Chris Gustin is a studio artist and an Emeritus Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. He received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1975, and his MFA from Alfred University in 1977. Gustin lives and works in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Gustin’s work is published extensively and is represented in numerous public and private collections, including the Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the World Ceramic Exposition Foundation in Icheon, Korea, the American Museum of Ceramic Art, the Currier Museum of Art, the Yingge Museum in Taipai, and the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art. With more than 50 solo exhibitions, he has exhibited, lectured and taught workshops in the United States, Caribbean, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He has received two National Endowment for the Arts Artist Fellowships, and four Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowships, the most recent in 2017. He is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics and was elected to the American Craft Council College of Fellows in 2016. He was awarded the Masters of the Medium award from the Renwick Alliance in 2017. Gustin is co-founder of the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Maine, and currently serves as Honorary Trustee on its board.
Chris is one of six artists who were chosen for similar reasons, and also for ones unique to each of them. All of them share a love of the material of clay, and an appreciation for the function of the particular objects that they create. Each of their experiences in clay is individual, but the common thread of education, from the past, present, and future, with their instructors being working artists in their field, ties them to the foundation of the Bauhaus.
For more information on the Walter Gropius Master Artist Ceramic Symposium, go to www.hmoa.org/education/gropius-ceramic-symposium/. For more information on the Walter Gropius Master Artist Program, go to www.waltergropius.org.
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This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how the National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.
This project is presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Department of the Arts, Culture and History, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.
The Walter Gropius Master Artist Series is funded through the generosity of the Estate of Roxanna Y. Booth, who wished to assist in the development of an art education program in accordance with the proposals of Walter Gropius, who designed the Museum’s Gropius Addition, as well as the Gropius Studios. The Museum is indebted to Roxanna Y. Booth’s son, the late Alex Booth, Jr., for his participation in the concept development of the Gropius Master Artists Workshops.
Thank you. Your wisdom is not just for potters.
Thank you for one of the best videos on creating I have seen. Art is a language based on a meeting of external environment and internal impetus and response that is an intimate dialogue. If we don’t show up for our side of that conversation, creating, we miss a lifetime of wonder. It is worth every hard choice to claim and protect our art. It saves our lives.
I loved the way this video incorporates your thoughts/philosophy as we watch you work. An amazing commentary on your work as a potter and on the life of any potter! Thank you.
Amazing, really. Described perfectly how I envision my pieces.
So much wisdom for newbies and experienced alike. Thanks for shedding light on your process and inspirations. It is like a breath of fresh air.
Thank you thank you for the best potter video i saw in years. You are so wise thank you for inspiring me xx
Wonderful and inspiring!!!
Thank you so much. I came across this pretty much in a situation of being completely stuck, trying to work my hundreds of ideas forward but not getting anywhere. Having taken in the advice, I reckon that next week some stuff will take off.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and processes. I can identify with much of what you are saying. You are pushing the clay in bold ways stressing the importance of struggling and that whole experience.
I remember at 18 auditing graduate class atND and ken Ferguson was one of the guest potters…I was so young…lovedhandbuilding and drawing on my pots…apirtrait of mr Ferguson…I learned a lot …the university was gracious..so were all the potters…today I’m back at it…sooooo happy. Thanks for this Walt Gropius…you’re great!
What an amazing Artist, so glad I found this video. Beautiful work but the words of wisdom is for everyone. Love from a chef from Brazil 💛💚
I loved this video also, watching a Masterwork and then sharing a bit with his hand built kiln. And the words of wisdom. I was beyond impressed. Thank you.
Wonderful document. So glad the narration is in post where the mind can better wander without influencing the vitality of the work in progress.
Thanks for your wise words Chris. Just what I needed to hear at this very moment… you’re an inspiration for many.
Opening up from the top down makes such sense for that big bowl! That is a beautiful and amazing bowl! You are a master!
I agree w/ Antonia. This is one of the best videos I’ve seen. The info you share at 42 minutes alone is worth the time. Commitment and making — having your first Christmas show and making $10. Wow. I appreciate your sharing that the pieces you made are quality, just NOT what the local community was used to see. That was good to hear YOU speak to concerns we all face. Are we missing the market altogether or is the work poor quality. Your connection to showing up and making a sketch book – good to hear too.
Master work! Thanks for your contribution to the field Chris.
Glad to see you doing this for all us. Loved your works. platter, teapot. Thanks.
incredible!! may I ask, how do you avoid the piece to fold down due to the weight and moist in clay? or do you wait until its leather hard to continue? thanks!
Isso tudo é maravilhoso👏👏