Red Lodge Clay Center – Short-Term Resident 2024
Max Trumpower is an artist from Charlotte, North Carolina. Trumpower currently lives and works in Indianapolis, Indiana. Trumpower graduated with a BFA Studio Art degree in May 2022 with a concentration in painting, with a secondary concentration in ceramics from Appalachian State University. They attended Indiana University Southeast for their post-baccalaureate in ceramics for the 2023-2024 academic year.
Max was the Studio Intern for Arrowmont School of Crafts for summer 2024, and was Melissa Weiss’ studio apprentice during the fall of 2024 prior to Hurricane Helene. Trumpower received the Appalachian Visions Scholarship through Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts where they were fully funded to attend Arrowmont’s Pentaculum Residency. They also were a summer resident artist at Pocosin School of Fine Craft in the summer of 2023. Trumpower in the past has received the Jody and Peter Petschauer scholarship, where they were fully funded to attend a summer workshop at the Penland School of Crafts.
A large part of the vernacular throughout my childhood surrounded gender, roles within the nuclear family, and tradition. Parts of these roles are performed, yet some are passed down through intergenerational trauma and become bound to who we are. As a queer child growing up in this environment, these shoes often felt too large to fill as I began to stumble into adulthood.
My artistic practice delves into the intersection of tradition and queer authenticity, drawing from Mexican cultural objects and its complex relationship with craft. I am largely influenced by vessels for the altar and the significance of the rituals of which they play a part. The vessels within my work provide function, but often incorporate sculptural elements that tell another story of play and consequence.
I am intrigued by the fluid boundaries between Mexican folklore and Catholic traditions, especially as they intertwine with my childhood experiences. Through my work in ceramics, I question the fragile yet enduring narratives that these traditions convey, revealing the inevitable fractures that emerge from within.