Michigan Mud: Expanding Community is brought to you in collaboration with Michigan Ceramic Art Association (MCAA) and Albion College. This day long biennial conference will be held on the Albion College campus and will showcases the excellence of ceramic art in its diversity of techniques. This community event is open to the public and features nationally-renowned ceramics artists providing demonstrations and lectures, a student cup show, vendor tables, and presenters exhibition to benefit MCAA student scholarships.
MICHIGAN MUD 2017
Featured Keynote Speaker: Ben Carter is a studio potter, workshop leader, and social media enthusiast based in Santa Cruz, CA. He received his BFA in ceramics/painting from Appalachian State University and his MFA in ceramics from the University of Florida. His professional experience includes being an artist-in-residence at the Odyssey Center for Ceramic Art in Asheville, NC, as well as Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, CO, the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, MT, and the Ceramic Research Center Guldagergaard in Skelskor, Denmark. From 2010-2012 he served as the Education Director of the Pottery Workshop in Shanghai, China. He has lectured and presented workshops at universities and craft centers in the United States, Canada, China, Australia, and New Zealand. He has exhibited internationally in numerous invitational and juried shows, and was named 2016 Ceramic Artist of the Year by Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated.
Presentations and Demonstrations presented by:
Ben Carter
Clayton Keyes
Ben Lambert
Israel Davis
Firth MacMillan
Stephanie Galli
Lectures presented by:
Lisa Truax
Anthony Schaller, Schaller Gallery
Michigan Mud Afterglow Party
Your Michigan Mud conference experience won’t be complete without visiting Ken Shenstone’s beautifully crafted studio and VERY large Anagama kiln. Built mostly out of recycled materials on 6 acres, the studio complex was designed as a community art center with multiple kilns and work spaces.
Join us a few miles down the road after the conference for an Afterglow at Ken’s studio. You are invited to feast on gourmet tacos, mingle and network in this unique setting while participating in festivities, including a burning sculpture!
Your $20 ticket includes entrance fee and your meal.
Early Bird: $95
Standard Registration: $105
Early Bird registration ends on September 30 at midnight
Student Registration: $30
Applies to high school, undergraduate, and post-graduate students
MCAA members receive a $20 discount on tickets.
Save on Tickets!
Become a Member Today!
NEW! Clay @Moth
Share your experience with clay and ceramics at our “Clay @ The Moth” storytelling series during lunch at Michigan Mud. From stories about how you were drawn to clay to the unique experiences that ceramics bring to our lives, bring your best stories to the conference and help expand our ceramics community.
– Sign up available through the day, first come-first serve
– 5 minute storytelling time-limit
– open to all attendees with stories related to ceramics
– Clay @ The Moth to take place during lunch
Ben Carter
Keynote Speaker
Ben Carter is a studio potter, workshop leader, and social media enthusiast based in Santa Cruz, CA. He received his BFA in ceramics/painting from Appalachian State University and his MFA in ceramics from the University of Florida. His professional experience includes being an artist-in-residence at the Odyssey Center for Ceramic Art in Asheville, NC, as well as Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, CO, the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, MT, and the Ceramic Research Center Guldagergaard in Skelskor, Denmark. From 2010-2012 he served as the Education Director of the Pottery Workshop in Shanghai, China. He has lectured and presented workshops at universities and craft centers in the United States, Canada, China, Australia, and New Zealand. He has exhibited internationally in numerous invitational and juried shows, and was named 2016 Ceramic Artist of the Year by Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated.
