Artist: Emily Schroeder Willis
Emily Schroeder Willis, ILLINOIS
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Bio:
An artist and Associate Professor, Adjunct at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Emily received her BFA from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and her MFA from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She has exhibited her work at the Dubai Design Fair in the UAE, the Kansas City Museum in Missouri, the Ohio Craft Museum in Wooster, the Ralph Arnold Gallery in Chicago, and many others. She is the recipient of a Jerome Fellowship from the Northern Clay Center and the Sage Fellowship from the Archie Bray Foundation. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Archie Bray Foundation, the Zentrum für Keramik in Berlin, Germany, the Alberta University of the Arts in Canada and Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Maine.
Artist Statement:
In the past few years I have been trying to simplify the work I make. I try to make every mark on the surface of my work matter, every bend necessary, every line indispensable.
A line drawn can be an indication of time. A fingerprint expresses the slowness of its creation. Through this deliberate and intimate process of pinching, I create a different type of relationship between the viewer and object. My hands pressing their mark into the clay and the user picking it up, touching my fingermarks. Our hands touch.
Fingerprints act as a brush stroke, each pinch making a formal impression of the hand that created it. Simplicity and the mark of the hand are important to my work, which steps back to a time where work isn't about production, but rather the touch of a fingertip.
EDUCATION
2004-06 University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado. MFA
2001 Canberra School of Art, Canberra, Australia. Post-Baccalaureate
1996-00 University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota. BFA
1997 Alfred University, Alfred, New York.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE & RESIDENCIES
2016 Artist in Residence, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Newcastle, Maine. 2014 Artist in Residence, University of Montana, Missoula.
2012-14 Director of Objective Clay, Ceramics Collective
2010-12 Director of Artist Programs, Lillstreet Art Center, Chicago, Illinois.
2009 Artist in Residence, Zentrum für Keramik Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
2001-03 Artist in Residence, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, Montana.
2000 Summer Artist in Residence, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, Montana.
SOLO & SMALL GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 Touch & Gesture, Schaller Gallery, Baroda, Michigan.
2021 Dallas Pottery Invitational, Dallas, Texas.
2020 Strong, Resilient, Feminine, Schaller Gallery, Baroda, Michigan.
2020 Dallas Pottery Invitational, Dallas, Texas.
2019 Three Artists, The Carriage Factory, Newton, Kansas.
2019 Cool – Clean – Crisp, Schaller Gallery, Saint Joseph, Michigan.
2018 (In)Visibile, Bradock Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh, Massachusetts.
2018 Functional Ceramics, Ohio Craft Museum, Wooster, Ohio.
2017 A Line Is/A Line Isn’t, Objective Clay on-line gallery. (Solo)
2017 Objective Clay, M.T. Burton Gallery, Surf City, New Jersey.
2017 Narrowing the Variables: Seven Approaches to the Vessel, Bard College at Simons Rock, Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
2016 Now & Then, Kansas City Museum, Kansas City, Missouri.
2016 Objective Clay, Bull Center for the Arts, West Chester University, West Chester, Pennsylvania. 2015 Negotiated Relationships, Ralph Arnold Gallery, Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois. 2014 Breakfast, Bonovitz Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2014 Tactile Meditations, Wheaton College Gallery, Wheaton, Illinois. (Solo)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS – INVITATIONAL
2023 Brimful, Tom Thomas Gallery, Richmond, Indiana.
2023 Above Board, Above Board Ceramics, on-line gallery.
2022 Encounter, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Illinois.
2021 Dirty South Cup, River Oaks Square Arts Center, Alexandria, Louisiana. 2020 Cup Show, Worcester Center for Crafts, Worcester, Massachusetts.
2020 Demitasse, ClayAKAR, Iowa City, Iowa.
2019 Friends, River Oaks Square Arts Center, Alexandria, Louisianna.
2019 1000 Vases, Dubai Design Fair, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
2019 Brooklyn Pottery Invitational, Standard Exhibitions, New York, New York. 2018 Clay Art Center Fundraiser, Port Chester, New York.
