Choplet Ceramics Instructors

Nadeige Choplet

Working in clay is a joy, but also a struggle, always daring me to move forward to new possibilites. My ceramics work is a reflection of my background in textile design and painting. While exploring the aesthetic relationship between design and surfaces, I use the clay as a canvas. I strive for simplicity of form to balance the complexity of my paintings. The terra sigilatta process allows me great control over the image while remaining undoubtedly ceramic.

Nadeige Choplet is an exhibiting ceramicist with 10 years teaching experience. She received an MFA from l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a Fulbright Scholarship recipient. She is currently a ceramics and sculpture professor at Lehman College and Manhattanville College and sells her work at galleries all over the United States.

Damien Garcia

I have approached my expressive style in art through my life experiences and the world around me. I capture moments in time that are at a peak of emotion. It is the way you sit uncomfortably in a room when you feel disconnected, or the bliss of satisfaction from embracing something that touches you. Either situation leaves a moment of realization that brings out a truth that can not be hidden by reaction.

Painting brings exact reflections. A representation through paint on paper can present life with a limitless pallet for expression of emotions, feelings, thoughts, and dreams. The idea is to see reality in a single state that represents a time. It is something to laugh back at because it is so serious for that moment. When a reality is exposed, there is an essence of humanity that will stand as long as the memory of the observer. I observe to find truth in reaction to life.

Jessica Cohen

Creating an art piece able to withstand the dishwasher truly intrigues me. I love being able to directly integrate my art into my life. After majoring in painting and sculpture at Grinnell College in Iowa, I was drawn to ceramics for both its functional and non-functional qualities. Instead of just looking at my art on the wall or enjoying a three dimensional sculpture, I can actually eat my dinner off a blue hairs plate, sip my coffee out of a pod cup, and bring my potluck pasta in a grand server bowl.

In my recent work I explore additions and subtractions on the surfaces of wheel thrown works. I am in the process of creating a palette of different textures, which I will use to decorate and transform thrown pieces. Works where I have been adding clay to the surface become less functional than works where I choose to carve away at the surface. The carvings on my more functional pieces create a playful texture than can be enjoyed when sipping a drink, while my less functional works stand alone as individual art pieces.

Brooke Winfrey

My experience with clay has been focused on exploring its limitations and complexities. I am drawn toward examining the functionality of ceramic pieces because so much of the focus with ceramics is on functionality. I manipulate wheel thrown pieces, which are traditionally symmetrical, usable forms, to explore and exploit what their function could be, though reaching that potential after becoming so contorted is difficult. The pieces become organic but retain the essence of being a vessel. This process allows me to examine the intimate way in which we interact with pottery as a cup or bowl and reevaluate it.

Bobby Croze

I have been in love, and working with clay for thirteen years. It all started in vermont, where i met this wonderful instructor that taught me clay can take you places you never thought possible. We built a wood fire kiln on a farm and harvested our own clay on site near the riverbed. This is how i started my journey. Now i like to teach in a way that frees people from there mind, and let go and see where the clay will take them. When you are truly present with the clay, it will guide you. Letting go of your limitations. I like to focus on the curves and symetry of the clay, and teach in a way that helps each person find their individual voice and style through the art of ceramics.

Biata Roytburd

Through altered figurative forms, some more abstracted than others my sculptures convey feelings of guilt, acceptance, and seduction. I feel drawn into a world where any form could be real and alive. By embracing the voluptuousness of the human body I compose repetitive forms that are provocative in their abstraction.

Cassandra Kellam

I am compelled by the literal qualities and symbolic implications of functional objects. Mold-making and slip-casting are essential to my process of rendering form. Translating objects by casting, adjusting, re-casting, and repeating is vital. Seeing repetition of forms allows me to become sensitive to their alterations as I am constantly in contact with them.
I enjoy leaving clues within my work which transcend the object and reach the user, perhaps bring them closer to my experience in the studio. Marking lines in luster reveals aspects of process and mistakes which are the unavoidable bi-products of experimentation. By highlighting those details, my goal is to bring the user closer to the maker. I seek to use the object as a conduit, transcending it and ultimately finding myself in the user's home. Whether someone is privy to the process, that the luster can be seen as a pattern or narrative is an interesting notion for me as an artist.

Jaleh Fazel

Example of Jahel Fazel's Work, Functional Ceramics

Growing up in Iran I was exposed to functional pottery from an early age , and remember at the age of ten visiting a village potter and being in awe; on the spot I knew that I wanted to be a potter! Of course in my time in Iran it was not possible to become a potter for a young girl... Pottery was taught Ýfrom father to son.
But I kept my dream alive. When I moved to US and realized I could study to be a potter; WOW!!I I made it a mission. Today when I say I am a potter it fills my heart. I studied at Indiana University, Dept. of Fine Arts concentrating in ceramics and metal smithing and started teaching there. Then I realized I was infatuated by the material, process, technique and most of all function. Immersed in clay I participated, traveled, and researched to be more informed and hope to continue learning . Today I am pleased to be able to share my learnings and experiences with students who want to take the clay journey Ýand hope to learn from them and their experiences. Ý

Jen Cotton

My work addresses the experiences we have at the cusp between the digital and analogue worlds. Working primarily in ceramics and computation, I create sculptures and objects that examine material culture, technology, and history. I am interested in the legacy we have with our physical possessions and creating artifacts that become informal memorials. Yet as deeply connected as I am to the material world, I feel like our technological world is becoming more ubiquitous. Because of this, I create objects that draw from our historical relationship to particular forms but embed circuitry to create a new experience that is tied to our relationship with gadgets. In all of my work, I seek to create a world that is neither entirely digital nor analogue in order to examine how each contributes to our daily lives.

Ian Hays

Example of Ians Hays's Work, Functional Ceramics

In my work, the collision of aesthetic formalism, physical science and cultural anthropology is the most prominent theme. Taking everyday objects and draping meaning over them with allusion and metaphor help bring the object to a new light in the user's mind. As a designer, I have noticed how many people take the everyday objects they use for granted. Far from appreciating the object's complex history and significance, many people usually never even understand how that product works. In my effort to contribute to the narrative ofÝ a common man-made object, I try to consider how to make an aspect of that story apparent to the user. It is my hope that the exposure of that history and narrative is not just enlightening - but in itself will be the object's poetry.Ý Ý

Manioucha Krishnamurti

In the past my work had complicated geometric glaze patterns now it's infused with a simplicity both of form and surface which gives it a modern edge. You'll notice an obsession with teapots. Being British may have something to do with it. It's quite a challenge getting one that pours perfectly. I suffer from a sweet tooth and love to eat ice cream out of porcelain bowls. They have to fit in the palm of the hand to better cradle the content. One of the great joys of porcelain is to alter a thrown pot and coax it into waves. Very tricky! It all depends on the water content in the clay; it mustn't be too wet, not too leathery, nor too dry. Recently I started to explore piercing forms which can be challenging when working in porcelain owing to the speed with which it dries and breaks or cracks. It's all in the timing: gauging when you can cut into the clay after having trimmed the piece. I look forward to creating ever more intricate patterns in this way. The possibilities are infinite. My pots are devoid of pretention, they are first and foremost functional. I aspire only that they find a home where they'll be used and handled as lovingly as they were made.Ý