Clayton Keyes
Presenter/Demonstrator
Clayton Keyes’s work tells stories that are human, relatable, and strive to leave some trace on the viewer through communicating an emotional narrative. He shows nationally and has received Best of Show awards at the Marge Brown Kalodner Graduate Exhibition at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia and in Un-Wedged at Pottery Northwest in Seattle. Clayton exhibited in the NCECA 2012 Invitational Exhibition Push Play. Clayton teaches workshops at colleges, universities, ceramic centers and conferences throughout the Midwest and inter-mountain west. His work has been published or reviewed by Ceramics: Art and Perception Magazine, The Seattle Times, Ceramics Monthly Magazine, Lark Books 500 Figures, Volume 2, Ceramic Sculpture Making Faces, and numerous online forums. He earned his MFA from the University of Tulsa in 2011. Clayton is the current chair of the ceramic program and assistant professor of art at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Ben Lambert
Presenter/Demonstrator
Benjamin Lambert is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art and Design at Alma College in Alma, Michigan. He grew up in a small, rural town of Greene, Maine, spending time exploring the woods and rivers around his home. In 2008 he received a B.F.A. with a concentration in ceramics from the University of Southern Maine. He took a four-year break from academia and maintained an active studio practice in Portland, Maine where he was also a part-time associate at the Daniel Kany Gallery. In 2010, he worked as a summer staff member at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, in Newcastle, Maine. He completed a MFA in Ceramics and Sculpture at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 2015. He has assisted artists during workshops at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine, and most recently at Arrowmont School of Art and Craft in Gatlinburg, TN. He was also a participant as a resident in the second annual Arrowmont Pentaculum.
Israel Davis
Presenter/Demonstrator
Israel “Izzy” Davis is an artist, educator, musician, BMX biker, and skateboarding enthusiast who lives and works in Grand Rapids, MI. Davis has presented more than 40 technical workshops and lectures nationally and internationally and has taught several summer intensives, including courses at Ox-Bow School of Art, Saugatuck, MI, Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC, and Ceramica Artistica Prospettiva, Trieste, Italy. He has exhibited work in more than 100 exhibitions including venues such as the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, the Fort Wayne Art Museum, Fort Wayne, IN, and the Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA.
Firth MacMillan
Presenter/Demonstrator
Firth MacMillan is a visual artist based in Toronto. She has exhibited at CRG, Lyons Wier and Charles Cowles Gallery in New York and at the College of Creative Studies in Detroit, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and San Bao International in China. A graduate of The University of Michigan, The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (BFA) and The University of Nebraska -Lincoln (MFA), Firth was a Visiting Artist at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design this summer, working on project funded by the Canada Council to create a body of work in conversation with Antoni Gaudi. She is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art at Kalamazoo College.
Stephanie Galli
Presenter/Demonstrator
Stephanie Galli, a ceramic artist and educator originally from the Metro-Detroit area, received her BFA from Central Michigan University, and her MFA in Ceramics from Indiana University. Passionate about traveling, Stephanie has spent time making art in China and Italy, and has been a resident artist at Red Lodge Clay Center in Red Lodge, Montana, AMACO in Indianapolis and MudFire Clayworks in Atlanta, Georgia. Her work has exhibited nationally and internationally, most notably at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and Hangzhou Peace International Exhibition Center in Hangzhou, China. Stephanie’s sculptures and utilitarian vessels have been featured in publications such as Ceramics Monthly, American iPottery, and BADAO ART. Stephanie Galli was chosen as one of Ceramic Monthly’s 2017 Emerging Artists.
Anthony Schaller/Schaller Gallery
Lecturer
Anthony Schaller is the founder/director of Schaller Gallery, located in Saint Joseph, Michigan. The gallery represents internationally recognized ceramic artists and is considered one of the top functional ceramic galleries in the nation. He maintains a studio practice focused on functional ceramics and implements many locally sourced natural and experimental materials. His personal work displays a love for edge and line with aesthetic values coming from historical ceramics. Anthony has worked as a curator and professor and continues to present exhibitions, workshops, lectures, critiques and discussions at universities and art centers across North America.
