Five ceramic artists were named winners of the Archie Bray Foundation's annual fellowship awards. Selected from a highly competitive field of candidates, the MJD Fellowship was awarded to Aaron Benson, of Knoxville, TN, the Matsutani Fellowship went to Nicholas Bivins of Orinda, CA, Jana Evans of Tempe, AZ, received the Taunt Fellowship, Mathew McConnell of Boulder, CO, received the Lilian Fellowship and the Lincoln Fellowship went to Courtney Murphy of Ashville, NC.

Each fellowship awards $5,000 and a one-year residency at the Foundation to artists of exceptional accomplishment and promise. Beneficiaries are expected to embrace the Bray experience of community and exchange, and have the opportunity to focus their attention towards producing and exhibiting a significant body of work.

Click here to view 2010-2011 Fellowship Monograph written by Susannah Isreal.

Aaron Benson received his BFA in Ceramics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and was an intern at Anderson Ranch in Colorado. Benson uses a combination of clay, metal, wood, plastic and Styrofoam to create works that mimic architectural forms.  Most recently Benson received the 2010-2011 Bray MJD Fellowship.

“My sculpture talks specifically about the security I place in objects.  Using an assortment of different materials such as clay, steel, wood, and plastics, I create assemblages of objects that appear secure and stable, but have tones of uneasiness about them.  The tension comes in the forms of uncomfortable balance, and a visual juxtaposition of opposing parts.  Each piece establishes an element of visual “trust” with the viewer.    

Nicholas Bivins grew up in the Northern California Bay Area. He received his MFA from Ohio University, Athens, Ohio in 2009 and a BFA and BA from the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Nicholas was an artist in residence at the Red Lodge Clay Center and most recently the recipient of the 2010-2011 Matsutani Fellowship at the Archie Bray Foundation.

Nicholas makes highly functional, uniquely handmade for use.. The reductive minimal aesthetic found in his work is abstracted from his appreciation for all things precisely done with style. The ceramic pieces are high-fire slip cast porcelain with glaze and decals; the trays the pots rest upon are CNC-milled MDF, with automotive paint.

“I make utilitarian pottery using a precise, clean, and efficient geometric language as I maintain an obsessive interest in looking for a personal definition of perfectly handmade. It is this fascination that propels me to practice my craft every day while continually searching for a satisfying balance of how much evidence of hand I put in, and how much hand I take out.”

To see more of Nicholas' artwork visit www.nicholasbivins.com.

Jana Evans received her MFA from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona in 2010 and her BFA from Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, Texas, with a concentration in ceramics in 2002. She furthered her studies at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina and also worked as a studio assistant to ceramic artist Jerilyn Virden. She then moved to Lincoln, Nebraska as a post‐baccalaureate student in ceramics at the University of Nebraska. Most recently Jana is the recipient of the 2010-2011 Taunt Fellowship at the Archie Bray Foundation.

“My work revolves around the familiarity inherent in handmade vessels. I attempt to generate an intimate relationship of use by reaching out to others in the form of a handmade cup, bowl or jar. I use the implications of these objects to generate sociability and signal identity. For me, handmade objects act as a means of communicating to the user through form, function, surface and relationship. The objects aim to affirm that the value of their experience and the object go hand in hand.

The designs and patterns that decorate my pottery portray playful narratives and patterns. Raised glaze texture offers haptic discoveries to draw the user in for a closer look.”

To view more artwork of Jana's visits janaevans.com.

Tumblers, 2009
porcelain, glaze

Mathew McConnell holds an MFA in Ceramics from the University of Colorado, Boulder and a BFA in Studio Art from Valdosta State University. He has exhibited widely, including recent solo exhibitions at Unitec's Snowhite Gallery in Auckland, New Zealand and Vertigo Artspace in Denver, Colorado. In 2007, McConnell was a summer artist in residence at the Archie Bray Foundation and the recipient of the Sage Scholarship. In January of 2011, he returned to the Bray as the 2010–2011 Lillian Fellow.

“My recent works have been an attempt to understand art-making through the conscious re-making or other artists' work. Often using a singular form or image of another artist’s creation as a starting point, I recreate the work with alterations to suit my own aesthetic and conceptual preferences. The resultant forms vary between what could be mistaken as a facsimile of another artist’s work and original artworks with a source seemingly outside any individual referent. For me, to recreate is to create. When variations are possible, so too are revelations.”

To view more of Mathew's artwork go to www.mathewmcconnell.com