The Cup

It’s small and approachable. It fits in your hand, and you put it to your mouth. It’s one of the first forms an artist learns to make while working on the potter’s wheel, because it is one of the simplest shapes to create. However, the more you use a cup, the more you realize it’s critical traits. The lip must be comfortable, the handle has to feel just right, and it can’t be to big or too small.

We all have our favorite cup. One that we use for our morning coffee, or a favorite for hot cocoa. It is comfortable, familiar, and adds to the experience in its own unique way. On the other end of things, cups can challenge us. Be it a mammoth stein that holds a full liter, or the smallest of flutes for sipping champagne, cups for a purpose are less about the user and more about their contents.

Welcome to the complex simplicity that is The Cup. In this show we admire 19 artists’ (Cory Brown, Anne Currier, Keith Simpson, Hannah Thompsett, Justin Donofrio, Kiyoshi Kaneshiro, Sam Welch, Peter Pincus, Chris Miller, Britney Mojo, Sam Chumley, Justin Rothshank, Chase Gamblin, Stephanie Galli, Stephen Creech, Marret Metzger, Derrek Rosenbury, Ted Neal, Rebecca Chappell) interpretations of this humble yet intriguing form. From “morning joe” to sophisticated sipping, we invite you to admire, hold, and hopefully make your next drink a little more exciting.

Hailing from Northern Utah, Cory Brown received his BFA from Utah State University after maintaining a home studio for two years. Immediately following his education he was fortunate to acquire a Studio Technician job working for Simon’s Rock College in Massachusetts.

Cory has been a Resident Artist at the Cub Creek Foundation and at the Clay Art Center in Port Chester NY. After a short stint of being the Studio Tech at 92Y in NYC, Cory moved to Pondicherry, India to teach an intensive wheel throwing class for 6 months at Golden Bridge Pottery. He finished his time there with a Solo exhibition. Upon his return to the United States he was hired as the Studio Manager at the Clay Art Center where he worked for two years.

Cory recently moved to Alfred NY where he is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree at New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.

Anne Currier received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute, Chicago and her MFA from the University of Washington, Seattle. Ms. Currier has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Virginia A. Groot Foundation. She was honored with the American Crafts Council College of Fellows career achievement award.

Justin Rothshank has been working as a studio ceramic artist in Goshen, Indiana since 2009. In 2001 he co-founded the Union Project, a nonprofit organization located in Pittsburgh, PA.

Justin’s ceramic work has been exhibited and published nationally and internationally, including articles in Ceramics Monthly, American Craft, Studio Potter, The Log Book, and Neue Keramik. He has been a presenter, panelist, visiting artist, and artist-in-residence at numerous universities, schools, conferences, and art centers throughout the United States and abroad.

Stephen Creech is originally from Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, and currently lives in Indianapolis, Indiana, with his wife and cat. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from Morehead State University, and as a practicing ceramist, focuses on slip-cast utilitarian objects. Creech is co-founder of National Clay Week and Director of Marketing at AMACO-Brent. Follow him on social media @creechoftheeast.

Born in Rochester, NY, Peter Pincus is a ceramic artist and instructor. He joined the School for American Crafts as Visiting Assistant Professor in Ceramics in Fall 2014. Peter received his BFA (2005) and MFA (2011) in ceramics from Alfred University, and in between was a resident artist at the Mendocino Art Center in Mendocino, California. Since graduate school, Peter worked as the Studio Manager and Resident Artist Coordinator of the Genesee Center for Arts and Education in Rochester, NY, Adjunct Professor of three-dimensional studies at Roberts Wesleyan College and has established a studio in Penfield NY.

Sam Chumley earned his BFA in ceramics at Indiana University Southeast, where he built and fired wood- and soda-kilns, which fostered his appreciation of ceramics and atmospheric firing. Sam focuses on clay and the culture surrounding the medium, and is currently an MFA candidate at Ball State University.

Keith Simpson received his BFA in 2010 from the Kansas City Art Institute and his MFA from The Ohio State University in 2012. During his tenure as a student, Keith was a professional mold maker for several Rapid Prototyping companies. He has interned with The Matter Factory in Kansas City and been a Resident Artist at the Archie Bray Foundation. Most recently, before joining us in Alfred, he was the Ceramic Technician and a Visiting Instructor at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY.

