Interview with the Artists

Carbondale Clay Center’s Studio Manager, Matthew Eames, sat down with PRINT/ED artists, Jason Bige Burnett and Brooks Oliver, to chat about the exhibition, their collaborations, what inspires them, and what’s next!

JASON BIGE BURNETT

Artist Statement
Work created for PRINT/ED is the very first iteration of textile based works in which the artist is exploring a shift in materials. Most known for his use of screen-printed underglazes and transfer techniques Jason Bige Burnett turns his attention to exploring surface design on textiles. Works exhibited showcase discovery, mistakes, risk, and growth through “play” while building relationships with new materials. 

For this exhibit Burnett wanted to create items and patterns that not only adorn the home, but create a dialogue with pots and vessels too. In addition the patterns, colors, and textures are more of a spontaneous response to multiple influences that include elements of Brooks Oliver’s vessel sketches, Dusty DuShine’s (Jason Burnett’s drag persona) lust of eye shadow palettes, and the landscape of Montana along with the bountiful amount of brick piles that surround the artists studio currently at the Archie Bray Foundation.

It goes without saying the work ultimately reflects both play and curiosity during a time when we live in constant flux, uncertainty, and a changing political climate in so many extremes.  Burnett is using his studio time and place to find comfort with discomfort while using a little bit of familiarity to work through new obstacles.

Biography
Jason earned his BFA in ceramics, BA in printmaking and BA in graphic design from Western Kentucky University in 2009. Since then, he has taught and exhibited across the United States and was a co-creator and coordinator of the Arrowmont Pentaculum at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Burnett is currently a long term resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation (MT). He has completed residencies at Pocosin Arts (NC) in 2019; Belger Arts Center (MO) in 2018; Penland School of Crafts (NC) 2009-2010 and 2017; and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (TN) 2012-2013. Jason is also the author of Graphic Clay: Ceramic Surfaces & Printed Image Transfer Techniques. In 2013, he was named an Emerging Artist by Ceramics Monthly magazine. 

Find out more on Jason’s Website
Follow Jason on Instagram

BROOKS OLIVER

Artist Statement
The ambition of my work is to reimagine and reinterpret the familiar functional vessel.  By isolating, altering, and exploiting the necessary components of a vessel, I attempt to provide new visions of utilitarian ceramic wares.

My work inherently blurs the boundaries between craft, design, industry, and technology as I am inspired by the charged grey areas between these binaries.  By marrying the production techniques of CAD software and rapid prototyping technologies with the creation techniques of the hand, a unique dialog can be formed between the digital and clay that ultimately influences both ways of making. 

Biography
Brooks Oliver is an Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator of Ceramics at the University of North Texas and a studio artist based out of Denton, TX. He recently completed a long-term residency at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana.  He received his MFA from The Pennsylvania State University, his BFA at Southern Methodist University, and completed his post baccalaureate studies at Syracuse University.  He has taught in Jindezhen, China and regularly teaches workshops in and out of university settings. In 2017, he was named an Emerging Artist by the National Council on Educations in the Ceramic Arts.

Find out more on Brooks’s Website
Follow Brooks on Instagram