Red Lodge Clay Center – Short-Term Resident (AIA) 2019
Barbara Frey has a BFA in Ceramics from Indiana University and an MFA in Ceramics from Syracuse University. She taught ceramics for 40 years at SUNY-Oswego and Texas A&M University-Commerce, retiring in May of 2018. She was the recipient of the 2013 NCECA Excellence in Teaching Award in recognition of a career devoted to teaching ceramics.
Since 1975, her work has been exhibited in over 250 exhibitions, including 60 teapot exhibitions that featured her handbuilt porcelain teapots. Her work has been published in 18 books on ceramics and is included in many public and private collections including the de Young Museum, San Francisco; the Ichon World Ceramic Center, Kyonggi Province, Korea; The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts; The Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI; the Kohler Company corporate collection, and The Kamm Foundation Teapot Collection. She has received over 50 invitations to present workshops and lectures on her work. Residencies include Purple Sand Factory #5 in Yixing, China and an Arts/Industry Residency at Kohler Co., Kohler, WI.
My current work explores the boundary where significant change occurs; where something ceases and something else begins. A specific line of demarcation separating two states of being is created using extreme contrast of form and surface.
Meaning is inherent in how things fit, in how things touch or do not touch. This allows formal attributes and organizing actions to transcend design and process and become evocative, eloquent carriers of meaning. The work is metaphoric with the intent of creating broad emotional resonance.