| Michigan Mud: Expanding Community October 14, 2017 | ||||
| Welcome to Michigan Mud 2017! We hope this event provides valuable information and inspiration. Thank you to our host, Albion College! | Presenter Exhibtition | Bobbitt Gallery 8:00 am - 5:00 pm | Sale beginning at 4:30 pm | |||
| Student Cup Show | Science Center Lobby 8:00 am - 5:00 pm | Judged Awards Presented at 4:30 pm | ||||
| Vendor Tables and Jackson Potters Guild Store | Science Center 8:00 am - 5:00 pm | ||||
| 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM | Registration & Coffee | Science Center | TRACK 1 Art Annex | TRACK 2 Bobbot Rm 213 | TRACK 3 Bobbitt 2 Lab | TRACK 4 Bobbitt Auditorium |
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM | Ben Carter Demo | Firth MacMillan Demo | Israel Davis Demo Imagery and Transfer Printing | 10:00 AM - 10:50 AM | Ben Carter Demo | Firth MacMillan Demo | Israel Davis Demo | Lisa Truax Lecture | 10:50 AM - 11:00 AM | BREAK |
| 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM FEATURED KEYNOTE | Ben Carter Keynote Lecture | Science Center @ Norris 101 | 12:00 PM | Buffet Lunch | Science Center Atrium | |
| 12:30 PM - 1:15 PM | CLAY @ THE MOTH | Science Center Atrium | |||
| 1:30 PM - 2:20 PM | Ben Carter Demo | Ben Lambert & Clayton Keyes Demo | Stephanie Galli Demo | |
| 2:20 PM - 2:30 PM | BREAK | |||
| 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM | Ben Carter Demo | Ben Lambert & Clayton Keyes Demo | Stephanie Galli Demo | Schaller Gallery Lecture and Discussion |
| 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM | Ben Carter Demo | Ben Lambert & Clayton Keyes Demo | Stephanie Galli Demo | 4:30 PM - 5:00 PM | Student Cup Show | Awards Presented Science Center Atrium |
4:30 PM - 5:00 PM | Presenters Exhibition Sale Bobbitt Gallery |
- Speakers, Presenters, Demonstrators and Lecturers
-
Ben Carter
Keynote SpeakerBen Carter is a studio potter, workshop leader, and social media enthusiast based in Santa Cruz, CA. He received his BFA in ceramics/painting from Appalachian State University and his MFA in ceramics from the University of Florida. His professional experience includes being an artist-in-residence at the Odyssey Center for Ceramic Art in Asheville, NC, as well as Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, CO, the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, MT, and the Ceramic Research Center Guldagergaard in Skelskor, Denmark. From 2010-2012 he served as the Education Director of the Pottery Workshop in Shanghai, China. He has lectured and presented workshops at universities and craft centers in the United States, Canada, China, Australia, and New Zealand. He has exhibited internationally in numerous invitational and juried shows, and was named 2016 Ceramic Artist of the Year by Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated.
Clayton Keyes
Presenter/DemonstratorClayton Keyes’s work tells stories that are human, relatable, and strive to leave some trace on the viewer through communicating an emotional narrative. He shows nationally and has received Best of Show awards at the Marge Brown Kalodner Graduate Exhibition at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia and in Un-Wedged at Pottery Northwest in Seattle. Clayton exhibited in the NCECA 2012 Invitational Exhibition Push Play. Clayton teaches workshops at colleges, universities, ceramic centers and conferences throughout the Midwest and inter-mountain west. His work has been published or reviewed by Ceramics: Art and Perception Magazine, The Seattle Times, Ceramics Monthly Magazine, Lark Books 500 Figures, Volume 2, Ceramic Sculpture Making Faces, and numerous online forums. He earned his MFA from the University of Tulsa in 2011. Clayton is the current chair of the ceramic program and assistant professor of art at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Ben Lambert
Presenter/DemonstratorBenjamin Lambert is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art and Design at Alma College in Alma, Michigan. He grew up in a small, rural town of Greene, Maine, spending time exploring the woods and rivers around his home. In 2008 he received a B.F.A. with a concentration in ceramics from the University of Southern Maine. He took a four-year break from academia and maintained an active studio practice in Portland, Maine where he was also a part-time associate at the Daniel Kany Gallery. In 2010, he worked as a summer staff member at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, in Newcastle, Maine. He completed a MFA in Ceramics and Sculpture at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 2015. He has assisted artists during workshops at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine, and most recently at Arrowmont School of Art and Craft in Gatlinburg, TN. He was also a participant as a resident in the second annual Arrowmont Pentaculum.
