Artist: Gabrielle Schaffner
Gabrielle Schaffner, MASSACHUSETTS
Bio
Gabrielle is a full time studio potter, creating a line of painted functional porcelain ware in her Boston studio. A potter for over thirty years, Schaffner studied at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and at Studio Arts Center International in Florence, Italy. In 2019 she was a recipient of the Society of Arts and Crafts’ Artists Awards.
Gabrielle lives with her wife, book-artist Laura Davidson, and their daughter in an artists’ cooperative in the Fort Point neighborhood of Boston.The cooperative was Massachusetts’ first live/work cooperative for artists, and is home to 43 other artists and their families.
Artist Statement
Most of my work is illustrated with images drawn from nature, archeology, art history, and design. As a student I spent a year studying ceramics, art, and Italian language in Florence, Italy, and over the years I have returned whenever possible. Italian art history, archeology, design and culture continue to inspire me. The history of ceramics, especially vessel forms, is a recurring theme in my illustrated surfaces.
My studio work is also very much influenced by my love of cooking: I am intrigued by the intersection of artisanal cooking and handmade objects. In my time outside of the studio I enjoy exploring traditional pasta making and baking techniques; many of these inspire and inform the objects I create in the studio.
Education:
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
B.A. Fine Arts, concentration in ceramics
Studio Arts Centers International, Florence, Italy
Selected Shows and Exhibitions:
Artist Awards
The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, Massachusetts
Gabrielle Schaffner, solo exhibition
Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, Florida
The Year of the Bird
Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act
The Gallery at 249 A Street
Boston, Massachusetts
Cup: The Intimate Object
Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, Florida
The Functional Canvas
Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, Florida
02210/02127
Medicine Wheel Gallery
Group show of selected South Boston artists engaged in their community
South Boston, Massachusetts
Ancient Origins
The Vermont State Craft Center, Manchester, Vermont,
The Quintessential Cup
Gordon Beale Frank Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio
Boxed In: Containers, Boxes, and Covered Jars
The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, Massachusetts
National Teapot Invitational
Craft Alliance, St. Louis Missouri
The Domestic Object: Articles for Everyday Living
Fuller Craft Museum, Worcester Museum, Massachusetts
A Tea Party
Ferrin Gallery, Northampton, Massachusetts
Awards
2019 Artist Awards, Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston Biennial juried competition for three New England-based craft artists
Collections:
Kamm Teapot Collection/Sparta Teapot Museum
Sparta, North Carolina, 2007
Commissions:
In honor of the Year of American Craft, created ten coffee sets as the award object for the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s 1993 Commonwealth Awards