Kurt Weiser

1950Born Lansing, Michigan

EDUCATION

1967-1969Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, Michigan

1972BFA Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri

1976MFA University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1977-1989Director, Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, Montana

1988Ceramics Department Head, Herberger College School of Art, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona

2000Regents Professor, Arizona State University

BIOGRAPHY

Kurt Weiser makes a range of cast porcelain forms that are frequently cut and reassembled to exaggerate the original form. Weiser works with basic forms mostly drawn from traditional Asian ceramics; the teapot, drinking vessel, and storage jar. He also created a number of globes. All of these pieces are glazed with China paint.

In the 1980s he created a series of black and white sgraffito decorated wares inspired by his sketches of the Arizona landscape. His later work is characterized by a sophisticated use of colorful China painting to create elaborate narrative scenes of lush tropical plants, flowers, fruit that frequently included a distorted human face. The botanical scenes were initially inspired by Weiser’s sketches of Thailand. As Weiser perfected his China painting technique he expanded his imagery using antique botanical manuals and art history books as sources of inspiration.

In the early 21st century he began a series of geographic and astral globes. This form allows Weiser to create one continuous scene without obstruction. These globes are displayed on metal stands that allow the globe to spin. Occasionally he distorts the sphere to create an amorphous form.

Weiser was an early proponent of using China paint in studio ceramics during a period when many artists were exploring the surfaces created by wood firing techniques. Kurt Weiser shares his studio with his wife Christy Lasater Weiser. Each artist works independently and produce their own work.

An interview with Kurt Weiser conducted May 22, 2006, by Peter Held, 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-kurt-weiser-13585.