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Bill Griffith

Biography to Display: 

1949 Born South Bend, Indiana

EDUCATION

BS Art Education, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana

MA Art Education, Ceramics, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

Post Graduate Residency, Appalachian Center for Crafts, Smithville, Tennessee

RESIDENCIES

1985 Artist in Residence, International Workshop of Ceramic Art, Tokoname, Japan

2012 Artist in Residence, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Newcastle, Maine

2016 Artist in Residence, Red Lodge Clay Center, Red Lodge, Montana

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1972-1987 Art Instructor, Connersville High School, Connersville, Indiana

1985-1987 Art Department Chair, Connersville High School, Connersville, Indiana

1987-2008 Assistant Director, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee

2006-2015 Director, Artists-In-Residency Program, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee

2008-2015 Program Director, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee

2015— Outreach and Partnership Liaison, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee

BIOGRAPHY

 Bill Griffith is known for creating sculpture and functional pottery using a stoneware clay body. Griffith’s work is completed on the potter's wheel or slab built, or is a combination of these two methods. Both sculptural and functional works are typically fired in a wood kiln, although other firing methods are used intermittently.

Evolving from a series called “Dwellings”, Griffith's sculptural work draws upon ancient structures from the Native American Anasazi, Japanese Haniwa, Mayan and Incan cultures. Architectural references are common, sculptures feature both thrown and slab built elements. Offering a soft geometric approach to this body of work, Griffith's surfaces are marked by cutouts door and window referenced openings which invite the viewer to look closer and examine the intrinsic need for dwelling.

Griffith's functional wares span a varied and rich artistic practice. Signature forms include slab built handle-less pitchers. Surface design includes occasional impressed patterning, and low-relief banding. Like his sculptural forms, Griffith's pottery is typically fired in wood fueled kilns. Griffith states, “The surfaces, colors and marks on forms are the results of flames striking the pieces, natural ash deposits melting on the surfaces or from stacking or placing other pieces either on top of each other or next to each other in the kiln.”

Public Collections

Public Collections to Display: 

Arkansas Arts Center. Little Rock, Arkansas

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Gatlinburg, Tennessee

City of Orlando Permanent Collection. Orlando, Florida

Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute. Jingdezhen, China

San Angelo Museum of Fine Art. San Angelo, Texas

Tennessee State Museum. Nashville, Tennessee

The Haan Museum of Indiana Art, Lafayette, Indiana

therosenfieldcollection.com

Tokoname Cultural Museum. Tokoname, Japan

Bibliography

Bibliography to Display: 

Fairbanks, Jonathan, Angela Fina, and Christopher Gustin. The Best of Pottery vo. 2. Bloomington, IN: Quarry Books, 1999.

Fina, Angela, Fairbanks, Jonathan, and Christopher Gustin. The Best of Pottery v.1. Bloomington, IN: Quarry Books, 1998.

Griffith, Bill. “A Pitcher with No Handle.” Ceramics Monthly (December 2011).

_________. “Clay Culture, Collecting Stories.” Ceramics Monthly (October 2014).

_________. “Sensuous Surfaces.” Ceramics Art & Perception 43 (2001).

_________. “Tennessee Clay Ways.” Ceramics Art & Perception 41 (2000).

Horn, Robyn. Living with Form: The Horn Collection of Contemporary Crafts. Little Rock, AR: Bradley Publishing, 1999.

McRary, Amy. “Teacher, Potter Bill Griffith Found His 'Tribe' at Gatlinburg's Arrowmont.” Knoxville News Sentinel, September 3, 2016.

Minogue, Coll, and Robert Sanderson. Wood Fired Ceramics: Contemporary Practices. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000.

Scala, Mark, Benjamin Hubbard Caldwell, and Robert H. Hicks. Art of Tennessee. Nashville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 2003.

“The Function of Vision.” Ceramics Monthly (December 1997).

Tourtillott, Suzanne J.E. 500 Cups.: Ceramic Explorations of Utility and Grace New York, NY: Lark Books, 2004.

 

CV or Resume: Click Here to Download
Source: Artist

Website(s):

www.billgriffithclay.com

 

 

Center for CraftSouthern Highland Craft Guild

 

Typical Marks
ca 2014
Untitled
Date: ca 2014
Form: Sculpture
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Slab-Built
Surface Technique: Glaze
Clay Art Center, "Lineage: the Art of Mentorship," Sept. 2014, Port Chester, New York
Photo: Loren Maron
Clay Art Center, "Lineage: the Art of Mentorship," Sept. 2014, Port Chester, New York
Photo: Loren Maron
Photo: Loren Maron
Creamer
Method: Thrown and Altered
Surface Technique: Glaze
rosenfieldcollection.com
rosenfieldcollection.com
Tumbler
Method: Thrown and Altered
Surface Technique: Glaze
rosenfieldcollection.com
rosenfieldcollection.com
Cup
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
rosenfieldcollection.com
rosenfieldcollection.com
Vessel
Materials: Porcelain
Method: Thrown and Altered
Surface Technique: Carved, Glaze
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP

Citation: Jeffrey Kuratnick. "The Marks Project." Last modified June 5, 2023. http://www.themarksproject.org/marks/griffith-0