D. Wayne Higby (born 12 May 1943, Colorado, USA) is an American artist working in ceramics. The American Craft Museum considers him a "visionary of the American Crafts Movement" [1] and recognized him as one of seven artists who are "genuine living legends representing the best of American artists in their chosen medium." [2] [3]
Born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Higby received a B.F.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder, in 1966, and an M.F.A. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1968. Since 1973, he has been on the faculty of the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY.
Working both as a ceramic artist and an educator, Higby has earned international recognition since his one-person show at the American Craft Museum in 1973. His work focuses on "landscape imagery as a focal point of meditation", and ranges from the vessel form to tile and sculptural works. Rather than focusing on its functional aspects, Higby uses the vessel form as a vehicle for imagery, often inspired by the western landscapes of his childhood, that highlights the interplay between light, space, and time. [4]
"I strive to establish a zone of quiet coherence – a place full of silent, empty space where finite and infinite, intimate and immense intersect."
He is known for his inventive use of Raku earthenware, and an interest in porcelain following his experiences travelling and lecturing in China, where he has worked with artists to revitalize Chinese Ceramic art. He is Honorary President and co-founder(with Jackson Li) of the Sanbao Ceramic Art Institute at Jingdezhen, and an Honorary Professor of Art at both the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute and at Shanghai University, People’s Republic of China.
He is also vice president of the International Academy of Ceramics in Geneva, Switzerland. [5]
Ceramic artist Victoria MacKenzie-Childs, taught by Higby at Alfred University in the 1970s, credits Higby as a lifelong mentor. [6]
The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University (NYSCC) is a statutory college of the State University of New York located on the campus of Alfred University, Alfred, New York. There are a total of 616 students, including 536 undergraduates and 80 graduates.
Richard E. DeVore, also written as Richard De Vore was an American ceramicist, professor. He was known for stoneware. He was faculty at Cranbrook Academy of Art’s Ceramics Department, from 1966 to 1978.
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Robert Carston Arneson was an American sculptor and professor of ceramics in the Art department at University of California, Davis for nearly three decades.
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Heather Mae Erickson is an artist, a craftsperson, and a designer. Erickson earned her BFA at The University of the Arts, majoring in crafts specializing in ceramics with a concentration in art education. Continuing her studies at Cranbrook Academy of Art, she earned an MFA in ceramic art.
Kirk Mangus (1952–2013) was an internationally renowned ceramic artist and sculptor "known for his playful, gestural style, roughhewn forms, and experimental glazing". His murals, works in clay, on paper, in wood, and other media pull from a rich and diverse set of influences: ancient Greco-Roman art, mythology, Japanese woodblock prints, comic books, folk stories, from Meso-American through Middle-Eastern and Asian ceramic traditions as well as the people he saw, the places he travelled, and his own dreamworld. He loved experimenting with new mediums, local materials, clay bodies, slips, kiln-building and the firing process.
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