Stephanie Galli, a ceramic artist and educator originally from the Metro-Detroit area, received her BFA from Central Michigan University(2012), and her MFA in Ceramics from Indiana University(2016). Passionate about traveling, Stephanie has spent time making art in China and Italy, and has been a resident artist at Red Lodge Clay Center in Red Lodge, Montana, AMACO in Indianapolis and MudFire Clayworks in Atlanta, Georgia. Her work has exhibited nationally and internationally, most notably at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and Hangzhou Peace International Exhibition Center in Hangzhou, China. Stephanie’s sculptures and utilitarian vessels have been featured in publications such as Ceramics Monthly, American iPottery, and BADAO ART. Stephanie Galli was chosen as one of Ceramic Monthly’s 2017 Emerging Artists.

Chris Miller‘s work in clay began as a functional potter at the Greenville (SC) Museum of Art in 1994. Since that time, he has had the opportunity to study with amazing ceramic artists.

“The Armory Art Center (West Palm Beach, FL) was instrumental in my growth as an artist where I studied large sculpture with Maritza Cornejo Bean and Chris Riccardo, drawing and painting with Dennis Aufiery, and glazing techniques with Helen Otterson. I have also been a student at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (Gatlinburg, TN), Anderson Ranch (Snowmass, CO), Odyssey Center for Ceramic Arts (Asheville, NC), Penland School of Crafts (Bakersfield, NC), and La Meridiana International School of Ceramics (Tuscany, Italy).”

Justin Donofrio grew up in Santa Cruz, CA where he was introduced to pottery at Cabrillo Community College. He then joined the vibrant Colorado community of artist in 2013 in the Roaring Fork Valley where he continued his clay education with the support of Anderson Ranch, The Carbondale Clay Center and The Studio for Arts and Works (SAW). He remained in Colorado to complete a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from CSU Fort Collins in 2016. He is nationally represented in galleries throughout the U.S. and was an exhibiting artist and tour manager with the Artstream Nomadic Gallery in 2017.

He now maintains a full time studio pottery at Art 342 in Fort Collins. The diversity of the front range of the Rockies lends itself to a balance between his love of rock climbing, the outdoors and the arts. His palette of color and form are drawn from the exquisite and enduring beauty of the alpine landscape.

Derek Rosenberry is a full time studio potter based in southeastern Pennsylvania. He has received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and has participated in a studio pottery assistantship in Asheville, NC. Since 2016 Derek has been building his own personal studio practice, exhibiting and marketing his work nationally at fine craft and fine art shows.

Sam Welch is a ceramic artist living in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He graduated from Herron School of Art and Design in 2013 with a degree in Art Education. He primarily makes work on the potters wheel and enjoys working with all clay bodies.

Chase Gamblin was born in Paducah, Kentucky and raised in the small town Metropolis Illinois. After High School, Gamblin went on to Tennessee Technological University’s Appalachian Center For Crafts where he studied under Vince Pitelka for his Bachelor of Fine Arts. As an undergraduate he was able to explore many different types of clays, glaze applications, firing techniques, and ceramic history, which lead him to his passion of wood firing. As an undergrad he was also a studio technician, assistant to the artists in residents as well as visiting artists, involved in the Outreach program, and joined Peter Rose’s wood Firing team in Knoxville until he graduated.
Chase then went on to get his Master of Fine Arts degree from Texas Tech University where he explored the concept of the vessel. While there, he has been involved with the setting up and running of two ceramic Symposium’s, was the instructor of record for design and ceramics, and learned to build and manage equipment of a ceramic studio. During his graduate school experiences, Gamblin spent two summers abroad involved in international residencies. The first was in Vicchio, Italy learning small-scale wax casting, mold making, and large sculpture. The second was in the Sanbao international Ceramics institute in Sanbao, China learning the culture and history of Chinese porcelain as well as having his first international solo exhibition.

After Gamblin graduated from Texas Tech University in 2010 he went on to the University of North Dakota as the first artist in residence in the Ceramics department. While there he taught ceramics courses, rebuilt and repaired kilns, assisted visiting artists, and furthered his exploration of the wood firing processes and vessel making. After finished his yearlong residency he moved to Lebanon Tennessee where he taught 3-D and 2_D Design, all levels of ceramics, and the Future Directions in Art, all the while building the ceramics program for Cumberland University. The summer of 2012 he was invited back to China to make artwork and set up another solo exhibition. In 2013 he moved to Bloomington Indiana where he began teaching at the Bloomington Clay Studio and help start the residency program while there.

