FILTER RESULTS × Close
by Artist (2)
by Object Type (2)
Skip to Content
NEHMA logo
Showing 2 of 2

Print this page
Image of Lidded Vessel

Bede Clarke

American, b. 1956

Lidded Vessel
2010

Earthenware
12 x 20 x 20 in.
Gift of the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation
2013.20

Bede Clarke calls himself a “mischievous” explorer of clay. Adept with wood and electric kilns, high- and low-fire treatments, Clarke balances wildness and restraint in his experiments. This aim is recognizable in his Lidded Vessel, which is massive and scarred. From afar, the exterior surface looks like rough leather, but closer up it is a cacophony of colors and textures: wavelike patterns alongside violent scratches and stabs. The broad contours are geometric, but the surface seems to bear the marks of heavy use—down to the cross-shaped patches across its center. A vessel with no obvious purpose, it nevertheless provokes speculation about its construction and journey.

Clarke received a BFA from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, and an MFA from the University of Iowa. From 1992 to 2021 he taught ceramics at the University of Missouri, where he is now professor emeritus. As an educator, Clarke presented more than one hundred lectures and workshops throughout the US and internationally, and participated in artist residencies in locations as distant as Australia. His production ranges from vessels and sculptures to ceramic wall pieces and works on paper; he continues to produce objects from his studio in Columbia, Missouri.

Danielle Stewart

Keywords
Click a term to view the records with the same keyword
This object has the following keywords:
blue, clover, cross, gestural, orange, pots, ribbed, symmetrical

Additional Images Click an image to view a larger version
Additional Image

Exhibition List
This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Also found in
Click a portfolio name to view all the objects in that portfolio
This object is a member of the following portfolios:
Thumbnail image of Unearthed | The NEHMA Ceramics Collection & The Woman Behind It
Unearthed | The NEHMA Ceramics Collection & The Woman Behind It
Thumbnail image of Ceramics
Ceramics
Thumbnail image of Unearthed | 1990s and Beyond
Unearthed | 1990s and Beyond

Your current search criteria is: Keyword is "BK".





This site facilitates access to the art and artifact collections by providing digitally searchable records for thousands objects. The information on these pages is not definitive or comprehensive. We are regularly adding artworks and updating research online. We welcome your comments.