Ceramics Workshop with Jane Shellenbarger

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"Ewer" by Jane Shellenbarger

Ceramic artist Jane Shellenbarger will present a two day workshop at the University of Arkansas Ceramics Studio, 325 Eastern Ave, Fayetteville, on Oct. 28 and 29. The workshop will begin at 9 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. on Thursday and continue on Friday at 9 a.m., ending at 3 p.m., with a one-hour lunch break between noon and 1 p.m. each day. Shellenbarger will be demonstrating wheel-throwing and altered surfaces in the workshop.

Jane Shellenbarger will also present a talk about her work on Thursday, October 28 at 7 p.m. in room 213 of the Fine Arts Center on the university campus. Both the workshop and the lecture are free and open to the public.

A selection of ceramic pieces by Jane Shellenbarger will be on exhibit in the University of Arkansas Fine Arts Center Oct. 25 through Nov. 5.

Jane Shellenbarger received her B.F.A. degree from the Kansas City Art Institute, and her M.F.A. from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Following graduate school, she was a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, Mont. from 1996-97. She established her studio pottery, Mill Station Pottery, in rural Hale, Mich. in 1997. She was an assistant professor at the Kansas City Art Institute. She currently is an assistant professor at Northern Michigan University. She has also taught at Penland School of Crafts, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and the University of Northern Iowa. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art,  the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, and the University Museum at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

"I am interested in the connection between the hand and eye and memory. My work focuses on a vessel aesthetic," Shellenbarger said about her work. "The pieces are thrown and altered with highly personal surface treatments. While function continues to be an essential concern, I am intrigued with the ability of pots to transcend themselves as objects and convey the information of other eras and cultures. I work in both porcelain and stoneware clays, firing with atmospheric kilns to a high temperature. Often the pieces undergo multiple firings, or are enameled and sandblasted to achieve a depth of surface. The intimate and tactile nature of pots creates the ability to connect people like no other object. There is a need to keep these interactions vital. The rhythm of making pots is, for me, an endless pursuit to express ideas and define interactions through form."