Piece of the month: Shawn O'Connor

February was Andrew's month to pick a piece! It was really great seeing him go through the galleries and make his decision. He and I have totally different aesthetics, so it was really an awesome experience to look through new artists. As we were looking, I quickly found out that Andrew really likes earthy atmospheric pieces. After some browsing he finally chose two pieces. I'll only talk about the one, because the other is going to NCECA (nice!) and we won't get until April.  Sooooo here it is!!

Shawn O'Connor

Yunomi

I really love this little guy!  The texture reminds me of a dried palm frond and feels almost like wood.   The piece has a really great weight to it and I love the contrast with the smooth liner glaze.  The selling feature for Andrew and I was this lovely blushing of colors on the surface.  I love the rich tones that were created from his firing process. 

About Shawn:

Shawn O’Connor was born and raised in Minot, ME. Shawn completed his BFA at the University of Southern Maine in 2005. After his undergraduate studies, Shawn went on to be a resident and staff member at Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Newcastle, ME. He also completed a six-week residency at the Robert M. MacNamara Foundation on Westport Island, ME. In May of 2010, Shawn received his MFA in Ceramics from Syracuse University. The main focus of his research in graduate school revolved around wood firing. While at Syracuse, Shawn designed and constructed a train style wood kiln. He later went on to publish an article about his kiln in the Log Book, an international Journal devoted to wood firing. Shawn most currently completed, an Artist-in-Residence at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Shawn’s work has been shown nationally in numerous exhibitions.

Find out more about Shawn HERE!