Israel Davis
Presenter/DemonstratorIsrael “Izzy” Davis is an artist, educator, musician, BMX biker, and skateboarding enthusiast who lives and works in Grand Rapids, MI. Davis has presented more than 40 technical workshops and lectures nationally and internationally and has taught several summer intensives, including courses at Ox-Bow School of Art, Saugatuck, MI, Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC, and Ceramica Artistica Prospettiva, Trieste, Italy. He has exhibited work in more than 100 exhibitions including venues such as the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, the Fort Wayne Art Museum, Fort Wayne, IN, and the Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA.
Firth MacMillan
Presenter/DemonstratorFirth MacMillan is a visual artist based in Toronto. She has exhibited at CRG, Lyons Wier and Charles Cowles Gallery in New York and at the College of Creative Studies in Detroit, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and San Bao International in China. A graduate of The University of Michigan, The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (BFA) and The University of Nebraska -Lincoln (MFA), Firth was a Visiting Artist at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design this summer, working on project funded by the Canada Council to create a body of work in conversation with Antoni Gaudi. She is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art at Kalamazoo College.
Stephanie Galli
Presenter/DemonstratorStephanie Galli, a ceramic artist and educator originally from the Metro-Detroit area, received her BFA from Central Michigan University, and her MFA in Ceramics from Indiana University. Passionate about traveling, Stephanie has spent time making art in China and Italy, and has been a resident artist at Red Lodge Clay Center in Red Lodge, Montana, AMACO in Indianapolis and MudFire Clayworks in Atlanta, Georgia. Her work has exhibited nationally and internationally, most notably at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and Hangzhou Peace International Exhibition Center in Hangzhou, China. Stephanie’s sculptures and utilitarian vessels have been featured in publications such as Ceramics Monthly, American iPottery, and BADAO ART. Stephanie Galli was chosen as one of Ceramic Monthly’s 2017 Emerging Artists.
Anthony Schaller/Schaller Gallery
LecturerAnthony Schaller is the founder/director of Schaller Gallery, located in Saint Joseph, Michigan. The gallery represents internationally recognized ceramic artists and is considered one of the top functional ceramic galleries in the nation. He maintains a studio practice focused on functional ceramics and implements many locally sourced natural and experimental materials. His personal work displays a love for edge and line with aesthetic values coming from historical ceramics. Anthony has worked as a curator and professor and continues to present exhibitions, workshops, lectures, critiques and discussions at universities and art centers across North America.
- Michigan Mud Agenda
-
Michigan Mud: Expanding Community
October 14, 2017Welcome to Michigan Mud 2017! We hope this event provides valuable information and inspiration. Thank you to our host, Albion College! Presenter Exhibtition | Bobbitt Gallery
8:00 am - 5:00 pm | Sale beginning at 4:30 pmStudent Cup Show | Science Center Lobby
8:00 am - 5:00 pm | Judged Awards Presented at 4:30 pmVendor Tables and Jackson Potters Guild Store | Science Center
8:00 am - 5:00 pm8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Registration & Coffee | Science Center TRACK 1
Art AnnexTRACK 2
Bobbot Rm 213TRACK 3
Bobbitt 2 LabTRACK 4
Bobbitt Auditorium9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Ben Carter Demo Firth MacMillan Demo Israel Davis Demo Imagery and Transfer Printing 10:00 AM - 10:50 AM Ben Carter Demo Firth MacMillan Demo Israel Davis Demo Lisa Truax Lecture 10:50 AM - 11:00 AM BREAK 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
FEATURED KEYNOTEBen Carter Keynote Lecture | Science Center @ Norris 101 12:00 PM Buffet Lunch | Science Center Atrium 12:30 PM - 1:15 PM CLAY @ THE MOTH | Science Center Atrium 1:30 PM - 2:20 PM Ben Carter Demo Ben Lambert & Clayton Keyes Demo Stephanie Galli Demo 2:20 PM - 2:30 PM BREAK 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Ben Carter Demo Ben Lambert & Clayton Keyes Demo Stephanie Galli Demo Schaller Gallery Lecture and Discussion 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM Ben Carter Demo Ben Lambert & Clayton Keyes Demo Stephanie Galli Demo 4:30 PM - 5:00 PM Student Cup Show | Awards Presented
Science Center Atrium4:30 PM - 5:00 PM Presenters Exhibition Sale Bobbitt Gallery