Teapots: An Invitational - Bede Clarke Columbia, MO

Bede Clarke Teapot $360
wood-fired stoneware (8" x 10.5" x 5.5")

Statement:
My goal in making this work has been to create quiet, simple pots, which like a good meal, leave a healthy, full feeling.  Pots like these have been my constant companions for forty years.  They are forms and surfaces that I never grow tired of.  They are rooted in ceramic history; yet, I hope they reflect a personal and individual quality of feeling.  Above all, these pots are intended to be good to live with and interact with on a daily bases.  They are made with others in mind.

For me, good pots spring from compassion.  My "technique" amounts to wishing the work well as it moves through the process of forming, articulation of the surface and firing.  I try to find ways of working that respond to the only ability I have ever had, wishing the work well and silently encouraging it to "be good, be good."  I keep returning to the studio simply trying to bring as much sincerity as I can muster to bear upon the work.

Bio:
Bede Clarke has been a Professor of Art at the University of Missouri since 1992.  He received his MFA from The University of Iowa (1990) and a BFA from Eckerd College (1982).  He has been working in ceramics for 40 years and maintains a studio in Columbia, Missouri where he produces his ceramic art work and continues to exhibit workdwide.

Bede's work is found in collections in the U.S. and abroad.

Website: http://www.bedeclarkestudio.com/