From earth and fire to contemporary, everyday wonder
Ron's Artist Statement
I am currently a full-time potter, part-time art education instructor and volunteer ceramic studio assistant at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, IA. In 2011, I retired from teaching full-time HS art in Storm Lake. I exhibit my work in the Midwest, sell my work in several private sales galleries and have been a regular on the art festival circuit for more than 40 years. My education came from University of Northern Colorado, BA and Truman State University, MA, all with an emphasis in ceramics. Generally, my work is functional and sculptural in nature. It is reduction, high-fire stoneware with manipulation of surface and form. “My focus has been to alter this soft, pliable, earthy material in a playful and sensitive way, often pushing the limits of the material. As a whole the body of work takes on a rhythm, achieved through metal oxides and porcelain slips that generate energy and personal involvement. I’m passionate about a functional stoneware study, but also interested in pushing the clay into the sculptural, organic realm. When this surface is manipulated and altered anywhere from wet, set up slightly, to leather hard, these stoneware forms take on a life of their own.”