The Cup: Jane Shellenbarger - Rochester, NY

Jane Shellenbarger Rabbit-Cup
stoneware, soda fired, post fired (4.75 x 5.5 inches)
CUP 168 $75 SOLD

Statement:

My work focuses on a pottery idiom, incorporating historical references and social issues with domestic objects. I work in both porcelain and black clays, firing with atmospheric kilns.  Often the pieces undergo multiple post firings to achieve a depth of surface.

While function continues to be an essential concern, I am most intrigued with the ability of pots to transcend themselves as objects and convey information. The ability for the work to draw relationships to history and social issues through imagery, content, and form hold my fascination.

Jane Shellenbarger Victrola/Goat-Cup
stoneware, soda fired, post fired (4 x 5.75 inches)
CUP 169 $75 SOLD

The work that currently holds my interest combines the way interact with our environment and the impact it has on animal and plant species, with traditional vessels and their histories. At its best the work becomes both artifact and an object of the contemporary world.  The use of glaze as a painterly ground provides an impetus to interact with imagery that resounds with a reaction to the world in which we all share.

 Pots are intimate by nature. The history of ceramic objects to commemorate and document our sophistication as a culture is rich.  As pots intersect with utility they have the ability to choreograph domestic experience affecting people in a deep and interactive way. 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 interaction through form.

Jane Shellenbarger Factory/Goat-Cup
stoneware, soda fired, post fired (4.75 x 5.25 inches)
CUP 170 $75 SOLD

Bio:

Jane Shellenbarger has a long history in ceramics as a both a studio potter and educator.  Jane 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 worked as a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, in Helena; MT. Shellenbarger established her studio pottery, Mill Station Pottery, in rural Michigan in 1997.

She has held teaching positions at multiple academic institutions, Northern Michigan University, Kansas City Art Institute, the University of Northern Iowa, and now joins the faculty in The School for American Crafts at Rochester Institute of Technology.  She has taught at many craft schools around the country among them, Penland School of Crafts, Arrowmont School of Crafts, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts.

Jane Shellenbarger Hot Air Ballons-Cup
stoneware, soda fired, post fired (4.5 x 5.75 inches)
CUP 171 $75 SOLD

Shellenbarger exhibits her work in several prominent galleries around the country including; Leslie Ferrin Gallery, Lacoste Gallery, Lill Street, AKAR Gallery, Santa Fe Clay, Philadelphia Clay Studio, Red Lodge Clay Center and Baltimore Clayworks among others.

Jane Shellenbarger How To Make a Paper Airplane-Cup
stoneware, soda fired, post fired (3.75 x 5.5 inches)
CUP 172 $40 SOLD

Her work is also in the permanent collections of the Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., San Angelo Museum of Fine Art, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, The Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, and The University Museum, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

Teapots: An Invitational - Jane Shellenbarger Hale, MI

Jane Shellenbarger Teapot $450
soda fired black stoneware (11" x 9" x 6")

Statement:
I am interested in the connection between hand and eye and memory.  My work focuses on a vessel aesthetic, incorporating historical references with domestic objects.  The pieces are thrown and altered with highly personal surface treatments.  While function continues to be an essential concern, I am most intrigues with the ability of pots to transcend themselves as objects and convey information.  Form, and surface treatment and the ability for the work to draw relationships to history through imagery, content, and pattern hold my fascination.

I work in porcelain and stoneware clays, firing with atmospheric kilns.  Often the pieces undergo multiple post firings to achieve a depth of surface.
Pots are intimate by nature.  They have the ability to choreograph domestic experience affecting people in a deep and interactive way.  This is unparalleled by other objects.  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.

Bio:

Jane Shellenbarger was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1964.  She was a CORE student at Penland School of Crafts in Penland, North Carolina from 1987-1989.  Jane received her BFA degree from the Kansas City Art Institute, and her MFA from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.  Following graduate school, she was a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT 1996-97.  She established her pottery studio, Mill Station Pottery, in rural Hale, Michigan in 1997.  Currently, she is an Assistant Professor at Northern Michigan University.  She has taught at Kansas City Art Institute, Penland School of Crafts, Haystack Mountain Shcool of Crafts and the University of Northern Iowa.  Jane has exhibited he rwork in several galleries around the country and her work is in the permanent collections of the Renwick Gallery of the national Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, The Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts,and The University Museum, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.