[Main Breakfast Page]    [On-line Catalogue of Historical Work]

Breakfast

On-Line Exhibition Catalogue

Invited and Juried Artists

This exhibition is a partnership between the International Museum of Dinnerware Design and the Washtenaw County Historical Society’s Museum on Main Street.  Juried prizes are sponsored by “Jiffy Mixes” of Chelsea Milling Company.
First Prize: Julianne Harvey
Second Prize: Diana Pancioli
Third Prize: Eriko Kobayashi

Some of the art work in this exhibition is for sale.  To purchase, please contact Museum Director Margaret Carney at director@dinnerwaremuseum.org.  Shipping costs not are included in the prices.

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Juror’s Statement

by Ursula Hargens

Clickable Index of Artists

Invited Artists: Posey Bacopoulos, Paul Eshelman, Léopold Foulem, Ursula Hargens, Janel Jacobson, Paul Kotula, David MacDonald, Kate Maury, Dganit Moreno, Jeff Oestreich, S.C. Rolf, Linda Sikora, Malcolm Mobutu Smith, Will Swanson, Debbie Thompson, Ann Tubbs

Juried Artists:  Hadi Abbas, Alice Abrams, Irina Bondarenko, Nancy Bulkley, Elizabeth Coleman, John Cummings, Melanie Doiron, Ruth Easterbrook, Grace Fish, Julianne Harvey, Mei Kiengsiri, Eriko Kobayashi, Sara Lynch, Cara Jean McCarthy, Will McComb, Dana Miller, David Morrison, Rory Nester, Carrie Ohm, Stephanie Osser, Diana Pancioli, Peter Saenger, Shana Salaff, Robin Wilt
 

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Hadi Abbas

Juried Artist

Hadi Abbas
bowl, 2020
wood-fired stoneware
H: 3” L: 6.5” W: 6”
for sale $750

Hadi Abbas makes strong, utilitarian pottery rooted in the architectural tradition of India and Persian stone carved vessels. His forms are sculptural, complex vessels which are then masterfully fired in the giant anagama wood kiln he built with his students at the University of Central Florida. Abbas has taught at UCF for 30 years, teaching handbuilding, wheel throwing, and raw materials research.

Artist’s Statement

If you choose a bowl, and choose it rightly, you can use it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It’s like a relationship: if you choose the right one, it will last you for life. For myself, I enjoy using this bowl for hot meals like oatmeal with blueberries on top.

 

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Alice Abrams

Juried Artist

Alice Abrams
Eggs and Bacon, 2021
ceramic
2” x 15” x 11”
for sale $500

Alice Abrams is a studio potter making both functional and sculptural work, in a range of clays and diversity of styles. She has been Resident Artist at the Harvard Ceramics Program in Allston, Massachusetts for 16 years and has been a member of LexArts in Lexington, Massachusetts for over 40 years. She co-founded the State of Clay ceramic exhibition in 1996  with the LexArts Ceramic Guild and continues to curate every biennial show.  She lives in Massachusetts and Vermont.

Artist’s Statement

Food has a powerful force on my psyche with its savory delights and nourishing memories. Ceramic food imagery been one of my current pursuits. I spend a fair amount of time in my kitchen.  My inspiration for Breakfast came from my concept of the Sunday morning hearty winter breakfast in New England.

 

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Posey Bacopoulos

Invited Artist

Posey Bacopoulos
Breakfast Tea, 2020
majolica on terra cotta, gold decals, thrown, altered and assembled, electric fired cone 04, decals cone 018
oval teapot 6.5” x 8” x 4”
cups with feet 4” x 4.5” x 2”
sold

Posey Bacopoulos is a studio potter working in New York City. Her work has been shown in numerous national juried and invitational exhibitions. She has won awards in the Strictly Functional Pottery National and the International Orton Cone Box Show. Her work and process has also been published in many books and articles in ceramic magazines. She has taught numerous workshops on both thrown and altered forms and majolica decoration. She enjoys both making and teaching.

Artist’s Statement

Breakfast Tea is the beginning of a morning ritual which is especially important in these difficult times of isolation. My hope is that its use will bring some peace and calm to the user while looking forward to brighter days. My work is a contemporary approach to the traditional majolica of the Italian Renaissance.

 

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Irina Bondarenko

Juried Artist

Irina Bondarenko
Egg Cup Set, 2021
ceramic
12″ x 6″ x 2″
sold

Irina Bondarenko is an emerging ceramic artist who was born in Ukraine and now resides in Ann Arbor, MI. Irina is a biostatistician at the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan. Pursuing her second career in ceramics, Irina took a number of short-term courses and workshops and currently studies at ClayWorksStudio in Ann Arbor, MI.  Irina’s work was featured in over a dozen of National shows, most recently at MCAA Michigan Ceramics 2020 and in “Playing with fire” Saratoga Clay gallery in 2021.

Artist’s Statement

When I think of breakfast, especially a lazy, late morning Sunday breakfast, the egg comes to mind. This set is an improvisation on the nature of a soft-boiled egg. Most specifically, its capability to escape the boundaries of the hard shell. In my piece I mimic these qualities by contrasting the free-flowing interior with the hard faceted unglazed exterior.

