ARTIST INFO

KURT ANDERSON
Spruce Pine, NC

CLAY | Functional ceramics and 2D figurative art

Penland Affiliation | Penland Instructor 2017, 2022, Penland Winter Resident 2017

Artist Information | Studio artist; education: MFA Louisiana State University, Post Baccalaureate Studies at State University of NY at New Paltz, Post Baccalaureate Studies at Nova Scotia College of Art & Design; teaching: Penland School of Craft (NC), Appalachian State University (NC), Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts (MT), Ohio State University (OH), Louisiana State University (LA), HUnter College (NY), Kingsborough Community College (NY), Rockland Community College (NY); residencies: Penland School of Craft (NC), Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts (ME), Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts (MT), Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (TN), School of Design and Crafts, Gothenburg University (Sweden); exhibitions: Red Lodge Clay Center (MT), Charlie Cummings Gallery (FL), Companion Gallery (TN), The Clay Studio (PA), Akar Design (IA), Baltimore Clayworks (MD), Santa Fe Clay (NM)

Artist Statement | I am attracted to the raw and the unrefined, the messy and lowbrow. In my work I seek to include imagery that touches on the familiar but is seen through my own distorted lens. I look at the visual language of my environment: advertising logos, cartoons, graphic novels, sports-team mascots, and iconic figures in public life. By including such imagery on the surface of my pottery I hope to connect to the viewer by providing a glimpse of something universal and familiar, yet slightly surreal. I am also influenced by centuries of folk pottery and the archetypal iconography found upon them. It is my hope to show the great amount of admiration I have for this work but also slightly lampoon them.

Traditionally, folk potters used a variety of formulas to compose surfaces of their work. By shuffling and recombining these proven formula, it is my hope that the muse of familiarity appears cross-dressed as innovation.