HOME | CURRENT SHOW I PREVIOUS SHOWS I ARTIST LIST. . GUESTBOOK I CALENDAR I CALL FOR ENTRIES I CONTACT US  

 


ANN TUBBS I
MICHIGAN
CLICK HERE TO SEE ARTIST'S WORK

"The functional pottery, which I now make, is done in a mid-range, cone 3 stoneware, made, at the moment, from my mixing of a commercial clay body with a clay body I have formulated, and mix, myself. This clay, fired to a higher temperature than most majolica, is a dense, less porous clay which bonds well with, and will not cause the majolica glaze to chip or craze. This higher temperature majolica is somewhat of an anomaly, since most work of this type is in the lower temperature range, and, though more colorful, is less durable. The pieces, themselves, are formed with the use of the wheel, slab roller, and hand tools, and bisque to cone 06 before glazing and decorating. The glaze,
which I also mix, is a cone 3 white or cream majolica, and the colorants, mixed with a frit, a gum and a macloid (the Walter Ostrom method), are brushed onto the glaze in its dusty, pre-fired stage. The decoration is a little like working with watercolors on blotter paper. The frit aids with the fusion; the gum, with ease of brushwork; the macloid, with suspension. Once decorated, the pieces are then fired in an oxidizing atmosphere in a large, electric kiln, over a period of 17
hours. Cooling takes another day and a half. My son, Peter, for one of his high school projects, planted a large, bricked-path garden near my studio, with interesting flower and vegetable variants, many of which have inspired my decoration. My family and I have also visited both France and Italy (to see a nephew and his family), and more recently, Finland and Russia, where I have done many drawings, and looked at many pots. The clay notebook series is also an outgrowth of
the gardening, and of more worldly ideas. Made with porcelain or stoneware fired to the bisque temperature, the work is then cold-smoked, and painted and assembled. These are some of the cumulative results of almost thirty years of looking, drawing, and of working in clay. "

EDUCATION:

1968 M.F.A., printmaking; Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
1966 B.F.A., cum laude; Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio

1970 - Present: additional studies: ceramic history; Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn, Michigan
1974-04 ceramic workshops through Pewabic Pottery, Detroit, MI; Wooster, Ohio’s Functional Pottery Workshops; Michigan Potters’ Association; Toledo, Ohio, Potters’ Guild Ann Arbor Potters’ Guild, Brookfield Craft Center, Brookfield, Connecticut, National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts’ workshops
1973 Penland School of Crafts, North Carolina: summer session in photo-etching; August, 1993: Ceramic Overview
1972 student of Alice Matthews, weaver; Detroit, Michigan
1970 student of Peter Pettus, potter; Alexandria, Virginia


TEACHING EXPERIENCE;
ongoing: majolica glaze and decoration workshops
Jan-May, 01 instructor, Ann Arbor Potters’ Guild, Michigan
spring, 96 visiting artist, Whitmer High School, Toledo, Ohio
spring, 94 ceramics instructor, Adrian College, Adrian, Michigan; beginning, intermediate, and independent study students
1992-93 ceramics instructor, continuing education, Lourdes College, Sylvania, Ohio
1973-79 adjunct faculty member, ceramics; Western Connecticut State College, Danbury, Connecticut
• taught all aspects of ceramics; oversaw independent study students in ceramics; also taught cloth sculpture class and the ceramics/weaving section of crafts classes
ceramics instructor Washington Art Gallery, Washington Depot, CT
also designed reworking of ceramic studio layout
1975-76 ceramics instructor; Brookfield Craft Center, Brookfield, Connecticut; council member, 1977-79; studio assistant, 1975-79


Additional teaching:
fall, 1997 director, instructor; The Pottery Barn, 577 Foundation, Perrysburg, Ohio; 1988-1997
1987-98 children’s ceramics teacher at my studio, Ottawa Lake, Michigan; and at The Pottery Barn, 577 Foundation, Perrysburg, Ohio
1990, 1993 ceramics teacher, Winterim Clay Class (grades 9 - 12), at the Pottery Barn, 577 Foundation, Perrysburg, Ohio: under the aegis of Maumee Valley Country Day School, Toledo, Ohio
• taught pottery to 14 students, all day, for one month, exploring what it’s like to be a potter; and included three field trips: a tile class at Pewabic Pottery in Detroit, combined with a tour of the tile work in the Detroit People Mover Stations, and work/visits to two professional potters’ studios in Ohio and Michigan
1976-77 children’s ceramics; Westover Summer Arts Program Middlebury, Connecticut
1971 One of the founding teachers of the Upland Hills (Farm) School, Oxford, Michigan
• developed a photography, and a women’s studies course, in addition to regular teaching duties
1970 English tutor; Chicano English Program, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
1969 instructor in printmaking for children; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
1968 elementary art and music teacher; Chippewa Valley Public School District, Mount Clemens, Michigan

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
1973-present: professional potter, working with both functional and sculptural forms; studio at Toledo Potters’ Guild, 1980-84; organized TPG workshops with nationally known potters; present business, since 1985, in a studio I helped construct in Ottawa Lake, MI.