 

 

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Nancy Bulkley

Juried Artist

Nancy Bulkley
Breakfast Set, 2020
porcelain
plate H: 1” Diam: 8”
bowl H: 3” Diam: 6.5”
lidded mug H: 5” Diam: 3.5”
jam dish H: 1” Diam: 4”
for sale $200 set
photo by David Velez Felix

Nancy Bulkley has been working with clay for over 30 years.  She began her undergraduate work at the University of Michigan School of Art and received her BFA from Alfred University.  She teaches throwing and handbuilding at Yourist Studio Gallery and is an associate member of the Potters Guild.

Artist’s Statement

Being a purveyor of food is one of my favorite things about making functional ceramics. I love to eat out of handmade wares and love visualizing others doing the same out of my work.  When I think of breakfast I think of possibilities and comfort.  So many different kinds of breakfast, none I can think of that I do not like.  When I was little and my dad was out of town, my mom would often make breakfast for dinner, a special treat to have pancakes for dinner.  When I was in London years ago I ordered a fruit plate at a very nice hotel, much to my surprise one, whole, unpeeled banana arrived on a plate. Breakfast is one of my favorite meals no matter the time or place and I was delighted to make work to celebrate the occasion.

 

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Elizabeth Coleman

Juried Artist

Elizabeth Coleman
Turquoise Toast Tray, 2021
ceramic, glaze
H: 3.25” L: 10.5” W: 5”
for sale $100

Elizabeth Coleman received her MFA in ceramics from Ohio State University and a BFA in ceramics and glass from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received a fiscal year 2017 Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board (MSAB). And in 2021, she received a Creative Support Grant from the MSAB. Coleman was a 2010 Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grant recipient and has maintained a studio at Northern Clay Center, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the past decade. Her work has been exhibited in Hungary and nationally at venues such as Baltimore Clayworks; the Canton Art Museum, Canton, Ohio; and the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota. Coleman has been featured in the 2005 NCECA Biennial in Baltimore and in the 2008 NCECA Invitational: Voices, at the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as well as at SOFA Chicago.

Artist’s Statement

I love toast so much, I once composed an aria for the cinnamon-raisin toast made from New French Bakery bread.

 

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John Cummings

Juried Artist

John Cummings
Turquoise Batter Bowl, 2021
stoneware, soda fired to cone 10
H: 6” L: 15” W: 11”
for sale: $250

John Cummings is a ceramic artist, currently living in the Asheville, NC area with my studio located at Southside Studios. I earned a B.S. from the University of Southern Indiana and an M.F.A from the University of Mississippi. After graduate school I spent 3 years as an artist assistant for Jun Kaneko, where I learned to build extremely large work. Currently, John is an adjunct professor of art at University of North Carolina Asheville.

Artist’s Statement

My surface decorations are inspired by abstract expressionism. The implied gesture, movement, and boldness that abstract expressionism has achieved exhilarates me. Through the use of line and color, I am inspired to create bold and gestural surfaces in my work. I try to achieve these types of surfaces by marking the work using pencils, sticks, brushes, bright colors, and the free flowing nature of glazes. For the Breakfast show, I wanted to explore these ideas on the surfaces of batter bowls and how they can interact with the form.

 

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Melanie Doiron

Juried Artist

Melanie Doiron
Toast for Two, 2021
stoneware, terra sigilatta, glaze
toast rack H: 7.75″ L: 4.75″ W: 4.75″
jam caddy H: 4.75″ L: 3.25″ W: 3.14″
NFS

Mel Doiron hails from Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she completed a BFA in Ceramics at NSCAD University in 2018. Her work and process has been shaped by working as a studio assistant, gallery install technician, clay mixer, and teacher. Mel has been fortunate to attend residencies at Medalta Potteries, The Lunenburg School of the Arts, and The Women’s Studio Workshop, and is currently an artist in residence at the Centre for Craft Nova Scotia.

Artist’s Statement

This piece came about by imagining a quiet morning breakfast of toast and jam shared with a loved one. The form was inspired by Victorian style metal toast racks and their spindly metal frames. I re-imagined them in clay by using extruded pieces, and used a metallic accent glaze as a nod to the original inspiration.  This set is complete with a jam caddy dish for serving two condiments and ceramic butter knifes, to celebrate a simple meal: toast for two.

 

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Ruth Easterbrook

Juried Artist

Ruth Easterbook
Waffle Breakfast Set, 2021
red clay, cone 6 glazes fired cone 6 oxidation
Garden covered butter dish H: 6” L: 7.5” W: 5”
syrup pourer H: 5.5” L: 7” W: 5.75”
pink plate with daisy bursts Diam: 9.5”
for sale butter $150 syrup $80 plate $60

Ruth Easterbrook, a ceramic artist and studio potter who received her MFA in Ceramics from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and her BFA in ceramics from Syracuse University.  Her education extends beyond her college training into hands-on learning as a studio apprentice at Hoyman-Browe Studios, studio assistant to various artists, as well as a summer intern at Anderson Ranch Arts Center. She has been an Artist in Resident at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, The Harvard Ceramics Program, and is currently at The Clay Studio, PA. Ruth recognized by NCECA as one of the 2020 Emerging Artist.

