BENNETT BEAN

Bennett Bean has had a thirty-five-plus-year career as a potter, painter, sculptor, designer, furniture maker and teacher.  His signature pieces are richly decorated forms which are visually and technically complex.  Bean’s work in this show explores the possibilities of opening up the traditional ceramic vessel.  He constructs dynamic shapes of sliced open, wheel thrown forms, with slab additions.  The forms are deconstructed and reconstructed, segmented into individual parts that visually coalesce into a fully independent whole.  He plays the primal and organic effects of pit firing against areas of translucent glaze, bright acrylic paint and luminous gilding.  Frequently there are 20 steps to each piece combining traditional and non-traditional techniques.  For Bennett Bean firing the clay is never enough.  It is the spirit of curiosity and experimentation that characterizes his career.  Bean relentlessly asks himself “what would happen if . . . ?”.  Bean takes each new endeavor to the extreme.  He has an inordinate ability to question boundaries and the flexibility to go one step further.

Selected Permanent Collections

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY.

The White House, Washington, DC.

U.S. News and World Report, Washington, DC.

20th Anniversary Collection, The Studio Potter, NH.

The Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC.

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA.

St. Louis Museum of Art, MO.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA.

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada.

The Newark Museum, NJ.

Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC.

Milwaukee Art Museum, WI.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA.

The Detroit Institute of Arts, MI.

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, MA.

American Craft Museum, NY.

Please contact us for other available works
info@jsauergallery.com