NEHMA | Collection

Dan Murphy

American, b. 1962

Vessel
2000

Wood fired iron rich clay with natural ash glaze
14.75 x 12.75 x 13 in.
Museum Purchase with the Charter Member Endowment Fund
2000.60

Murphy’s ceramic vessels are created swiftly and directly on a slow-spinning potter’s wheel. He usually works in series, developing one body of work at a time, making gestural vessels that infuse his presence into the finished form. This results in families of pots that are inevitably related, yet each piece stands as a one-of-a-kind vessel. After the pieces are fashioned, most are wood fired, without applied glazes, to stoneware temperatures, with the colors and textures resulting from the interaction of wood, fire, and clay. Murphy incorporates contemporary as well as ancient aesthetics, and strives to create objects that will withstand the test of time.

Dan Murphy is a studio artist, and has been a professor at Utah State University, Logan, Utah, since 2003. Raised in Chicago, his MFA was from the University of Iowa. He has presented his work in ninety-eight exhibitions in almost every state, six of them in conjunction with the annual conferences of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. Murphy has been named researcher of the year and artist of the year in the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, at Utah State University.

Billie Sessions

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