Artist’s Statement

I make pottery as an active participant in the coming together of people, sharing, and the enjoyment of food.  Eating a beautifully prepared meal creates a celebration. Food is my family’s love language, presented to acknowledge, elevate, or mark a moment or person. Homemade Oat Sourdough Waffles are one of my Dad’s signatures and have become a tradition of coming together every Sunday. I am currently across the country and have not been able to visit my family since over a year ago due to the pandemic. During the lockdown, like so many I began my own sourdough, now I have a starter and can make my own. Through this act, I connect from far away, through my pots I set the stage for my waffles, butter, and maple syrup.

My detailed surfaces enhance the importance of a moment—attentive handling that leads to discovery and pleasure. Floral motifs are inspired by the wildflowers and gardens of my home in Northern California.  I grew up in-tune with the season and was taught to identify and appreciate the wildflowers found in my backyard. This home was lost in the Fire Storms of 2017.  While the structures are gone the flowers return to their familiar places demonstrating resilience and representing a place and time.

This Breakfast set has so many personal connections to home, family, and memories but they are also pots that can be enjoyed for their practical balance, edges, curves, and volumes.

 

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Paul Eshelman 

Invited Artist

Paul Eshelman
Coffee with Euclid, 2021
red stoneware
each cup: H: 2.75” L: 4/25” Diam: 3”
sold

Paul Eshelman’s developing artistic interests were directed along practical lines as he grew up in Iowa. Simple utilitarian objects guided him aesthetically. Eshelman received a B.A. in art from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington and an M.F.A. in ceramics from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. Since 1988 Paul, and his wife Laurel, have been living and making pottery in Elizabeth, a small farming community in northwestern Illinois. They have three children who all worked in the pottery during their years at home.

Artist’s Statement

Picture Euclid and his friends drinking their morning Greek coffee while they discuss the intrigues of geometry.

 

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Grace Fish

Juried Artist

Grace Fish
Sunday Morning (design board), 2020
digital
23.5” x 18”
nfs

Grace Fish is currently a student of ceramic arts at Michigan State University. In the future she hopes to begin her own pottery business and help other women and members of the LGBT community discover the joys of clay.

Artist’s statement

This set of plates, bowls, and mugs was inspired by the artist’s family tradition of Sunday pancake breakfasts. Its bright colors and simple lines are inspired by the comics of the Sunday paper, and the different pieces can be arranged to form four short narratives about preparing and enjoying breakfast.

 

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Léopold Foulem

Invited Artist

Léopold Foulem (1945-)
Meret et Édouard, 2021
mixed media
H: 29 cm. W: 32.5 cm. D: 32.5 cm.
gift of the artist to IMoDD
photo credit Richard Milette

Léopold L. Foulem’s career spans more than 45 years, with over 50 solo and 230 group shows on five continents. His ceramics were exhibited in 50 museums and are in 25 museum and public collections on three continents. Foulem lectured extensively on ceramics as an autonomous art form. He is a world authority on Pablo Picasso’s ceramics.

Artist’s Statement

This sculpture is an intellectual appropriation of two famous artworks: Déjeuner sur l’herbe, a painting of 1866 by Édouard Manet (1832–1883) and Déjeuner en fourrure (Breakfast in Fur), a mixed-media sculpture of 1936 by surrealist artist Meret Oppenheim (1913–1983). The porcelain egg cup, a found object, was personalized for Meret and refired. The faux grass refers to the title of Manet’s painting. Déjeuner the Canadian French word for Breakfast, which is the title of this exhibition, becomes the common denominator uniting these two disruptive historic works of art.

 

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Ursula Hargens

Invited Artist

Ursula Hargens
Toast Rack, 2021
earthenware
H: 3.5” L: 8” W: 2.5”
sold
photo credit: Peter Lee

 

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Julianne Harvey

Juried Artist – First Prize

Julianne Harvey
Over Easy with French Toast, No Bacon, 2021
porcelain
H: 6” Diam: 12”
for sale: $700

Julianne Harvey is an artist and art educator who holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of New Mexico where she is an Adjunct Faculty member. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally and has work in the Lark publications 500 series, Ceramics Monthly, and HGTV.

Artist’s Statement

My work often involves a narrative and for the Breakfast exhibit I refer to art history and childhood memories of playful breakfast scenarios.

 

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Janel Jacobson

Invited Artist

Janel Jacobson
Egg Cup, Bowl and Mug Breakfast Suite, 2021
porcelain, with Malcolm Davis Shino glaze
egg cup H: 2.3” Diam: 4.2”
mug H: 3.5” L: 4.25” W: 3.2”
bowl H: 2.8” Diam: 3.1”
sold

Janel Jacobson has been self-employed as a potter, porcelain carver and wood carver, since graduation from Luther College with a B.A. in Art in 1972.  Further studies were had during three summers with Marguerite Wildenhain at Pond Farm Pottery in the 1970’s.  In 1975 she established Sunrise Pottery in Sunrise, Minnesota.  She was joined by Will Swanson, also a potter, in 1985. Their studio is one of the seven host pottery studios of the annual Saint Croix Valley Pottery Tour.

