Red Lodge Clay Center – Short-Term Resident 2025
Joseph Sabel was born and raised in a small town in upstate New York. At age of twenty-one, Joe joined the U.S. Navy and traveled the world. He served for five years as a Navy Corpsman, specializing as an Emergency Medical Technician in Guantanamo Bay and Okinawa, where he provided emergency care to all military personnel and their families. He was honorably discharged in 2016, and from there decided to pursue a life making art.
After spending time in Chicago, Joe and his wife moved to Montana. Joe enrolled in Montana State University where he earned his BFA. During his time at MSU he found a new form of expression working in clay and with the creative community in Bozeman. He also fell in love with the medium and its diversity in the processes of firing and methods of building form.
Joe currently lives in Collinsville Illinois, a small town outside of St. Louis, where he continues his practice in ceramics while being a stay-at-home father.
Through the process of tapping into the unconscious I give my work improvised qualities by my automatic response to the clay. Through the shaping of forms or creating lines through the carving of cryptic and familiar images on my pots I create vessels where I can allow the glazes I use to play while emphasizing the bumps, curves, and edges of the form. Like in life, I automatically respond and adjust to the clay, a practice as interchangeable to my everyday as a husband and father. Through this practice I can explore new forms and ideas of what I can make while also learning the boundaries of myself and the medium.
The wares I create are for interpretation and exploration along with being functional and bringing people together. Through the seeking of beauty people can come together and create a bond through simple conversation and interaction. By the use and viewing of these vessels I hope to bring my audience together to want to learn more and explore what they use and what’s around them.