DEMONSTRATIONS:
2003 Detroit Institute of Art, MI, majolica demonstration
2002 Michigan Mud, Western MI Alegan
2000 Hands-on majolica glaze workshops at the Potter's Guilds in Ann Arbor, MI, and Wooster, OH
1991 Pottery Workshop presenter, Monroe County Community College, Monroe, Michigan
1989 Rake Presentation with Edith Franklin, Adrian College, Adrian,
1989 Demonstrator at Michigan Mud, Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn, Michigan
2004 Henry Ford Comm. College; Adrian College workshops

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS and FAIRS:
2003 21st Century Ceramics in the US and Canada; CCAD, Columbus, OH
2002 Santa Fe Clay; Contemporary Majolica; NM
2001 Contemporary Majolica; Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock
2000 Focus on Function; U of M Nat. Ceramics Biennial, Minn, MN
1998 Chef John Folse Culinary School Exhibition, Nicholls State University, Louisiana; purchase award
1998, 02 Strictly Functional Pottery National; Market House Craft Center, Ephrata, PA
1996, 2000, 03: Two person show at the American Gallery, Sylvania, Ohio
1993 Two person show at Stubnitz Gallery, Adrian, Michigan
1992 40th Annual Spring Show; Lima, Ohio
1992 “Responses to Children’s Art”; Adrian College, Michigan
1991, 93 “Women in the Arts”; Images Gallery, Toledo, Ohio
1991 “Earthly Delights”; Michigan Potters’ Association Invitational, Galleria Officenter, Southfield, Michigan
1986 “Connecting: Women Artists”; Toledo, Ohio
1982-85, 91, 92 02 Michigan Potters’ Association’s Annual Juried Show;
1995 jurors: Wayne Higby - 91, Victor Babu - 92, Patty Warashina - 95
1981, 86, 93, 00 May Show; Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
1981 National Cone Box Show; Purdue University, Indiana
1977-78 Connecticut Craft Professional’s Spring Market
1975-79 Guild of Connecticut Craftsmen’s Annual Juried Show
1978 one-person show; Westover School, Middlebury, Connecticut two-person show; Bethel Gallery, Bethel, Connecticut
Current: two pieces are included in the ongoing show of professionally outstanding women ceramists: “The Ceramic Collection”, Southern Connecticut State University,
New Haven, Connecticut


AWARDS & RELATED ACTIVITIES:
1998 stoneware majolica pottery is included in The Best of Pottery, I, and II, selected by Jonathan Fairbanks and Angela Fina; Quarry Books, 1996, 1998
1995 first place; 94, third place; 98, second place: ceramics; Crosby Festival, Toledo, Ohio
1995 a photograph of a smoked, wirecut pot is in Jane Perryman’s book, Smoke-fired Pottery, A & C Black, 1995
1995 first place, U.T. Alumni’s Art on the Mall, Toledo, Ohio; 1996, second place
1992 William T. Stewart Award, 40th Annual Spring Show, Lima, Ohio
1992 one of three Monroe County, Michigan, potters who sent work to Japan in an exchange program Monroe’s sister city of Hofu
1991 & continuing: a photograph of one of the pieces for the “boy/dog” series, with a brief statement, is included in Richard Zakin’s book: Ceramics, Mastering the Craft, Chilton,
1990; one of the “Garden Notebook” sculptures is included in R. Zakin’s Hand-Formed Ceramics, Chilton, 1995; a photo of recent majolica work appears in Robin Hopper's update of his Functional Pottery
1986-87 Arts Commission of Greater Toledo, Ohio’s grants review board
1996, first place, sculpture: Roots of Diversity Show
1985 fourth place, Michigan Potters’ Association’s Show Robert Turner, juror
1983 third place, Michigan Potters’ Association’s Show Marge Levy, juror
1979 honorable mention, Guild of Connecticut Craftsmen’s Show


CLICK HERE TO SEE ARTIST'S WORK