Artist’s Statement

Breakfast is always a good occasion to use your favorite pots to help start the day.  Soft boiled eggs can be a bit awkward to eat without a handy support.  I designed a little set of pieces that can serve the egg on a small pedestal while holding small toasts or spoon on its surrounding dish, with a little bowl on the side for a second egg and for the emptied shells.  The cup of course is for tea or coffee to brighten the mealtime.

 

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Mei Kiengsiri

Juried Artist

Mei Kiengsiri
Modern Street Hong Kong (design board), 2020
digital
18” x 24”
nfs

Mei Kiengsiri is currently a student at Michigan State University, majoring in Studio Art and Graphic Design. Her journey started in her hometown, Bangkok, Thailand, where she started her practice in drawing, painting, and photography. Her visual heritage from traditional Thai forms and patterns influence her works, appearing as stamps, stencils, and even backgrounds. Since attending MSU, her practice has also expanded into three-dimensional media, such as wood and metal sculptures, ceramics, and New Media.

Artist’s Statement

My previous trips in Hong Kong provided me with great experiences with their street food and Chinese delicacy: dim sum. I wanted to expand on the abruptness and straightness found in blunt foot rings and rims of ancient Chinese bowls. The set is designed with the intention to prioritize practicality for eating dim sum and other East Asian delicacies, while keeping a balance between historical stylistic references and modern minimalism in both form and color palette.

 

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Eriko Kobayashi

Juried Artist – Third Prize

Eriko Kobayashi
Fleeting Memory, 2018-2021
glass, froot loops
H: 6” W: 9” D: 9”
sold

Eriko Kobayashi was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. She fell in love with the color and texture of glass in 2014. Her new fascination led her to complete certification studies at Toyama City Institute of Glass Art in 2016. Currently, she is pursuing a master’s degree at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois.

Glass evokes her urge to create, and her vision with the material introduces playfulness to the technically demanding skill of working with glass. Her artistic adventure has developed into a rebellion against the status quo.

Artist’s Statement

When I was a child on a family trip to Hawaii, I had my first colorful breakfast that I had never had in Japan, and it was both shocking and delicious.  Since coming to America, seeing particular things triggers flashbacks of the scenery. But something’s a little off. My brain has in some way altered that memory. Even though these memories are from my experiences. Like I’m a spectator observing myself. No matter how hard I reach out. I’ll never reach them.

 

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Paul Kotula

Invited Artist

Paul Kotula
Bowl and Plate, 2018/2020 (white)
Glazed stoneware
1.25 x 10.5 x 10 inches
2.75 x 5.75 x 4.75 inches
NFS

Bowl and Plate, 2016/2020
Glazed stoneware
1.25 x 10.5 x 10 inches
2.75 x 5.75 x 4.75 inches
NFS

Paul Kotula is an artist, gallery owner, curator, and professor.  His distinct practices are guided and unified by the overriding idea of supplementation, a concept in which something is always in service to something or someone else. 

Artist’s Statement

We choose dishes to fit a meal, the essence of a particular time of day. These were gathered for breakfast.

 

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Sara Lynch

Juried Artist

Sara Lynch
Egg and Toast Salt and Pepper Shakers, 2021
white earthenware
approximately 3” x 6”
for sale: $250 set

Sara Lynch is an artist and educator living in Potsdam, NY.  She holds a BFA from Alfred University and has attended various artist residencies including the Vermont Studio Center and MEDALTA. Currently Sara runs grant-funded programing to create public art and teach children ceramics. She is also studying electrical engineering part time and creates a variety of custom art for clients.

Artist’s Statement

Breakfast is one of my favorite meals and hybrid functional sculptural objects are some of my favorite things to create. I experience hypnagogic hallucinations which are basically experiencing things that aren’t there as you are falling asleep. They are usually funny combinations of regular everyday things. I like to make the things I see in order to give my inner thoughts an external expression. I hope that by bringing my thoughts into the world and sharing them as art, others will gain insight into themselves and their thoughts.

 

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David MacDonald

Invited Artist

David MacDonald
Bacon Dish #2, 2021
earthenware, with engobe and metallic lustre decoration
H: 7″ L:11″ W: 8″
sold

David MacDonald received his BS in Art Education from Hampton University; and his MFA from the University of Michigan. In 1971 he joined the faculty of the School of Art at Syracuse University, retiring in 2008. His work has been featured in several ceramic textbooks and magazines. He has also been featured in several nationally televised programs; such as, HGTV’s “Modern Masters” and PBS’s “A Craftsmen’s Legacy”. He has been given a number of awards by various national arts organizations such as, National Conference for the Education in the Ceramics Arts’ “Excellence in Teaching Award” and the National Crafts Council’s “Master Craftsman Award”.

Since his retirement he has been active lecturing across the country and working in his studio creating his signature ceramic works.  