2018 Annual Fundraiser, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Aspen, Colorado.
2018 Summer Instructor’s Exhibition, Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee. 2017 Moravian Mud, Morean Arts Center, St. Petersburg, Florida.
2016 Potsketch, The Clay Studio of Missoula, Missoula, Montana.
2016 100 Cups, hosted by The Clay Studio of Philadelphia, Kansas City, Missouri. 2016 La Mesa, hosted by Santa Fe Clay, NCECA Conference, Kansas City, Missouri. 2015 Simple Cup, Kobo Gallery, Seattle, Washington
2015 Winterfest, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, Maryland.
2015 La Mesa, hosted by Santa Fe Clay, NCECA Conference, Providence, Rhode Island. 2014 Simple Cup, Kobo Gallery, Seattle, Washington
2014 Paper/Plate, Lawrence Arts Center, Lawrence, Kansas.
2014 The Makings, Willock & Sax Gallery, Banff, Alberta, Canada.
2014 Taming Nature, curated by Paul Donnelly, Pritzlaff Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 2014 La Mesa, hosted by Santa Fe Clay, NCECA Conference, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 2014 The Cup II, Robert T. Wright Gallery, Grayslake, Illinois.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2014-present Associate Professor, Adjunct School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois. 2017 Instructor, Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois.
2013 Instructor, Governors State University, University Park, Illinois.
2012 Instructor, College of Lake County, Grayslake, Illinois.
2009-10 Visiting Artist/Professor, Alberta College of Art + Design, Calgary, Canada.
AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS
2022 Diversity Infusion Grant, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois.
2021 Karen and Jim Frank Excellence in Teaching Award, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois. 2021 Course Enhancement Grant, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois. 2021 Diversity Infusion Grant, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois.
PUBLICATIONS
Books
2018 Mastering Hand Building, by Sunshine Cobb. January 2018.
2015 Handbuilding Techniques, edited by Bill Jones, American Ceramics Society 2015, pages 1-5. 2015 Electric Kiln Ceramics, by Richard Zakin and Frederick Bartolovic
2014 Glaze: The Ultimate Ceramic Artist's Guide to Glaze and Color by Brian Taylor & Kate Doody, August 2014.
2014 The Art of American Pottery, by Kevin Hluch. On-Line Ceramics Book. August 2014. 2013 "The Decorated Surface." In Pinch Pottery, by Susan Halls, New York: Lark Books, 2013. Page 65.
My Writings
2015 Universal Statuary, Ceramics Monthly. January 2015, pages 52-54. Review of Chicago Cultural Center exhibition of Matthew Groves work by Emily Schroeder Willis.
2013 No Rules: Contemporary Clay, Ceramics Monthly. April 2013, page 52 – 56. Review of Elmhurst Art Museum Exhibition by Emily Schroeder Willis.
Contributor
2020 “Samuele Makoanyane - Reconsidering Ceramics Technology and Connoisseurship”, de Arte, Volume 55, 2020 - Issue 2: Modern and Contemporary Southern African Ceramics. Page 153-172.
LECTURES, DEMONSTRATIONS & PRESENTATIONS
2022 Utah State University, Logan, Utah. Demonstration and Lecture.
2022 College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Demonstration and Lecture.
2019 Evanston Art Center, Evanston, Illinois. Demonstration.
2019 Brooklyn Pottery Invitational, The Old American Can Factory, Brooklyn, New York. Demonstration. 2019 GasWorks Clay, Brooklyn, New York. Demonstration.
2019 Haystack Center for Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine. Demonstration and Lecture. 2018 Penguin Foot Pottery, Chicago, Illinois. Demonstration.
2018 Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Demonstration and Lecture. 2018 National Conference for the Education of the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), Unspoken, Unseen, InVisible, Panel Moderator.
2016 Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts: Salad Days, Newcastle, Maine. Demonstration. 2016 Fine Line Creative Center, St. Charles, Illinois. Demonstration.
2014 Rovin Ceramics, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Demonstration.
2014 Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Demonstration and Lecture. 2014 Peninsula School of Art, Door County, Wisconsin. Demonstration.
2014 University of Montana, Missoula. Demonstration and Lecture.