Simphiwe Mbunyuza (b. 1989; Eastern Cape, South Africa)
creates masterful objects and vessels combining stoneware,
leather, fabric and steel. Mbunyuza’s richly textured, confounding
ceramic objects are featured traditional African iconography and
cultural symbols. Furthermore, to produce his work Mbunyuza uses
a coiling technique that has been employed by the Xhosa people
for centuries.Elegant and graphic, Mbunyuza’s forms and colors unify in his
extraordinarily distinct ceramic objects.
Janina Myronowa creates narrative through figurative forms and composed backdrops. Utilizing a specific and distorted representation of the body, each composition shows a different personality and personal story to collectively reference a graphic novel and arcing story. Imparting her own emotion through linework, Myronowa’s works are strategically charged with color to saturate and amplify their individual stories.
Janina Myronowa received her MFA from the Department of Ceramic Art at Lviv National Academy of Fine Arts (Lviv, Ukraine) in 2012, an MFA from the Department of Ceramics and Glass at The Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts and Design (Wroclaw, Poland) in 2013, and her PhD from the Department of Ceramics and Glass at Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in 2019. Continually developing her work and practice, Myronowa has attended numerous residencies including opportunities at the New Taipei Yingge Ceramics Museum (New Taipei, Taiwan), Clayarch Gimhae Musem (Gimhae-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea), Lefebvre and Fils (Paris, France), the Polish Sculpture Centre (Oronsko, Poland), and the International Ceramic Research Center (Guldagergaard, Denmark), International Ceramic Studio (Kecskemet, Hungary), Northern Clay Center.
Michelle Im is a Korean American artist working in Queens, New York. Her project ‘RATxCHICKS’, pronounced as [ratchix] is a project name for her ceramics that is a play on the words ‘rachet’ and ‘rad chicks’. Humor is what drives a lot of the ideas she has for her decorations. In her work, she explores ideological tensions that she experienced growing up in both the United States and South Korea. Creating intricate patterns in her ceramics is in part, a way to marry two diametrically opposed systems of culture- individualism and collectivism. She often pairs motifs that are deliberately out of the ordinary and part of the process is to encapsulate a sense of absurdity in a way that is approachable and inviting to the viewer. She graduated with a degree in Biology and Art from The State University of New York at Buffalo and was named one of Ceramics Monthly 2022 Emerging Artists. Her dream is to one day breed rats with birds.
Shea Burke makes vessels that contain thoughts on Black identity, history, and craft tradition. Weaving together inspiration granted from West African functional pottery, raw textured surfaces, and a style of coiling all their own, they craft queer ceramic bodies. These vessels act as a storage place for the wisdom we need to hold on to, until we are ready to pour that wisdom into ourselves. Ceramics can be the centerpiece in connection across the diaspora; reuniting us with the way we used the earth before colonialism.
Shea Burke was born and raised in Rochester NY. They have participated in multiple exhibitions including at Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami, FL and David Klein Gallery in Detroit, MI. Shea received their BFA from Alfred University in 2017 and an MFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2021. They were the recipient of a Zenobia Award for a residency at Watershed Ceramics in 2018. Following their MFA, Shea recently completed a Residency at the Harvard Ceramics program.
As an artist, Colby Charpentier formulates, tests, and designs alternative ceramic materials and processes. The resulting works are vessels that showcase these technologies. Recent projects include soft paste porcelain as an approximation of Western replication of Eastern porcelain, plaster-clay mixtures to capture the immediacy of wet plaster, and brick lattice to subvert the visual weight and expectations of brick and ceramic materials.
Colby Charpentier received his BFA in Ceramics and Glass from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2013, and an MFA in Ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2021. He has worked as a studio assistant to artists Daniel Clayman and Chris Gustin; and completed residencies at Sonoma Ceramics in Sonoma, CA, The Morean Center for Clay in St. Petersburg, FL, The Ceramics Program, Office for the Arts at Harvard University and American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, CA. He taught classes at these residencies as well as Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Austin Riddle’s pots are made as companions for you and your home. A vase for your table, full of freshly picked flowers as you and your partner eat breakfast and plan your day’s activities. Large platters and compartment trays to present home-cooked meals with friends on a warm summer evening. Whiskey sippers that nestle in warm hands, topped off as needed from a half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels.
Austin Riddle recently received his MFA in ceramics at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. He received his BFA in ceramics at the University of Utah in 2016. He has been an Artist-in-Residence at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, The Bright Angle in Asheville. North Carolina, and at Art Center West in Roswell, Georgia. He was awarded emerging artist by Ceramics Monthly in 2019 and has exhibited his work all over the United States.