Artist’s Statement

Growing up in a large family (9 children and 2 adults), meals were always a chaotic and competitive event. If you were late for dinner, you were sometimes out of luck. Breakfasts on the weekends were always very special events with biscuits, pancakes (with lots of syrup), eggs and hash-brown potatoes. But for me the most important entrée was bacon. To this day, I can’t imagine anyone eating bacon at any other time than breakfast. Even though people are eating bacon on all sort of things, throughout the day; I decided to create a vessel that would give bacon it’s place of honor at the breakfast table.

 

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Kate Maury

Invited Artist

Kate Maury
Salt and Pepper Flower Buds, 2021
H:” L:  ” W:”
cone 6 porcelain, hand built with sprigs and slab construction, oxidation
for sale: $140

Kate Maury received a Bachelor of Fine Art from Kansas City Art Institute and a Master of Fine Art from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Currently she resides in St. Paul, Minnesota where she is a studio resident at the Northern Clay Center and teaches full-time as a Professor in the School of Art and Design at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Her work is featured in both juried and invitational shows at national and international venues. In addition, Maury’s research of the potters of India has been published in Ceramic Monthly and Studio Potter. She gives workshops nationally and has taken part in residency programs in China, Hungary and America.

Artist’s Statement

Clay has the ability to reveal the passions of life and celebrate our daily rituals with food. Breakfast is a particular moment of the day that enhances our re-entry into the world, be it the workforce, studies or workout. The Salt and Pepper Flower Bud Set in this exhibition is intended to add a richness to this morning ritual through visual abundance in texture, tactility and lushness of excess. 

 

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Cara Jean McCarthy

Juried Artist

Cara Jean McCarthy
Sunshine & Sugar, Breakfast Set, 2020
porcelain
butter dish H: 3” Diam: 4”
syrup/creamer H: 3.5” Diam: 3”
sugar bowl H: 3” Diam: 3.5”
gift of the artist to IMoDD

Cara Jean McCarthy is a former professional Dancer and grew up Indianapolis while dreaming of a Broadway Musical Theater Life in New York City. While dancing in a regional ballet company, she earned an M.A., analyzing the Vaganova Russian Syllabus and Method of Ballet Instruction. She then moved to NYC and loved every single moment of her Dancing Life, performing, choreographing, and teaching. Cara Jean discovered Clay Love in 2007 after her dance career ended and her beautiful daughter had left home. At Greenwich House Pottery her first few years of wheel classes were with master clay artist, Peter Lane. He nurtured her new language, while encouraging style, a dynamic throwing confidence and the importance of technical practice – so parallel to the teachings of discipline, focus and form in Dance.

Artist’s Statement

Working with clay became my new Dance, creating movement in stillness my motif. I use clay to create my own tiny urban gardens. In making shapes that are metaphors for Nature’s lush forms, my favorite mantra has become “Never Enough Flowers!” 

Breakfast is my favorite food group. And tiny serving pieces can become feel-good moments, colorful pops of whimsy on the table during our “stay at home” times. This breakfast set is named “Sunshine & Sugar”, actual friend nicknames I adore. Miniature make-believe gardens, where I would love to sit, surrounded by dots of color and blossoms in the sunshine.

My clay loves have been shown at the International Museum of Dinnerware Design, The Tokyo-NYC Friendship Association Exhibitions, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Shows, the Jane Hartsook Gallery NYC, and they adorn windows and tables all over the globe.

 

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Will McComb

Juried Artist

Will McComb
Tea for One, 2020
ceramic
H: 7” L: 12” W: 6”
nfs

Will McComb is a potter and adjunct faculty member in Ceramics at the University of Mississippi. He received a BA from the University of Kentucky in 2010 and an MFA from the University of Mississippi in 2020. His works of functional ceramics have been included in many national exhibitions, both as a juried and invited artist. He is committed to making objects that are as beautiful as they are useful.

Artist’s Statement

The spaces we clear around daily meals are powerful opportunities for contemplation and connection. My work often deals with the consumption of brewed beverages like coffee and tea. The meditative awareness that arises from the preparation and enjoyment of these caffeinated elixirs acts to bolster us in our daily journeys. My pottery makes use of these moments of awareness to forge a connection between maker and user. Gestural mark making in my work provides a record of the maker’s hand and provides for a dynamic visual experience that beckons use and exploration.

 

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Dana Miller

Juried Artist

Dana Miller
Coffee Pourover & Mug Set, 2020
white stoneware
6” x 5” x 7”
for sale: $94

Dana Miller first acquired a taste for ceramics in youth throwing classes in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She holds a BA from Bard College at Simon’s Rock, double majoring in Ceramics and German. She continued her ceramics education at the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, and later apprenticed at the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works. A recent transplant to New York City, Dana has completed a large-scale tile mural with NY Tilemakers, monitors the ceramics studio at the 92^nd Street Y, and recently joined the Tribeca Potters collective. 

