John Stephenson’s Ceramic Process
Artist statement
Contemporary ceramics bridges a place between painting and sculpture. It invites the painting of three-dimensional form. A range of color and texture in glazes and slips compels the artist to deal with the surface of form. As I work, my loaded brush leaves soft, thick strokes of glaze on the clay surface. Unlike the painter who paints with pigments which are true to the eye, I paint with a brush which is literally loaded with chemical reactions which develop far beyond my reach in the fury of the kiln’s atmosphere.
I am excited about the symbiotic relationship of form and color. When form and color are successfully teamed up, they become the tools of the artist’s expression. Together they develop a force to touch the emotions. While the ceramic medium can be made to look like almost any other material, I am most satisfied when it reflects its “clay-ness.” Clay has been a signature for man from earliest times, telling us what it was like to be alive at a particular time and in a particular place. Clay formed in the hands of today’s ceramic artists will become a reflection of our times.
Biography
John H. Stephenson was born on October 27, 1929 in Waterloo, Iowa, and passed on October 20th, 2015. He received a B.A. Ed. Degree (1952) at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls Iowa and his MFA degree (1958) in Ceramics at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
He began a prominent career teaching ceramics at the University of Michigan in 1959 through 1995. John also sat as interim Dean of the School of Art at U of M between 1991-1993. While at Michigan he received the Catherine B. Heller Distinguished Professorship, Artist Grant National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and honorary Doctorate of Arts from Grand Valley State in Grand Rapids, MI, and served as interim Dean of the School of Art.
John is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics (IAC); honorary member of the National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts (NCECA); and was most recently elected to the American Craft Council College of Fellows in 2010.
John has exhibited nationally and internationally since the beginning of his career. His work is included in collections at Alfred University, Ohio State University, Parish Museum of Art, Portland Museum of Art, Cranbrook Museum of Art, Dennos Museum; Traverse City, MI, Eastern Michigan University, Everson Museum of Art; Syracuse, N.Y., Detroit Institute of Art, Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York City, Faenza Museum; Italy, Museum of Decorative Arts; Prague, Keramion Museum; Germany, Foshan/Nanfeng Museum and Flicam International museum; Fuping (PR China), Benaki Museum; Athens, Greece, Ichon World Ceramic Center; Korea, and may corporate and private collections in the USA. John’s commitment to the international community in particular includes forging connections between China, Japan, and the United States. He has participated in residencies and symposiums in China, Japan, Denmark, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.
Retrospectives of John’s work have been presented at the University of Michigan in 1994 and the Birmingham Bloomfield Arts Center in 2010.