AUGUST 2 – 28
Sales Gallery & Online
Willem Gebben, Shaina Renae Lund, Ernest Miller, Jewelry: Tricia Schmidt
Willem Gebben, Shaina Renae Lund, Ernest Miller, Jewelry: Tricia Schmidt
Willem Gebben
Willem Gebben was born in Delft, Netherlands. He received his BA from Grand Valley State University (Allendale, MI), and in 1976, apprenticed with master potter David Eeles at Shepherds Well Pottery (Mosterton, England). Currently, Gebben is a full-time studio potter in Colfax, Wisconsin. He creates a wide variety of wood-fired functional pottery out of both stoneware and porcelain clays and glazes, all of which he processes and mixes himself. His sure sense of form, and expert handling of surface, texture, and detailing make each piece a true work of art. Gebben’s work is included in collections throughout the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Japan, and Australia.
Shaina Ranae Lund
Though Shaina Renae Lund was first introduced to ceramics as an art medium in college, she’d always had a strong connection to minerals, rocks, and clay from her upbringing amidst the glacially-formed landscapes of western New York. In 2014, she received her MFA with an emphasis in ceramics, from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Between undergraduate and graduate school, Lund established an artists’ collective for encouraging dialogue in art and design, and has an ongoing collaborative curatorial project with other artists. In 2020, she launched her own small business, Shaina Renae Ceramic Design, through which she sells her own handmade functional pottery, ceramic jewelry, and custom pieces. Lund’s ceramic process involves both handbuilding and slip casting techniques, and her aesthetic is inspired by Modernism, Zen, and the Norwegian concept of hygge (a mood of coziness, contentment).
Ernest Miller
Ernest Miller has exhibited his ceramics in various regional and national art fairs including the Uptown Art Fair in Minneapolis and the Plaza Art Fair in Kansas City, Missouri. Miller teaches at Fired Up Studios in Minneapolis and at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts in Wayzata, Minnesota. In 2011, he received a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant. Miller studied at Olney Central College (IL), and received his BFA from Eastern Illinois University (Charleston, IL). Miller’s work is inspired by architecture and machinery found in the rural Midwestern landscape. He is interested in the aesthetic of weathered paint and surface deterioration that reflects time and use. He applies these influences to his pots to create a hybrid between functional and sculptural work, utilizing wheel-throwing and off-wheel alteration.
Tricia Schmidt
Tricia Schmidt lives in a world of nasty women, ambivalent sloths, thunderous rabbits, ferocious squirrels, and industrious dung beetles—or at least her pots do. Schmidt’s pots are functional forms that sport a variety of eccentric illustrations that create simple narratives. The image combinations change from time to time, but the visual vocabulary, conceptual juxtaposition, and offbeat sense of humor remain at the core of each piece. Schmidt finds inspiration in the ironies and injustices of our time, as well as the simple, sweet things that make her smile and forget the rest of the world. Using a white porcelaneous clay body and utilizing detailed carving and inlay techniques, each piece requires a lengthy, multi-step process of creation that takes several days and multiple firings to complete. But through that process, each piece becomes personal as she spends hours throwing, altering, carving, sanding, and glazing—and that is what she believes creates the connection between the maker and the person who ultimately uses her pots in their daily life.