Artist’s Statement

Every morning, I start my day with a fresh grind and a gooseneck kettle. Hot water, a minute off the boil, filters through a coiled ceramic pourover, which produces a smooth brew topped with cream in a handmade pot. The integration of handmade objects into my daily routine and morning habit stack prepares me for the day ahead, inviting me to consider all the ways that handmade ceramic objects impact my day-to-day. I remember that millions of people experience these interactions, and have for millennia: a freshly fired pot in my hands is also somehow as old as civilization. With that history in mind, I leave evidence of my process in my work—a smeared thumbprint or a coil crackled by the heat from my palms—which encourages the viewer to reflect on the personality of handmade objects—and homemade breakfast.

 

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Dganit Moreno

Invited Artist

Dganit Moreno (b. 1962-)
Contrasts, 2020
porcelain, underglazes and glaze, fired in an electric kiln
9” x 5” x 6”
for sale $350

Dganit Moreno moved to the US from Israel in the late 1990s and started her journey with clay at the Craft Alliance Center for Art and Design in Saint Louis, Missouri. She progressed in pottery making through classes, workshops and self-practicing. Dganit earned her BA in Studio Art from Webster University in Saint Louis and is currently making contemporary functional pottery. She has exhibited her work nationally and won several awards.

Artist’s Statement

Breakfast is often called “the most important meal of the day”. I don’t know about that, but for me breakfast is the most enjoyable one and is all about warmth and calm. Regardless of the time of the year and the stresses of life, I always make sure to have a peaceful time with my favorite meal of the day.

 

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David Morrison

Juried Artist

David Morrison
Toast Truck, 2021
ceramic
H: 5” L: 11” W: 5”
sold

David was born and raised in Batavia, IL a western suburb of Chicago. He attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN where he received his B.A. in studio art and a concentration in Asian Studies. Upon graduating he was an artist intern for the summer and fall of 2019 at Anderson Ranch Arts Center. Following his time at Anderson Ranch Arts Center he was a Fifth Year Emerging Artist at St. Olaf College. Currently, he is a Post-Baccalaureate Candidate at the University of Oklahoma. He is making functional ceramics while exploring place, culture, and community in his work.

Artist’s Statement

Growing up, I was taught the importance of sharing meals around the table. These memories of sharing dinners have resulted in my fascination with functional objects, because of their ability to facilitate connections while providing nourishment. I find pleasure in knowing someone would use my work to begin their day, the toast truck is made for breakfast, hauling toast to your table.

The work I am making explores ideas of nourishment, connection, and place: influenced by the beauty I see around me. I am informed by my surroundings, both past and present, and the culture of those regions. The textures and objects of these places influence my work, and fosters a sense of togetherness. I desire my work to provide nourishment, joy, and comfort through the ritual of daily use. Through my making I am looking to understand the place I am living and how I fit within it.

 

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Rory Nester

Juried Artist

   

Rory Nester
Sunrise Comatose, 2020
ceramic
H: 2” L: 10.5” W: 7”
nfs

Rory Nester, a graduate student at California State University Northridge with an emphasis in ceramics, as well as a pottery instructor at Bitter Root Pottery in West Hollywood, uses clay as a way to mentally work through the catastrophic daily conundrum we call life. She has exhibited work throughout California in cities such as Los Angeles, Monterey and Arcata, and has done commissions for companies such as Forest Films located on the Warner Bros lot.

Artist’s Statement

Life is dark and wicked. Environmental catastrophes, political fiascos, and social decay have all become business as usual. Desensitized to tragedy, we often have difficulties confronting looming global issues, and I’m left mystified by our ability to ignore what’s right in front of us. Finding the humor in chaos, I am able to navigate the challenging times in which we live. As each day this past year blends in with the next, I can’t seem to keep up with what is real. Promptly reaching for a resignation in my existence right when my eyes open, my breakfast is escapism.

 

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Jeff Oestreich

Invited Artist

Jeff Oestreich
Salt and Pepper Cradle, with copper and brass spoons, 2021
stoneware, soda fired, with copper and brass utensils
H: 3” L: 4.5” W: 2”
for sale $200
(photo by Jeff Oestreich)

Jeff Oestreich received a B.A from Bemidji State University and the University of Minnesota.  He did an apprenticeship at Bernard Leach Pottery, St. Ives, UK.

Artist’s Statement

My lifelong interest is the making of functional pottery made on a potter’s wheel.  A side interest is hand building and the making of copper and brass spoons for my salt cellars.

 

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Carrie Ohm

Juried Artist

Carrie Ohm
Breakfast Cloud Platter, 2021
porcelain, glazed, fired to cone 6 in oxidation
H: 5.5” L: 6.5” W: 4.5”
for sale $240

Carrie Ohm, MFA, SAIC, a ceramic and mixed media artist originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan is a studio art instructor at Chaffey College in California where she now lives. She is an Ironman triathlete and a mother of 2 amazing boys.

Artist’s Statement

I dream of large, precarious stacks secured under custom-fit domes and lids that snap around and balloon over bulbous mounds. I delight in a dramatic reveal. The quiet spectacle of surprise and possibility. That’s what is contained by my domed lids big and small; wonder, hope, air, maybe nothing, maybe something special, and in this case pancakes.

