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Pat Berman

Pat Berman lives in Corvallis, OR.

Artist's Statement

"It doesn’t surprise me that my pots and sculpture so often take human forms and have faces. It’s where my imagination takes me. Since I was a kid I’ve seen them in landscape and abstract designs, drawn them when doodling, and delighted in them. I’ve stopped fighting the urge to let them dominate my pieces, and am thoroughly enjoying myself.  Increasingly, they are the subject of my work."

"I’ve traveled in the desert of the southwestern US several times in recent years. The landscape of red rock hoodoos has inspired the series of sculpture I call “Desert Series”, carved to look like figures emerging from the eroding rock. Wood fire, in the Alsea Anagama kiln, where the pieces are glazed by ash drawn through the kiln at sustained high temperature, has provided the perfect environment for transformation into rock itself.  The clay blushes to warm reds, oranges, even purples, in the crevices and where the fire wraps around their leeward sides.  The ash layers, melts, and sometimes crystallizes, on the convex planes where the pieces face the firebox. As in the landscape, the pieces can be read to discover a story of the environment in which they evolved."

"The wood fired vessels each have their own face or two, and are a whimsical tribute to people everywhere: the ancient people who first made their homes and left their own marks in this landscape, and to the faces I see around me."

"The colorful low fire work including the harlequin series, the narrative torsos, and garden sculpture, are an ongoing study of how far I can stretch the clay, and the many sides of human nature. After 30 y'ears practicing as a psychotherapist, I have been privileged witness to many stories, and am filled with awe for the tenacity of the human spirit.  When they show up on my pottery I’m always glad to see them.

Education

Oberlin College, BA, psychology, 1976
University of Michigan School of Social Work, MSW, 1979
Ceramic education: Linn Benton Community College classes;  workshops; Trial and Error

Shows and Sales Venues

Oregon Potters Association Ceramic Showcase : 2008,2009,2010
Around Oregon Annual, juried show, Corvallis Arts Center, 2009
"Painted with Fire" Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts: international juried show of wood fired ceramics, June 2008
"Half a Million Pots", invitational show, downtown Corvallis venues, April 2008
Oregon Potters Association "Showcase", gallery and garden display April 2008
"Made in Oregon", OSU, 2007,  invitational group show
"Winterlight",  Corvallis Arts Center,  November-December 2007 and 2008, group show and holiday sale
Corvallis Fall Festival , Willamette Ceramics Guild group sales booth, 2000-2009
"OSU Holiday Market", Willamette Ceramics Guild booth, OSU, 2006. 2007, 2009
"Handbuilt by Handwise", Benton County Historical Museum group show
Corvallis City Hall, solo show, 1998
Studio Sale September 2007
Inside Out Garden Visions, Corvallis
Pegasus Gallery, Corvallis
The Arts Center ArtShop, Corvallis

Visit Pat Berman's website.