The Dictionary of American Ceramics, 1945 onward
Dictionary of American Ceramics, 1945 onward
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Bennett Bean
1941Born Cincinnati, Ohio
EDUCATION
1963BA University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
1966MFA Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, California
PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE
1966-1979Professor, Wagner College, Staten Island, New York
APPRENTICESHIPS AND RESIDENCIES
—Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass, Colorado
—Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
—Penland School of Crafts, Penland, North Carolina
BIOGRAPHY
Bennett Bean is best known for his thrown and altered white earthenware vessels, particularly non-functional bowls and teapots. Initially he used little surface decoration other than the spontaneous markings resulting from his use of the pit-firing technique. Gradually his forms and surface decoration evolved in complexity. In 1982 Bean began using acrylic paints to execute extensive abstract surface designs on the fired vessels, and in 1983 he began to apply at first 24K gold leaf and, later, a silver metallic to the interiors. By the mid-1990s Bean had begun to deconstruct his pieces into the two, three or four interrelated abstract vessel forms. He often painted across these groupings unifying them into one design. Firing patterns are incorporated into the surface treatment. These are arranged on a shallow, grey, wooden plinth.
After graduating from the University of Iowa, Bean accepted a position teaching ceramics at Wagner College where he remained until 1979 when he left to become an independent studio artist.
His work has been influenced by Japanese, Native American pottery, English pottery in the tradition of Bernard Leach, and American studio potters, particularly the work of George Ohr.
An interview with Bennett Bean conducted June 16 and 17, 2001 by Mija Reidel, for the Archives of American Art’s Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America is available at:
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-bennett-bean-15953.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
Arkansas Art Center, Decorative Arts Museum, Little Rock, Arkansas
Brunnier Art Museum, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, California
Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa
Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee
JB Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky
Longhouse Foundation Collection, East Hampton, New York
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, California
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, Alabama
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York
Museum of Arts & Sciences, Macon, Georgia
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey
New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey
Noyes Museum of Art, Oceanville, New Jersey
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada
St. Louis Museum of Art, St. Louis, Missouri
The Studio Potter, 10th Anniversary Collection, New Hampshire
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.
The Toledo Museum of Art, George and Dorothy Saxe Collection, Toledo, Ohio
University of Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York
University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, Iowa
White House Collection of American Crafts, Clinton Presidential Library, Little Rock, Arkansas
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bean, Bennett. "At Eye Level." The Studio Potter 14, no. 1 (December 1985).
"Bennett Bean." Clay Times: The Journal of Ceramic Trends and Techniques, September/October 1996.
Busch, Akiko. "Bennett Bean." American Craft 48, no. 2 (April/May 1988).
Chambers, Karen S. "Not Just Another Pretty Pot." Ceramics: Art and Perception 29 (September 1997).
_______________. "Bennett Bean." Ceramics Monthly, March 1998.
Dietz, Ulysses G. Great Pots Contemporary Ceramics from Function to Fantasy. Madison, WI: Guild Publishing, The Newark Museum, 2003.
Gibson, John. Contemporary Pottery Decoration. Radnor, PA: Chilton Book Co., 1987.
Hickey, Gloria. "Bennett Bean." Ontario Craft 13, no. 9 (September 1988).
Lauria, Jo and Steve Fenton. Craft in America Celebrating Two Centuries of Artists and Objects. New York, NY: Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 2007.
Lauria, Jo. Color and Fire Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics 1950-2000. Los Angeles, CA: LACMA, Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2000.
Leaning into the Wind: Ceramic Works by Bennett Bean. Little Rock, AK: Arkansas Art Center Decorative Arts Museum, 1996.
Levin, Elaine. The History of American Ceramics from Pipkins and Bean Pots to Contemporary Forms / 1607-Present. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1988.
Monroe, Michael. The White House Collection of American Crafts. New York, NY: Abrams, 1995.
Pepich, Bruce W. "Bennett Bean." Art Gallery International, March/April 1989.
Peterson, Susan. The Craft and Art of Clay. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press, 2000.
Simpson, Tommy and Bill Seitz. Hand and Home: The Home of American Craftsmen. Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Co., 1994.
Smith, Paul J. and Edward Lucie-Smith. Craft Today Poetry of the Physical. New York, NY: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, American Craft Museum, 1986.
Yood, James. "Bennett Bean, R. Duane Reed Gallery." American Craft, December 1999/January 2000.
CV or RESUME: Click Here to Download
Source: www.bennettbeanstudio.com
CV or RESUME: Click Here to Download
Source: Cross Creek Gallery, Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
CV or RESUME: Click Here to Download
Source: Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
CV or RESUME: Click Here to Download
Source: Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
WEBSITE(S):
Materials: Earthenware
Method: Thrown and Altered, Slab-Built
Surface Technique: Acrylic Paint, Metal Leaf
Materials: Earthenware
Method: Thrown, Slab-Built, Hand-Built
Surface Technique: Acrylic Paint, Metal Leaf
Materials: Earthenware
Method: Thrown and Altered
Surface Technique: Acrylic Paint, Metal Leaf
Citation: "The Marks Project." Last modified February 13, 2024. http://www.themarksproject.org/marks/bean