 

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Stephanie Osser

Juried artist

Stephanie Osser
Nesting Bluebirds-Nesting eggs+Hatchlings, 2019
slipcast porcelain, in-glaze transfers, underglaze, glaze, cone 6
plates 9.5” x 8.25” x 1.25”
tall pitcher 3.25” x 4” x 3.5”
small pitcher 2.5” x 3.25” x 4”
tiny bowls 4” x 3.5” x 1.25”
sold

Stephanie Osser is an illustrator in porcelain, a book and editorial illustrator, and an art workshop instructor. In 2021 she was selected to be included as a ceramic artist in artaxis.org, an international ceramic organization juried by members.  Her work has been exhibited in over 60 juried ceramic shows across the USA. Stephanie’s work is included in permanent collections at the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Museum, the International Museum of Dinnerware Design, and the Blair Museum of Lithophanes.  She has specialized in non-fiction children’s books, food illustration for cookbooks, and music themes.

Artist’s Statement

Breakfast is often Stephanie Osser’s favorite meal of the day with her husband, kids and now young grandkids. She was inspired to create original porcelain dinnerware designs for serving her favorite pancake recipe. Nesting pitchers serve 100% pure maple syrup and milk. The bluebird images on the plates, pitchers and triangle bowls are from her award winning children’s book she illustrated called “All About Eggs” by Millicent Selsam. Her illustrations are brought back to life on porcelain with offset shadows as in-glaze transfers.

 

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Diana Pancioli

Juried Artist – Second Prize

Diana Pancioli
Breakfast for One
stoneware
11.5” x 8” x 4.5”
NFS

Diana Pancioli began studying ceramics in the final year of her undergraduate degree. Soon after graduating she became a “country potter” while also teaching at a community college. Later, she worked with artists at Pewabic Pottery during the execution of  the People Mover murals, personally designing and executing one of the largest murals, “Cadillac Station”. She returned to school at mid-life to earn an M.F.A. and recently retired after teaching at Eastern Michigan University for 28 years.

Artist’s Statement

I have been making functional ceramic pieces for many years.  I often use my work at home, with food, as I am a devoted cook.  I was very happy for the opportunity to focus on “breakfast”.

 

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S.C. Rolf

Invited Artist

S.C. Rolf
syrup server, 2021
H: 5” L: 3.5” W: 3”
dark stoneware, reduction fired, cone 10
sold

S. C. Rolf lives and works as a studio potter in River Falls, WI, creating one-of-a-kind functional pots. His work reflects an ongoing search to unite his ideas with the generosity and the intimacy that the functional pot offers.  S. C. Rolf holds multiple degrees in Art and exhibits his work nationally and internationally. Rolf has received a number of nationaland international awards. He lectures and teaches workshops throughout the country. His work has been included in numerous publications, Museum collections, and Kitchens cupboards.

Artist’s Statement

Breakfast is one of my favorite meals, and this is probably because my mind is still in a sleep-like state. I can think without really thinking!  I also can see shapes and experience objects before the demands of the day kick in.  I have recently been making small individual creamers and small pouring vessels.  These objects have an intimacy similar to a mug, and yet they also have a sense that they could scale into something much larger.  This Syrup server was once a liquidly mass of clay and now pours a liquid formed from a plant. These are the sorts of dreamy thoughts that these little pots serve up – at breakfast!

 

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Peter Saenger

Juried Artist

Peter Saenger
Meals on Wheels Bowl, designed 2017, produced 2021
porcelain
H: 2.75” Diam: 5.625”
for sale $100

Founding Designer Saenger Porcelain 1978 to present

Artist’s Statement

Somewhere between ritual and routine my breakfast bowl of oatmeal steams with nuts and seasonal fruits all simmered together. Gratitude for the deliciousness, often as the last morsels are dug from the bowl’s wheel wells, is a recurrent meditation. It is a daily appreciation for the nourishment and a time to reflect on the dedicated folks who deliver food security. The Meals on Wheels team and the Empty Bowls bowl-makers raise funds to support for the program in our community. The MOW Bowl was designed and produced for that event in 2017 and continues to the present.

The artist’s share of a sale will be donated to a food insecurity relief effort of the purchaser’s choice.

 

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Shana Salaff

Juried Artist

Shana Salaff
Toast Plate, 2020
porcelaneous stoneware fired to cone 5 in oxidation
6” x 5.75” x 5.75”
sold

Shana Salaff is a practicing ceramic artist, a writer frequently contributing to Pottery Making Illustrated and Ceramic Monthly magazines, and part-time educator, regularly teaching workshops and classes in the area. Salaff received her BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University and her MFA from California State University, Fullerton. She lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Artist’s Statement

I make useful ceramic vessels that are designed for aesthetic pleasure as well as utility. The specific piece made for “Breakfast” is a small plate intended to hold toast on the side. A simple form, highly decorated, this plate elevates the quotidian to an aesthetic experience.

