Brianne Munch

March 14 & 15

Brianne Munch is an artist, educator and advocate for the arts. She grew up in Traverse City, MI, where she currently lives, works, and creates. Since her youth, she has been engaged with the arts realm and has been a constant creator within it. After receiving her B.A. in Studio Art from Hope College, she has grown as an artist in her local community and sells her ceramic work in boutiques and markets. Her inspiration for her ceramic work derives from her mentors, the historical aspect of vessels, and the culinary functionality of artwork for the everyday. Alongside her own studio practice, she teaches at Northwestern Michigan College as their Adjunct Professor in Ceramics. She is also an active member of the Crooked Tree Arts Center of Traverse City team where she brings the arts to the Grand Traverse community and beyond. While ceramics is her main focus, her work expands into analog photography, sculpture, and printmaking.

Artist Statement

Throughout my exploration of wheel throwing, my work has always been about function and beauty in art made for the everyday. Inspired by the history of the craft, the shapes
I create are modern interpretations of historical forms with an emphasis on the smaller details; such as, the bottoms of the vessels along with angular carving of lids, etc.
These vital features add to the larger whole of the form by bringing attention to every part of the piece and not just the shape.

Instagram: @briannemunchstudio | Website: www.briannemunch.com

Tom Krueger

April 18 & 19

As an evolving artist for over 40 years plus, T. J. Krueger is now airbrushing the illusion of light. Custom mixing of acrylic paint from a paste to a fluid airbrush consistency and the addition of gold acrylic paint in the past 15 years is the trick to his painted skies in landscapes.

Krueger’s ceramic forms are wheels-thrown and altered by paddling or “spanking” his pots. A long-lasting impression of manipulating a form was gained in the summer of 1970.  As an art scholarship recipient at the Peninsula School of Art in Door County, Wisconsin.  T.J. lived for a short time with Tom Yelvington, a well-known glass artist. Witnessing the fluid fluidity of glass being formed and then morphed is a constant influence of his art to this day.

Mixed media artist best describes TJ's approach to his creative compass. In the mid-90’s, a series of commissioned wall sculptures, “Beyond Clay”,  bridged his need to work large. These plywood reliefs were surface-coated and decorated with a variety of painting techniques. The viewer saw them as clay or metal.

Post 9/11, Krueger’s musical expression blossom to create his Primal Percussion Ensemble, Artist in Residence Program. Creating drums in various sizes and providing sets of 30 to schools has resulted in 35 residencies and 1300 drums to primarily elementary schools, as well as Head Start programs and adaptive music workshops in the middle school and high school students within a five state region. In recent years, Krueger taught adaptive painting and pottery at Cerebral Palsy of Green Bay.

Commingled passions of yoga, cross-country skiing, pottery and painting, sculpture and teaching workshops are the benchmarks that defined Krueger's bottom line "I've been doing what I like to do for over four decades"

Fong Choo

May 9 & 10

Singapore-born, American-educated studio potter residing in Louisville, Kentucky USA.

My diminutive teapots are my core signature pieces; though, of late, I’ve dedicated myself to rounds of new exploration. Vessels of interest are teacups, mugs, and as Dr. Lagerstrom described ‘eccentrically beautiful’ bowls.  In concert, I’ve embarked on extensive glaze testing to develop mixtures capable of capturing the dynamic flows that occur within the kiln.  My elusive goal is to capture time! They are both static and dynamic, in short: “Dwippy!”

I want my audience to acquire and use these new explorations and to embrace their senses.  My quest to revisit my utilitarian beginnings has allowed me to circle back into the practice, craft, and imagination of studio clay.

I’m also a teacher having taught at both university level and in workshops throughout the world.  My work has received numerous awards at The Smithsonian Craft Show, The Philadelphia Museum of Art and Craft Show and at The American Craft Exposition.

Instagram: fongchoo.teapots
Website: fongchoo-teapots.myshopify.com