Ceramics has become an integral part of my being. Anyone who has worked with clay knows the endless intrigue, a question never answered that the medium presents.

Coreen Abbott

Coreen completed an MFA in Ceramic Sculpture from the San Francisco Art Institute and BFA from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. She has been adjunct lecturer at UC Berkeley, CA; Nanjing University of the Arts, China; Jingdezhen Ceramics Institute, China; as well as teaching and living in Faenza, Italy and has given numerous workshops in the US, India, Malta, Italy and China.

As of March 2017, I closed my studio and home to travel and focus on writing, lecturing and teaching. While still wandering around I’ve been able to produce work, mostly sculpture, when anchored in a working residency.

My writing is primarily focused on a book entitled Shaw's Posters which explores the unique influences on Richard Shaw’s artwork and the pivotal era of the emergence of Ceramics as a medium of integrity. Richard produced over 20 posters for his upcoming exhibitions. Some were so elaborate, they took nearly as much time to produce as the artwork being announced. (See the Blog for more details.) 

In 1976, with kiln in tow, I left my hometown of Chagrin Falls, Ohio for the Colorado mountains intending to finish a degree in psychology.  As often happens in life, a detour occurred.  After establishing a high-fire studio and pottery business in Manitou Springs, Colorado, I completed a BFA at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. 

In 1984, I left Colorado for San Francisco to acquire a MFA at the San Francisco Art Institute which was an excellent opportunity to focus exclusively on sculptural problems.  After completing this and exhibiting in many galleries, I left behind a position as Curator of Fine Arts for the California Historical Society to live in the Italian ceramic town of Faenza.  This experience renewed my interest in the functional object and precise brushwork in vibrant colors.

By 1997 I was settled once again in San Francisco and had returned to producing functional and sculptural work while also continuing to travel.

I’m very grateful for the opportunities to travel and teach in and outside of the U.S.  Which reinforces the fact that no matter where one finds themself in the world one encounters the current and past uses of clay and the endless variations of visual expressions; a testimony to collective and individual imaginations and creativity; our human nature... the thread that connects us all. 

                                                         
–Coreen Abbott