The Cup: Bede Clarke - Columbia, MO

Bede Clarke Cup
wood-fired stoneware, 2011
(4 x 4 x 4 inches) CUP 040 $55

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 basis.  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.
 

Bede Clarke Cup
wood-fired stoneware, 2011
(4 x 4 x 4 inches) CUP 041 $55

Bio:
Bede Clarke has been a Professor of Art at the University of Missouri since 1992. He received his Master of Fine Arts from The University of Iowa (1990) and a BFA from Eckerd College (1982). Bede’s work is found in collections in the U.S. and abroad, such as: Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan, Ichon World Ceramic Center, South Korea, Bermuda National Gallery and Martin Museum of Art, Baylor University.

Bede maintains a studio in Columbia, Missouri where he produces his ceramic art work and continues to exhibit worldwide, recently at: Aspen Gallery, Kuwait City, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, Kentucky, Shepparton Gallery Sydney Myer International Ceramics Award, Victoria, Australia, Baltimore County Center for Art and Visual Culture, Baltimore, Maryland.

Bede is currently working with wheel thrown wood-fired stoneware vessels. He is interested in making work, which like a good meal, leaves a healthy, full feeling.

Bede Clarke Cup
wood-fired stoneware, 2011
(4 x 4 x 4 inches) CUP 042 $55

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