Pucker Gallery

Brother Thomas Bezanson

Represented by Pucker Gallery since 1982

BORN: 1929 in Halifax, Nova Scotia
DIED: 2007 in Erie, Pennsylvania

Brother Thomas Bezanson was an internationally renowned ceramic artist and a master of complex glazes and purity of form. Born Charles Bezanson in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1929, Brother Thomas graduated from the Nova Scotia College of Design in 1950 and received a degree in commerce from St. Mary’s University, Halifax. It was around this time that he began his work in ceramic art.

In 1959, Thomas became a monk of Weston Priory, Vermont, a community of Benedictine men. He said that Weston was a gift to him and his art in that he learned from his brother monks, “The first extension of love and freedom is creativity, and without them there is no possibility for art to exist in this world.” He continued both his art and formal education while in Weston and received a degree in philosophy and the University Gold Medal from Ottawa University, Ontario in 1968.

Brother Thomas was a visiting lecturer at Alfred University School of Ceramics in Alfred, New York both in 1976 and 1978. Later, he was invited to travel to Japan where he met five Japanese potters, designated “Living National Treasures” by the Japanese government. These artists deeply influenced his work and his thought. The National Endowment for the Arts awarded him a grant in 1984. The following year he became artist-in-residence at Mount Saint Benedict Monastery in Erie, Pennsylvania, where worked until his death in 2007.

As Brother Thomas developed his glazes, his goals were color, depth of surface, and uniqueness. He said, “Technology is the bridge (or barrier) to realizing the intuition. Glaze is headwork while the form is contemplative.” Of his porcelain forms, Thomas said, “The line defines form and encloses a space; it gives at the same time the space within and without.” His practice was to throw the pot first, then, having studied the form, to choose the glaze so that each could enhance the other. Bezanson was unique in that he destroyed much of his work. He would focus on each piece as it emerged from the kiln and if it did not have a unique beauty and truth he shattered it.

Toward the end of his life, Thomas worked with Pucker Gallery and the Boston Foundation to create a legacy that would benefit other artists through the sale of his work. The Brother Thomas Fund was established at the Boston Foundation in 2007 and Brother Thomas Fellowships are awarded to a diverse group of Greater Boston artists working at a high level of excellence in many disciplines—with the goal of enhancing their ability to thrive and create new work. All Fellows receive no-strings-attached awards of $15,000 and are selected biennially through a rigorous multidisciplinary process of nominations and review by a panel of Boston area nonprofit arts leaders and practitioners.

Brother Thomas was the author of numerous articles, monographs, books, and lectures on art and its spiritual aspects. Over the past 40 years, Brother Thomas’s work has been exhibited in more than fifty solo exhibitions. His pots are held in numerous significant public collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Internationally, museums collections in Japan, Canada, England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Israel and the Vatican also include his works.

THE BROTHER THOMAS FUND

The Brother Thomas Fund was established at the Boston Foundation in 2007 to honor the legacy of Brother Thomas, who wanted the sale of his work to support struggling artists. The goal of the biennial Brother Thomas Fellowship program is to support and celebrate a diverse group of Greater Boston artists working at a high level of excellence in a range of disciplines and to enhance their ability to thrive and create new work. Each Brother Thomas Fellow receives an unrestricted award of $15,000. Fellowships are given without stipulation as to how the funds are spent, and match the needs of artists as well as the wishes of Thomas, who wanted to help other artists as his friends had helped him. Brother Thomas Fellows are selected on alternate years based on an inclusive process of nomination and panel review by a diverse group of nominators from the leaders in Boston’s art scene. The fellowships are awarded to individuals who have made a firm commitment to their art and are working at a high level of achievement. The Fellowship program acknowledges that even established artists often struggle for the resources needed to advance their art. Over time, as former Brother Thomas Fellows welcome the new award winners, the awards create a community of artists of recognized excellence.

To learn more about the fund's development and vision, please read "A Lesson in the Art of Giving" by Jeanne Koles.

To learn about Brother Thomas’ legacy, please read Andrew L. Maske’s lecture entitled Work, Beauty, and the Human Spirit: The Legacy of Brother Thomas Bezanson.

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