 

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Linda Sikora

Invited Artist

Linda Sikora
Beverage, Biscuits, Berries, Bouquet, Branch, 2020
stoneware, porcelain, underglaze, glaze, salt fired
teapot 10 x 5.5 x 5.5
biscuit box 6 x 6 x 7
berry bowl 9 x 9 x 4
vase 3.75 x 3.75 x 8.5
branch 12 x 1.5 x 1.5
serving plates 6.75 x 6.75 x 0.75
serving bowls 5 x 5 x 0.75
cups 4 x 2.75 x 3.5
sold

Linda Sikora resides with her family near Alfred NY where she has a studio practice and is a professor in Ceramic Art at Alfred University. Educational background: Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University (BFA) and University of Minnesota–Minneapolis (MFA). Professional activities -lectures, exhibitions, private and public collections – are national and international. Sikora is a United States Artist 2020 Fellowship recipient.

Artist’s Statement

Service and display are platforms for culture and behavior that fuel my practice. Breaking fast is a ritual and on the best mornings there is time, good company, good health and gratitude. This makes even a succinct celebration luxurious. Beverage, Biscuits, Berries, Bouquet, Branch might beckon – or maybe just ignite a plan.

 

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Malcolm Mobutu Smith

Invited Artist

Malcolm Mobutu Smith
SUGAR and CREAM, 2021
stoneware, glaze
SUGAR H: 6.25: W: 4.75″
CREAM H:4″ L: 6.75″ W: 4.25″
for sale: $450 each

Malcolm Mobutu Smith is associate professor of ceramic art and director of graduate studies in the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.  Smith earned his MFA from the New York College of Ceramics at Alfred University and studied at both the Kansas City Art Institute and Penn State University. Smith’s professional activities include workshops, lectures and residencies. His works are represented in numerous private and public collections both nationally and internationally.

Artist’s Statement

Smith’s work is driven by the energies of Hip Hop and Jazz in wheel thrown and hand built creations. Using intersections with graffiti art, organic abstraction and cues from pottery traditions and African art as fertile soil for invention, his works are guided by improvisations merging volume with graphic flatness for playful exaggerations form. The BREAKFAST prompt here uses letterform to both make and name the containers.

 

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Will Swanson

Juried Artist

Will Swanson
stoneware plate and cup, 2020
plate 8” x 8” x 2” slightly squared
cup 3.5” x 4.25” squared
atmospheric effects of carbon trapping in the shino glaze
$50 each/$100 set

Will Swanson is a studio potter whose stoneware pots are in use in homes around the country. He has an M.A. in design and is a founder of the Saint Croix Valley Pottery Tour, a national event now in its twenty-ninth year. He lives and works in Sunrise, Minnesota, sharing his studio with his wife, Janel Jacobson.

Artist’s Statement

Beginning the day with breakfast enjoyed on pottery that was handmade by another person is not a life-changing experience; however, it can be a connection to another person and an appreciation of the human urge to create and to share. I fashion stoneware clay into useful pots to be experienced through the personal, aesthetic pleasures of everyday use.

 

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Debbie Thompson

Invited Artist

 

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Ann Tubbs

Invited Artist

Ann Tubbs
Tea, Toast, and Berries, a breakfast of small things, 2020-21
a miniature set consisting of teapot, six cups and saucers, bowls and plates, on a larger
cat plate, with small house for flowers, and a pink rabbit
red earthenware, maijolic glaze and colorants, fired to cone 2-3 in electric kiln
teapot H: 2.75” L: 5”
cup H: 1” saucer Diam: 1.5”
large cat plate L: 12” W: 9.25”
note:  these pieces are not intended for children under six years of age, since the smaller pieces could be a choking hazard
sold

Ann Tubbs, printmaker, potter, sculptor, and teacher for the past 53 years, (BFA, Wittenberg University, MFA, printmaking/lithography, Michigan State University), works in a studio located behind her old farmhouse in Ottawa Lake, Michigan. Her main focus is now on functional maiolica pottery, using a red clay body and white glaze, decorated with colorants formulated for the cone 2-3 range.

Artist’s Statement

There has always seemed to me to be something playful about maiolica. This last year, in response to the isolation, I started making small houses, different from the ones I’d made in the 90’s, smaller, and now decorated with maiolica. I was thinking about shelter, and essential needs. And, when alerted to the fact that I had initially made, for this exhibition, a very nice long platter that was, in fact, too long…..I thought perhaps I would go in the opposite direction and shrink things down. Small house (now a vase), small dishes. Thus was born the idea of doing a miniature breakfast set.  I have given it the title of “Tea, Toast, and Berries, a breakfast of small things”

 

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Robin Wilt

Juried Artist

Robin Wilt
Breakfast Train, 2021
clay, wire
H: 4” L: 17” W: 2”
nfs

Robin Wilt was born and raised in Ann Arbor, MI. From 1972 – 2016, she was an Ann Arbor Public School art teacher. She retired in 2016.  She has made art all her life.  She holds a BFA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, and a from MA, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti MI

Artist’s Statement

This piece is intended to embody the sequence of eating breakfast into the movement represented by the “train” – First the egg, then the bacon, then the toast, and two empty cups for jelly and jam. An appropriate table decoration with flower is shown in the “engine” represented by a hen who produced part of the breakfast herself.

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