Ikeda received his B.S. degree from Portland State University in 1970. His degree was in painting and drawing, but in his senior year he realized working with clay was what he really wanted to do. Recognizing Ikeda?s keen desire to work with clay, one of his professors urged him to apply for a scholarship to study ceramics in Japan. The Japanese government awarded him the Ministry of Education Scholarship and after three years of study at Kyota City University of Fine Arts, he received his Research Art Certificate. A few years later he earned his M.F.A. degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Shortly after receiving his M.F.A., Ikeda accepted an offer to teach at Ventura Community College in California. After only one year at the community college, he accepted a teaching position at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. Ikeda has received several faculty grants, and is now the head of the ceramics department at Kansas State University. Ikeda employs an unusual off-center throwing technique that requires perfect timing and coordination. He also builds some of his works by hand. Landscapes and the organic aspects of nature serve as his inspiration.
Glazed Stoneware
Vessel With Lid No. 3
One of the leading ceramic artists of our times, Reitz?s work is found in collections such as the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum of American Art, and the Mudgee Art Museum in Mudgee, Australia. In 1957 he received his Bachelors degree in Art Education from Kutztown State College in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. He received his Masters of Fine Arts degree from the New York State School of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, New York, in 1962. Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin, Reitz taught at the university from 1962-1988. Still active since retiring from teaching, Reitz gives lectures and workshops across the United States and throughout the world. Reitz has revived the ancient technique of salt-glazing in the world of ceramics. His commitment to the process and his groundbreaking developments in ceramics have made him one of the most innovative living ceramicists. This dramatic vessel by Reitz resonates abstract expressionism.
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Large Open Bowl
Untitled
per the artist in an e-mail on 4/23/14, this piece is glazed with a stain.
Mauve
Oval Platter
Kaneko has been hailed as one of the leading ceramics sculptors of the 20th century. He left Japan and attended the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, California in 1964. Paul Soldner and Peter Voulkos are among the prominent ceramic artists whom Kaneko studied under at various institutions throughout the United States. Works by this artist can be found in numerous museums throughout the United States and Japan. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, the American Crafts Museum in New York and museum collections in his native Japan are just a few of the places where Kaneko?s work has been exhibited.
Oval Platter
Kaneko has been hailed as one of the leading ceramics sculptors of the 20th century. He left Japan and attended the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, California in 1964. Paul Soldner and Peter Voulkos are among the prominent ceramic artists whom Kaneko studied under at various institutions throughout the United States. Works by this artist can be found in numerous museums throughout the United States and Japan. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, the American Crafts Museum in New York and museum collections in his native Japan are just a few of the places where Kaneko?s work has been exhibited.