Artist: Ben Eberle
Ben Eberle, MASSACHUSETTS
Bio:
Ben Eberle is a studio potter and educator living and making his work in western, MA. His past training in the field took him from Skidmore College, 1999-2003, to a year-long apprenticeship with Toshiko Takaezu. She urged him to seek an MFA which he did after a brief layover in Boston where he managed two studios and taught pottery classes. He finished his MFA at SJSU in 2008 and was hired to teach ceramics at Concord Academy from 2008-2014. He moved to the hilltowns of western MA where he has immersed in the two pottery tours and broad ceramics community ever since. He built a community wood-fired soda kiln called the “Karma Kiln” in 2022 and enjoys hosting a few groups a year for all the excitement that soda firing brings.
Artist’s Statement:
My pots are currently a culmination of a decade-long exploration of texture, form, and function. If a pot looks like I wasn’t ever involved in its final shape and surface, then I believe I have done something right. My main wish is for each pot to retain as much of its ‘softness’ as possible. Interior volume, the perfectly placed concavity, and an existential ‘looseness’ are all parts of the story I want my pots to tell. Recently, the wood-fired, soda atmosphere from my new kiln has added a simply perfect, naturally organic and unpredictable finish for my work. This process, like the blank bisqueware it enhances, is an ongoing exploration and exciting education in the possibility of colors, dark carbon halos, and glassy, air-brushed flashes.
Education:
2005-8: MFA in ceramics San Jose State University. San Jose, CA.
2003-4: 13 month apprenticeship with Toshiko Takaezu, Quakertown, NJ.
2003: BA in creative writing, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs NY, graduated cum laude.
Employment
2021-present: Studio potter, Conway MA. Kiln building/repair consultation, educator.
2020-21: Onsite program coordinator, Snow Farm: The New England Craft Program.
2019-2021: Property Management technician, Vertex Realty, Amherst, MA.
2015-2018: Head of Property and Studio Management, Snow Farm: The New England Craft Program, Williamsburg, MA.
2008-2014: Head of the Concord Academy ceramics program.
2006: Studio tech, San Jose State University.
2004-5: Studio manager Leventhal Sidman JCC, Newton, MA.
2004-5: Studio manager at Boston Center of Adult Education.
2003-4: Apprentice for Toshiko Takaezu. Maintained her studio, mixed clay, loaded kilns, cleaned, shipped work, and helped coordinate gallery and museum exhibitions.
Teaching experience:
2023: Snow Farm Craft Program, Williamsburg, MA, “Kiln Camp” workshop.
2023: New England Woodfiring Conference kiln host, Shelburne Falls, MA.
2023: The Mud Studio, Waterbury, VT
2022: The Clay School, Lynn MA. 1-day workshop (Sept).
2022: Wheelhouse Clay Center, Brattleboro VT. 2-day weekend workshop (Oct.)
2022: The Umbrella Arts Center, Concord MA. 2-day workshop demo and studio instruction.
2021: Saratoga Clay Art Center: 2-day Soda firing workshop.
2021: Snow Farm: The New England Craft Program: 3-day throwing and altering workshop.
2021: Ceramics Program at Harvard University: 3-session online home studio workshop.
2020: Ceramics Program at Harvard University: 3-session online home studio workshop.
2019: Snow Farm: The New England Craft Program. 5 day raku workshop.
2018: Snow Farm: The New England Craft Program. 7-day soda firing workshop.
2016: POW! (Potters on Wheels) outreach team. Teaching assistant for spring program at Gann Academy, MA.
2015: Snow Farm: The New England Craft Program. Taught one two-week session for high school students.
2014: Snow Farm: The New England Craft Program. Taught two, two-week sessions for high school students.
2010: Millbrook School, NY.
Publications:
2012: Succulant Seduction: The Art of Angela Cunningham. February issue of Ceramics Monthly.
2010: RANDY BRICCO, current work review. Summer issue of Refused Magazine.
2008: GABE TOCI: Deceit and Disillusion Can't Hold Back Destruction. Spring issue of Refused Magazine.
2007: SHAY CHURCH: Making the Outer Narrative Inside. Spring issue of Refused Magazine.
Exhibitions
2023: Solo Exhibition, Wooten Clayworks, Hackettstown, NJ.
2023: Solo Exhibition, Plinth Gallery, Denver, CO.
2023: Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour, guest potter.
2023: “Furthermore: The Next Stage”, Wooten Clayworks, Hackettstown, NJ.
2023: Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail guest potter.
2023: 20th Worcester Center of Crafts Invitational Pottery show
2022: Carbondale Clay Center, Carbondale, CO: Clay National XVI: Say it With Clay. (Aug-Oct)
2022: 16th Annual Hilltown 6 Pottery Trail, MA. Guest artist. (July)
2022: 18th Annual Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail, MA. Guest artist.
2021: Harvard University: Instructor group exhibit.
2021: Wooten Clayworks: Holiday Group exhibit.
2021: Saratoga Clay Art Center, Schylerville, NY: “A Living Legacy” apprentice group show celebrating Toshiko Takaezu.
2021: Boston Sculptor’s Guild, Boston, MA. “Drink Up”.
2021: Worcester Center for Crafts: Holiday sale, Worcester, MA.
2021: Abel Contemporary, Stoughton WI. Holiday Cup Sale.
2021: 17th Annual Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail. Guest artist.
2020: 14th Annual Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour, MA. Guest artist.
2020: 16th Annual Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail, MA. Guest artist.
2019: Last Call IV, Humbolt, TN
2019: Collective Identity: The Legacy of Apprenticeship Under Toshiko Takaezu. The Noyes Art Garage, Atlantic City, NJ.
2018: Texas Teapot Tournament. Baytown, TX.
2018: Libation, East Hawaii Cultural Center, Hilo HI
2016: National Strictly Functional, Lancaster, PA.
2016: Collective Identity: The Legacy of Apprenticeship Under Toshiko Takaezu. Curator and participating artist. HAW Contemporary, in conjunction with 2016 NCECA.
2011-2016: Bi-annual Open Houses, Takaezu Studio, Quakertown, NJ
2015: WAVE, Aurora Providence, Providence, RI, in conjunction with NCECA.
2015: State of Clay, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton MA in conjunction with NCECA.
2013: Contemporary Ceramics International Biennial, Halcyon Gallery, Terre Haute, IN
2012: Small Originals, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA
2012: National Strictly Functional, Lancaster, PA.
2012: Ceramics National Exhibition: Containment, Lee Gallery, Clemson University.
2012: Prints and Pots, Bell Gallery, The Rivers School, Weston, MA.
2011: 19th Annual Nellie Smith Pottery Exhibition, Cape Fear Studios, NC.
2011: Mudflat Studios Grand Opening, Somerville, MA.
2011: New Work, Small Point Club, Small Point, ME.
2010: Concord Art Association Winter Small Originals, Concord, MA.
2010: SoWA Juried Summer Arts Fair, June, July, and August, Boston, MA.
2009: BANG!, Holiday Juried Arts Festival, Boston, MA.
2008: LIFT OFF: Group Sculpture, Institute for Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA.
2008: Lasting Impressions, The Pragg Gallery, Cheswick, PA.
2008: Sandra Johnstone Award recipient, San Jose State University, CA.
2008: Concordia Continental Biennial, Concordia University, St. Paul, MN.