In 2015 he was hired as a fulltime faculty member at Indiana University in Bloomington as an Academic Specialist/ Ceramics Studio Coordinator. He teaches all levels of ceramics from intro to graduate seminar, as well as kiln building and atmospheric firing. He most recently was involved with the design and move into a brand-new facility.

Hannah Thompsett creates forms using folded paper and translates them into ceramic using mold making and slip casting. She recieved her BFA from the State University of New York at New Paltz in 2011 and her MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2016. Thompsett works as a Ceramic Art Technician at Alfred University and continues her studio practice in Western New York.

Kiyoshi Kaneshiro’s works look like meringue cookies on acid laced with steroids. Bright pinks, bubbly reds and exploding yellows foam and drip from barely contained vessel walls. Each form has a bubblegum quality- chewy, partially inflated and gummy. The hard surface contradicts forms that appear spongy and flexible. Kaneshiro writes of his practice: I’ve been thinking a lot about latticework and similar structures in architecture. I’m always super focused in the studio I know these materials I use really closely. Despite how the work may look I’m very disciplined in process to achieve the aesthetic that the work results in.

I am always interested in structure and how the structure of an object changes can result in different opportunities for “ornament”. I think a lot about gravity as well. I always think about scale, form, and layering. Creating depth through the process of multiple layers. The work is typically dichromatic, but the colors are very vibrant. I’d like to think that the simplicity in color allows for more observations to be made in surface/texture/form. I like to deal with the material for what it is, use it in ways that make sense. I don’t like to fight the medium i try to make observations on its behavior and make decisions based on that. I try my best not to be obvious and do the stranger things that will result in something different. I have a strong craft background and I try my best not to let the rules of craft cloud how the work is made, however I think the work is a result of a balance between those rules and the ones I decide to ignore.

My name is Marret Metzger. I received my BFA from Ball State University with a concentration in Ceramics. I grew up in Indiana where i spent most of my childhood playing outdoors with my three siblings. Both sets of my grandparents lived very close by and we would often go over to help with the gardens, or feed the animals, or just hang out on the porch and watch birds. By carrying these narratives on my ceramic pottery, I get to reflect upon quiet, beautiful, and valuable moments of gratitude I have for these little creatures that bring me much joy.

Born and raised in rural upstate New York, Ted Neal has received degrees from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (MFA 1998), Utah State University (BFA 1995), and Brigham Young University Idaho (AAS 1991). After graduate school Ted taught as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He moved back to Logan, Utah in 2001 to take the position of technology instructor and studio coordinator for the ceramics area at Utah State University. (2001-2006) His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions including: NCECA Clay National Columbus, OH, Mastery in Clay The Clay Studio Philadelphia, PA, Forms and Shapes: The Useful Teapot AKAR Gallery Iowa City, IA, Mineralogy and Metallurgy: The Multi-media Ceramic Vessel University of Louisville, Louisville KY. Ted is currently a studio artist and Assistant Professor of Ceramics and area head in the Art Department of Ball State University in Muncie Indiana.

Brittany Mojo was born and raised in Northeast NJ. She received her BFA in Ceramics from California State University, Long Beach and her MFA from UCLA in 2016. She currently teaches ceramics and sculpture at Orange Coast College and LaSierra University. She is a member of the artist-run collective, TSA LA.

Interested in time and labor, Mojo investigates the histories of gendered work through the manipulation of material. Using traditional processes, Mojo negotiates the utility of service and its relationship to women’s work. Positing these processes as valid through their magnification ultimately questions certain value systems, while aiming to reconstruct rigid material hierarchies and gendered processes.
Using the image of function as an armature for material exploration and installation, objects act as stand-ins for a lived experience within our everyday. Objects like vessels, chairs, lamps, tools, bikes, and furniture are realized from materials that leave evidence of the hand. The work confronts sculpture and craft, fine art and design and the nuanced concepts within.

Rebecca Chappell received her M.F.A. from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2008 and her B.F.A. from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2003. Chappell has participated in solo and group exhibitions across the US. Rebecca was awarded the Evelyn Shapiro Foundation Fellowship in 2010. She currently resides in Philadelphia PA where she is a resident artist and class teacher at The Clay Studio.