony

Porcelain and cobalt bowl set



He received his formal education from PHIKO Hasselt, www.kunsthumaniorahasselt.be/ in 1963, and from there went to work for Royal Mosa in the Netherlands, as a Designer. In 1969 he became a professor of Industrial Design to the department Product design at the Design Academy in Genk, Belgium. In 1983 he became a professor ceramics design at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Since 1989 he has also been a freelance designer.

Beaker Set

As you can see he works with a limited palette of porcelain white and cobalt blue. It is a definite signature for him. He has a brand to his design work called "Stockmansporcelein". It is a very clean and sterile look. Something that I identify with a lot of Nordic art.

His company produces many things for everyday life that could be made of porcelain, including tableware for residence and industry, jewelry, urns, tiles, lights and vases, and a whole lot more.
Champagne Bucket













Fine Art designs


Piet also does a lot of fine art. From what I can see he loves the female figure(Don't we all!). Really, I think he loves form. He is very much into repetition. In all of his work, from fine art to industrial design he is big on making multiples, either standing next to each other or stacking into one another. While they are multiples, each has its own unique identity. Little differences separate them but allow them to work as one. There is a connection between that idea and the human body. We could analyze that deeper and deeper if we wanted.

Fine Art Repetition


I am a new fan of Piet Stockmans.

A quote from him ~ "Creation is the result of activity and not of thinking. It is activity that generates ideas which, themselves, give rise to other ones. It is a process in the course of which decisive choices are made in a mysterious way. It is the automatism with which the farmer ploughs the fields, a phenomenon that can be compared to the way prayers are used, mantras recited or everyday gestures repeated. It is a quest for simplicity, peace, physical well-being."

Amen brother!