Ellen Kleckner (Cedar Rapids, IA) is an artist and educator whose practice weaves together community engagement, material investigation, and collaboration. Kleckner utilizes the visual and mechanical vocabulary of makers and craftspeople to create forms that provoke ideas of utility while questioning recognizability. She often relies on the systems of joinery to serve as a means of exploring binaries and material relationships. Kleckner seeks to create visual narratives that that depict mutual reliance in the creation of new forms. The physical joinery that excites her creative process is reflected in the person-to-person relationships within a community.
Kleckner studied ceramics at the Appalachian Center for Craft where she received her BFA. She went on to study at the University of Nebraska (Lincoln) and Ohio University (Athens) where she received her MFA. Kleckner’s engaging work has also earned her a number of awards and grants in addition to exhibitions around the country. She has been a recipient of a Windgate Foundation Scholarship, the NCECA Graduate Student Research Fellowship, the Studio Potter Graduate Merit Award, Women of Achievement Award, an Artist Catalyst Grant from the Iowa Arts Council, and an Emerging Artist Fellowship from NCECA. In addition to these awards, Kleckner has shown her work in galleries both nationally and internationally. She has exhibited at The Clay Studio (Philadelphia), International Ceramics Studio (Kecskemét, Hungary), Alšova Jihoceská Galerie (Hluboká nad Vltavou, Czechia), Kvalitár (Prague, Czechia) and a variety of other galleries, museums, and universities around the country.
In addition to her extensive exhibition features, Kleckner has attended numerous artist-in-residence programs where she has continued to develop her work and techniques. These programs include Flux Factory (Long Island City, NY), Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (Gatlinburg, TN), International Ceramics Studio (Kecskemét, Hungary), PSZ Clay Center (Zanesville, OH), International Symposium of Ceramics Bechyne (Czechia), Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft (Columbia, NC), and Red Lodge Clay Center (MT).
Artist Statement
Through a convergence of materials, I seek to understand connections between place, materiality, idea, legacy and community. My work utilizes the visual and mechanical vocabulary of makers and craftspeople, joining parts to create completed forms that provoke agencies of their utility, questioning which is recognizable. Systems of joinery serve as a means of exploring the binary of material/artist/concept. Unlikely combinations of joined media such as ceramics/wood/steel/reed actively illustrate the tension between these dualistic materials.
My pieces are joined with tension, allowing the materials to be separated in the future without compromise. Each of my pieces finds balance within its two-part system; materials become interdependent while maintaining individual integrity. This moment and method in which subjects meet creates a visual narrative depicting mutual reliance to hold the new form. My vessels are direct labor that speak of generosity, receptivity, and comfort. Rhythms of making are echoed in the rocking forms. Once grounded, these vessels repeat the intentions of their form, to comfort and contain, through their movement.
As complex as we have made our current world, the desire for connection is still at the forefront of our simplest of human needs. The physical joinery that excites my creative process is reflected in the person-to-person relationships within a community. As I continue to cultivate a community which allows for growth; my work articulates my desire to highlight the importance of joining with others, manifested through the physical forms and collaborative work.