Mesa Arts Center: Art Studios: Visual Arts: Ceramic Studio: Instructors

Ceramics Studio Instructors

	Jeff Reich, Visual Arts Specialist, Ceramics Lead Instructor Jeff Reich directs the Ceramics Program of the Art Studios at the Mesa Arts Center. Reich, originally from Michigan, has led the Mesa Arts Center Ceramics Program since 1987 and has built a national reputation for the Ceramics Studio. He began his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan, moved to Arizona, and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Art Education from the University of Arizona in 1984. Reich’s ceramic vessels have been exhibited in galleries across the country and in Canada. He currently shows with Cervini Haas/ Gallery Materia in Scottsdale and Obsidian Gallery in Tucson, both in Arizona. His work has been in nationally juried and invitational shows, such as, Feats of Clay in Lincoln, CA and Steamin: An International Exhibition of Teapots at Gallery Materia. His work is also in a number of public collections, including the Northern Arizona University Museum of Art, the City of Phoenix Sky Harbor Art Collection, and the Arizona State University Nelson Fine Arts Museum Ceramics Research Center. Additionally, Reich has performed onstage, wheel-throwing seven-foot tall clay vessels during musical concerts with accompanying pianist, Alex Grant.

	Farraday Newsome, Visual Arts Specialist, Ceramics Farraday Newsome grew up in the redwood forest of California. She earned her B.A. in Biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1977, and then went on to receive her M.A. in Art with a Ceramics Emphasis from San Francisco State University in 1987. Her intricately glazed maiolica work is shown in galleries nationally, including Cervini Haas/Gallery Materia and Obsidian Gallery in Arizona. Her work is included in numerous public collections, including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Racine Art Museum, Long Beach Art Museum, and Arizona State University's Art Museum’s Ceramics Research Center. Ms. Newsome's subject matter is drawn primarily from the emotional allusions and metaphors found in nature.

	Ellen Gunnell, Ceramics Instructor, Children’s Classes When Ms.Gunnell began college classes in Michigan her goal was to major in art history. After relocating to Arizona she took her first ceramics class at Mesa Community College with Linda Speranza. Meanwhile, she discovered how much she enjoyed the experience of working with children. She worked as a sixth grade aide at Nathan Hale Elementary (MPS) and volunteered with many classes there producing numerous clay projects with students K-6th grade. She later taught Afterschool Enrichment clay classes for the Community Education Department. In 1996 she joined the staff at the Arizona Museum for Youth as an Art Educator. One year later she began teaching kids clay classes at the Mesa Arts Center. The thing she likes most about working with young people is their ability to use their imaginations.

	Sam Hodges, Ceramics Technician Ms. Hodges is the full time Ceramic Studio Lab Tech who mixes and tests glazes, loads and fires the kilns, and answers any questions in this area that students may have. She has been working in the ceramic field since 1999 when she was a student and lab tech at Mesa Community College. She studied at Arizona State University and does ceramic narrative figures depicting different cultures and her own life. She manipulates the figures, abstracting all but the faces, which come alive with personality as they draw you into their story and history. Sam shows her work locally at Imbeau Gallery in downtown Mesa.

	Kaori Fujitani, Ceramics Instructor and Artist –in-Residence Kaori Fujitani is the Artist in Residence for the Ceramics Studio of the Mesa Arts Center. Kaori Fujitani was born in Japan, and grew up in San Francisco. She earned her B.S. in Genetics from the Unveristy of California, Berkeley. After working in the business world for several years, Ms. Fujitani came to her senses and returned to school specializing in Ceramics at the Kansas City Art Institute. In 2004, she earned her M.F.A. from Arizona State University. Her work is marked by an emphasis on sculptural forms borrowed from everyday common objects. Her work has been featured in nationally juried and invitational shows, and can be found in numerous private and public collections. She currently teaches ceramics at the Mesa Arts Center and Paradise Valley Community College.

	Julius Forzano, Ceramics Instructor Julius Forzano’s work is high fire stoneware and porcelain, cone 10 reduction in both wood and salt firings. He uses the vessel as a means of presenting sculpture and also as a canvas for two-dimensional drawings. The work, although often primitive, is created to evoke sophisticated thought. It represents various human conditions and relationships, many of them between man and woman. Peacefulness, playfulness, discord, spirituality and even bondage are evident in his work. He often uses the juxtaposition of vessel-on-vessel to move the figures through space and time. Drawings on clay are a further expression of the various sculptural themes. His drawing style is influenced by his interest in Greek and Roman mythology, history and children’s fables and folklore. He believes that one of the important challenges as an artist is to represent and express life’s many influences and emotions in a thoughtful, visually appealing manner.

	Katie Vandiver, Ceramics Instructor, Children’s Classes Katie Vandiver received her undergraduate Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from Arizona State University in Art Education with an emphasis in ceramics. She was the recipient of the ASU Board of Regents Art Education Scholarship in 2003 and 2004. Her artwork consists of both thrown and hand-built pieces from realistic representations to the abstract. She has been teaching a variety of art classes at the Mesa Arts Center for over a year. Vandiver's teaching style is full of energy and creativity. She brings multiculturalism into her classroom by teaching her students about other peoples through art.

	Larron Lerdall, Ceramics Instructor “Always having a great love of rich colors, I use a high fire reduction atmosphere. I liken my glazing technique to a reverse batik process. I first tape off various patterns onto a bisque piece, using various sizes of tape, stickers, and labels. I then spray a base coat, usually a dark color, often Don Reitz green. I then, remove areas of tape and spray a second glaze onto the raw bisque, remove more tape and spray a third color, continuing with as many as eight or nine different glazes. By doing this, I achieve areas of true single colors and many rich combinations over the base and underlying colors, with each piece becoming an individual piece of functional artwork.”

	Karolyn Snarr, Ceramics Instructor Karolyn Snarr was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Ceramics from the University of Utah, and a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Ceramics from Arizona State University. She currently lives in Mesa, Arizona, where she teaches art classes at Mesa Arts Center and at two local Community Colleges. Her installation-based ceramic and mixed media pieces gravitate around themes of time and nature. Ms. Snarr exhibits her work nationally and is a member of Eye Lounge Gallery in Phoenix.