Bill Griffith

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.”