Past Resident Writer

Foote-Hutton received her MFA in ceramics from the University of Mississippi, Oxford, in 2003 and her BFA in sculpture from Webster University, St. Louis, in 1994. She is actively engaged in critical dialogue and observations and her writings have been published in Ceramics Monthly and Studio Potter Magazine. Along with her writing, Foote-Hutton continues to create and exhibit her own artwork nationally.

I first discovered clay as a child digging in the dirt in my backyard. I have been enthralled with it ever since. During my first class of college ceramics, I chose to build my lifelong passion for the arts into a career as a working artist and educator. Pursuing this passion, I met my wife, Theresa Welty, and some of my closest friends. Theresa and I live and teach in San Antonio, Texas, and we have two beautiful children, Cole and Jody. I received an MFA in ceramics from the University of Montana and currently serve as Assistant Professor of Art at Northwest Vista College, San Antonio, Texas.

The Jentel Critic at the Bray was a gift, bestowed through the generosity of artists and art enthusiasts who were eager to share their thoughts, energy, time and patronage. At the Archie Bray Foundation, I met exceptional emerging and established ceramic artists. They welcomed me into the intimate space of their studios and into the creative underpinnings of their work. Critical writing became my witness to the journey of six artists, whose artistic creations reflect their distinctive life stories and the role of the supportive community offered by the Archie Bray Foundation.

Tanya Hartman grew up in New York City, Cuernavaca, Mexico and London, England. She earned a BFA in painting at the Rhode Island School of Design, and an MFA in painting at Yale University. She was then a Fulbright Scholar in Stockholm, Sweden. She now teaches painting and drawing at the University of Kansas where she is an Associate Professor in the Department of Visual Art.
In addition to being a working artist, Tanya Hartman also writes about art. Her writing appears regularly in Ceramics Art and Perception magazine, and in April 2010, one of her non-fiction pieces appeared in The Sun magazine.
Hartman is represented locally by Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, and has also exhibited at The Center for Book Arts in New York, A.I.R. Gallery in New York, ARC Gallery, Chicago, Illinois; and at the Salina Art Center, Salina, Kansas. She lives in Lee’s Summit, Missouri with her husband Eric, stepson Daniel and three high-spirited canines.