On Tuesday, 4 January 2022 Pucker Gallery hosted artist, Randy Johnston, Studio Artist & Professor, Chris Archer, and Gallery Director, Bernie Pucker for a discussion on his work, inspirations, and artistic journey!
Randy Johnston's exhibition Natural Selection: Works of Beauty and Utility will be on view at Pucker Gallery through 9 January 2022.
Randy Johnston has had an illustrious 45-year career in ceramics. He is recognized internationally as an artist who has pursued functional expression and brought a fresh aesthetic vision to contemporary form, and for his many contributions to the development of wood kiln technology in the United States. He is professor and department chair emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls, where he taught ceramics and drawing. His work has been exhibited internationally and he is the recipient of numerous awards including the Bush Artist Fellowship granted by the Bush Foundation in Minnesota and two Visual Artist Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Distinguished Teaching award in American Arts from the James Renwick Society of the Smithsonian.
Johnston received an MFA from Southern Illinois University and a BFA in Studio Arts from the University of Minnesota where he studied with Warren MacKenzie. He also studied in Japan at the pottery of Shimaoka Tatsuzo, who was a student of Shoji Hamada. Johnston has presented hundreds of lectures and guest artist presentations worldwide. He has work in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert in London, the Minneapolis Art Institute, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Los Angeles County Museum, the Nelson Aitkins Museum, and numerous international public and private collections.
Chris Archer is an artist, art educator, and art advocate living and working in Goffstown, NH. His studio practice traverses across functional pottery, sculptural forms, arrangements, site-specific installations, and events. Chris’ work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Chris has worked in higher education for over 20 years, serving as faculty for the BFA and MFA programs at the New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester, NH; as well as Dean of the Community Education Division. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor at New England College and continues to teach national workshops and in community education programs. Chris is also an active committee and Board member of multiple arts and community-arts organizations. Chris earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Alfred University in 1992 and his Master of Fine Arts from Maine College of Art in 2008.